The far-right “Texas Freedom Caucus” sends an open letter to the SBOE demanding white supremacy and Christian nationalism in school textbooks.
The Texas Fascism Caucus doesn’t want Texas teachers to be free to teach important fact-based history and social studies lessons. Yesterday they posted an open letter on Twitter to the SBOE (State Board of Education) showing that they still don’t know what “Critical Race Theory” is. They also believe that Texas students need to be taught white supremacy and Christian nationalism ideas.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]According to Mayes Middleton, the letter’s author, “They (educational standards) disrespect law enforcement and further guide children away from the Judeo-Christian foundation this country and state were founded on.”
If you and your family are Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Wiccan, Satanic, or anything else, it doesn’t matter. The Texas Fascism Caucus expects Texas schools to teach your child that their home religion is wrong unless it’s Judeo-Christian.
The term Judeo-Christian began in the 1930s and had roots in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Most scholars and experts agree that white nationalists widely use “Judeo-Christian.”
The letter goes on to say that teaching about the racially-driven murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed is “brainwashing propaganda.” While it seems ironic that Middleton would use the “Judeo-Christian foundation” in the same letter that he calls systematic racism “brainwashing propaganda,” it is undoubtedly a point he lost.
Mayes Middleton’s family became very wealthy from slavery and used that money to invest in oil during the early days of Texas. That money was passed down from generation to generation until Middleton was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and in a county where less than 2% of the population was Black. It’s unlikely that Middleton has ever even shared a means with a person of color, let alone understand how systematic racism affects people, unlike him.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]Middleton also expresses anger over teaching about the LGBTQ civil rights movement.
He says, “There is no room for an opposing viewpoint of traditional marriage – the lesson is based on the assumption that the pride movement is good for society.
Middleton complains about the decreased emphasis on Texas and American exceptionalism. You know, the same American exceptionalism that pushed thousands of white people to storm the Capitol on January 6. America’s domestic policies have been motivated by racist policies that began even before the anti-welfare arguments of the Reagan era. These domestic policies are what the far-right and Middleton refer to as American exceptionalism.
There’s nothing exceptional about white supremacy.
“The proposed changes minimize the effect of Christianity in our society.”
The Ku Klux Klan used to use the name “Christian” as a reason to terrorize Black people. Hitler was a Christian. The Texas GOP stripped women away of their rights to bodily autonomy based on their version of Christianity.
Not all Christians are bad, but children should receive an education based on facts, not religious doctrine. And if Middleton and the Texas Fascism Caucus insist that Christianity becomes more intertwined with teaching the history of Texas and America, we need to teach all of it. The insidious and sinister, as well.
Last, Middleton called Santa Anna a murderous, genocidal tyrant and said that children should not, under any circumstances, be taught about the Alamo from his perspective.
[mepr-hide] https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); [/mepr-hide]This letter is another effort by the Texas Fascism Caucus to indoctrinate our kids with the same tenets in Hitler’s writings.
Their fear of discussing political topics while pretending their own bias doesn’t exist would be laughable if they weren’t making laws that would affect the next generation of children. But instead, true history is their enemy, and they imagine “critical race theory” behind every corner.
It’s time to vote them out.
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