The culture war against “wokeness”, CRT (Critical Race Theory), DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), education, history and freedom led by Republicans in states such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee are as horrendous, wasteful and ridiculous as they are harmful, frightful, draconian and dangerous.
This faux crusade is spearheaded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who, a short time ago, initiated a call to arms against these non-problematic and non-threatening concepts. His fear-mongering tactics rallied communities and individuals into joining his cause, helping him to affect horrid change across Florida.
School boards across the state have suddenly become whitewashed gladiatorial venues that purged qualified and successful Black candidates from leadership positions with claims of “CRT supporter” and “woke” propaganda.
After DeSantis championed the utterly ridiculous “Stop WOKE Act,” other states have taken up the torch (literally) to deter how certain topics pertaining to race can be taught.
Recently he’s strengthened the resolve of his purification crusade by adding educational freedom, Disney, abortion rights and the LGBTQ+ community to his target list.
But at its core, it’s a Jim Crow-infused crusade that specifically targets Black culture, people and history.
Jim Crow 2.0
Jim Crow and its segregationist horrors began its revival during Trump’s rise to power and only grew more powerful during the 2020 election as red states enacted voter restrictions across the country.
This is the mantle that DeSantis has taken up as he intensifies the culture wars that no one outside of him and his followers desires.
That’s why it’s so imperative to understand how Jim Crow works for it’s a gradual effort that creeps slowly and wields devastating effects if remained unchecked.
The Las Vegas Sun wrote an excellent story on how Jim Crow works.
First, wrote the editorial board, groups must be separated and isolated. That reduces any strength in numbers and removes understanding. This way differences can be used as fodder for hate. That’s why apartheid was so effective in South Africa and why “separate but equal” was a rallying cry in the South.
Second, the targets of attacks must be prevented from “knowing their history and heritage, because these are core elements of identity.” This is why slaveholders broke up families and why Native American children were forced into Indigenous residential schools.
Lastly, equal access to voting must be eliminated, for if an oppressed group can’t vote, they can’t effect change. This has been an ongoing effort in states like Georgia, where long lines, reduced voting hours and voting centers are the norm in many Black and Democratic majority areas.
Today, CNN wrote a story on the effort by Republican-controlled legislatures to suppress the voting rights of high school and college students by enacting new restrictive registration and ID laws.
This is a continuation of Republican-led efforts to purge voting rolls and DeSantis’ introduction of his election police force which intimidated Black voters in an attempt to suppress the Black vote.
But his attack on education as a whole, specifically through his censorious higher education bill, Florida HB 999.
If passed, it would destroy higher education and the freedom to learn and provide other fascist Republican-led states with a blueprint on how to do the same to their education systems.
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
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