Fuck Texas - why you should care about what is taught there
When I was 16 years old, I was walking to school one morning when I saw two burned out patches on a neighbor's lawn. As I would come to learn over the course of the day from my friend Brian (who lived there) and from administrators and teachers at my school, sometime in the wee hours of the morning a group of people had set up two crosses on their lawn and set them on fire.
Brian, his little sister, and his parents were woken up by the smell of burning wood and gas. The fire department had been called, the fires put out, the crosses dragged away, and a police report filed. I slept through the whole damned thing.
Brian's father was a pastor. Brian's family were one of the only black families in the neighborhood. Despite the fact that my high school was about 20% black most of those kids lived further away, thanks to something I didn't even yet knew existed in the real estate industry - red-lining.
But I did know about cross burning. This was the first time I had seen it in my own neighborhood, but not the first time I had seen it. The Klan (that's all anyone ever called them) had a strong presence in the town I grew up in. We didn't have to be told they were evil - we could see it with our own eyes. Brian was my friend, and he was well-liked in the community. His sister was well-liked. His father and mother were well-liked, and his father had a congregation made up of whites and blacks alike.
I had never seen it done to a friend though, and it was heart-breaking. It made me angry as all hell. The school I attended had meetings about it and teachers were encouraged to discuss what had happened, do discuss the evils of racism, and to show that the Klan had no place in our school. The discussions were necessary, and quite frankly we all needed to talk about it - this was a wound and we had to find a way to heal.
Oh, and I should point out that the mascot of my school was a Confederate Soldier. We were called The Rebels. They're called The Spartans now.
Oh, and I should also point out that this is California.
I point all of this out because of a headline you have probably seen by now. Here is MSNBC's version:
What the ever loving fucking FUCK is wrong with these people? Jesus Tap-dancing Christ it seems that most of these "God-Fearing" people don't understand a single thing about Christianity.
Here's a little history lesson about why I care about this, and why you should too. Up until the 1970's, most textbooks for schools were printed in California. However, when Proposition 13 passed in 1977 education funding was slashed to nearly fatal levels, and despite now having a lottery to help pay for it our education system never fully recovered. More importantly the textbook industry in California was destroyed. The small textbook industry in Texas took advantage and within a few years 95% of all textbooks for public schools were being printed in Texas. This condition still exists to this day.
The rules/laws that Texas passes winds up in those textbooks. Not just for Texas, but for the entire country. In short, if Texas decides something shouldn't be taught there, it winds up not being taught anywhere.
This is a fucking problem.
We've spent the years since the beginning of the Reagan Error letting people get stupider. As a result we wind up with people who are hospitalized for COVID-19 who would rather be hospitalized than get vaccinated. I shit you not. This is provably STUPID.
The Texas Senate doesn't want you to know that The Klan is evil. Morally Wrong. All as a reaction to Critical Race Theory, WHICH ISN'T FUCKING TAUGHT IN GRADE SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL OR HIGH SCHOOL ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY.
It's saying that racism is okay. And that's going to be the message in textbooks all over the country if this goes through.
I was offered a chance to move to Texas on someone else's dime earlier this year. 100% paid for by my employer. Texas has a good music scene and one of my heroes, Christopher Cross, lives there. Beto O'Rourke is there. There are progressives in Texas and I could be part of energizing them. One of the most progressive Presidents in our history was a Texan.
But I'm not fucking going to do that. No one gets to tell me or anyone I care about that The Klan isn't morally wrong. Fuck the Klan. There is no such thing as a morally correct racist. I would not fit in.
There are people in Texas Government who actually believe that the state has a right to secede from the Union. Again, stupidity is taught. But you know what? Fine. Let them go.
Fuck Texas. At least until they get their shit together. That could take a while.
And because I love you and seriously hope you're not one of the 50,000+ people catching COVID-19 every day, here's a quick reminder to get your ass vaccinated:
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