It started in Florida and now the disgusting attack on Black History has spread to Arkansas.
On Monday, the first day of class for many schools in Arkansas, the state’s education department announced that it would not grant credit for the AP African American history class.
There’s no masking what conservative Republicans are doing in their efforts to continue the culture war that no one but them is seeking to fight.
And to remove the course while keeping the AP European history class is further proof of their heinous actions to eliminate Black history under the guise of fighting an alleged indoctrination that doesn’t exist.
“Let’s be clear – the continued, state-level attacks on Black history are undemocratic and regressive,” said NAACP president and chief executive officer Derrick Johnson to The Guardian. “The sad reality is that these politicians are determined to neglect our nation’s youth in service of their own political agendas.”
The political agenda is clear.
First target voting rights and then attack health care and education, something Republicans are gleefully doing across red states.
After Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee’s LEARNS Act (Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking and Safety) became law, the attack on education officially began, placing topics such as race, gender and sexual orientation in their sights. Deeming them subjects of indoctrination (which they’re obviously not) and pushing their favorite target of CRT, a graduate level course not taught in high schools, to the forefront, the war on education has emerged in Arkansas.
“Arkansas law contains provisions regarding prohibited topics. Without clarity, we cannot approve a pilot that may unintentionally put a teacher at risk of violating [state] law,” wrote the department in a statement.
Yet they waited until the day school started to remove the course. Coincidence? After the current wave of oppression flooding through the South, I doubt it.
At this point, everyone with a conscience knows these efforts are attempts at whitewashing education of diverse topics and independent thinking. The elimination of DEI budgets and departments in education in Florida and Texas is further proof of their egregious and racist scheme.
And the leaders of these hateful attacks know it too.
So while students, teachers, librarians and the NAACP have spoken out, there has been relatively no response from the world of sports. And that’s a problem for athletes, teams, conferences and leagues could forge a powerful response to the directed attacks that affect Black athletes across all sports.
I previously wrote on how sports needs to stand up to the fascist regime of Ron DeSantis in Florida, yet outside of Disney and the NBPA speaking out against the Magic’s direct donation to a DeSantis Super PAC, the sports industry has remained relatively mum on what these states are doing.
Continue reading over First and Pen.
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