By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
It won t be long before, once again, Gov. Cooper will have a ratified bill against teaching the racial history of African Americans and other people of color on his desk to sign, as happened in 2021.
And just like two years ago, Cooper will refuse to sign the conspiracy-laden measure passed by both the Republican NC House and Senate. In 2021, because the GOP majorities in both the state House and Senate did not have supermajorities, Cooper s veto was enough to beat back that legislative effort.
This time, however, the Republican-led state House passed House Bill 187 Equality in Education 68-49 last week, and have sent it onto the state Senate, where there is little doubt that the Republican majority there will pass it as well.
&[T]his bill is a covert way to flatten our state s history into a one-dimensional, easy-to-swallow pill, leaving no room for the triumphs and victories of people who fought hardest for the democracy and society we have today wrote Democratic Senate Leader Dan Blue (Wake) in an op-ed piece recently.
While the Senate GOP has a supermajority with which to defeat any veto Democratic Gov. Cooper would wield to once again stop a measure that he and Democrats all agree would hide the true racial history of the United States and North Carolina from students, and punish teachers for the alleged indoctrination of students about that history, state House Republicans are one vote shy of a supermajority.
As long as every Democrat in the state House stands strong against passage of HB 187, Cooper can veto it with confidence, knowing that it will stick.
And that is the tenuous game of chicken the governor and the Democrats must play in order keep North Carolina from becoming like eighteen other states that have &already limited how teachers can discuss racism and sexism in the classroom according to the Associated Press. Nine other states are currently considering similar measures.
Here in North Carolina, Republicans are promoting the anti-Black history bill as one that promotes equality because it prohibits &public school teachers from compelling [white] students to believe they should feel guilty or responsible for past actions committed by people of the same race or sex.
Democrats are concerned with overly broad language contained in the bill, much of which sounds agreeable, like Public school units shall not promote that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.
But there is also language in the measure which states that public school units shall not promote that the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex, with is factually and historically correct, most observers agree,
If a North Carolina teacher were to recount the history of slavery in America, for example, she or he would run the risk of running afoul of the law.
In addition, HB 187, if it becomes law, would require public school units to notify the NC Dept. of Instruction 30 days prior to any speakers, consultants or diversity trainers being scheduled to make presentations.
Even though the bill does not state this, Republicans are using passage to assure their supporters that they are outlawing CRT – critical race theory – from being taught in the state s public schools.
In fact, CRT never was, or is being taught in public schools. Known as the study of how racism has inculcated American institutions throughout the nation s history, CRT is primarily taught in law schools and on the university level.
But the hasn t stopped Republicans in waging this politically profitable culture war against the true racial history of this nation.
Thus, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis outlawing African American Advance Studies lessons in that state s secondary classrooms.
And citing DeSantis war against woke indoctrination, a Florida textbook publisher has removed any mention of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks being a Black woman who defied Alabama segregation laws in the 1950s.
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted in a Congressional speech on the House floor last week that the life of Rosa Parks was too woke for the Republican Party. That didn t stop the GOP-majority U.S. House from passing the federal Parents Bill of Rights last Friday, a bill that Republicans say would give parents more say in their children s education. Democrats say if it becomes law, the bill would allow parents to censor important historical lessons in the classroom.
Back in North Carolina , the Republican-led NC General Assembly s Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations has requested documents detailing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) training throughout the 17 campus UNC System.
The written request wants a review of any subject matter in the DEIA that discusses diversity, equity, racism, anti-racism, oppression, systematic racism, white supremacy, unconscious bias, critical race theory or social justice, among others.
Several published reports note that this is part of a national wave to kill what Republicans call liberal indoctrination at the nation s universities.
