Tennessee Senate Democrats are urging Gov. Bill Lee to veto a bill that would prohibit Tennessee schools from teaching critical race theory.
The theory has been around for decades. Its most basic tenet is that racism exists and whites benefit from it. Lawmakers here passed legislation that would ban teaching explicit elements of critical race theory, including the idea that ”this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.”
Senate Democrats said in a letter to Lee Monday that the legislation is “misguided” and “will cause our state harm and aggravate problems that already exist in public education.”
“Reckoning with the history of slavery, white supremacy, Jim Crow, and racism is essential not only to fully educate our students, but also for our future,” reads the letter signed by six Senate Democrats, including three from Memphis. “Confronting racism and building a better future requires citizens who are equipped to have hard discussions about race. This misguided law will rob many in the rising generation of the tools necessary to challenge broken systems that produce and perpetuate racial disparities.”
Confronting racism and building a better future requires citizens who are equipped to have hard discussions about race.
Tennessee Senate Democrats
The legislation, House Bill 580/Senate Bill 623, for one thing, lets modern whites off the hook for slavery (See No. 5 below.). But it goes beyond race and includes sex as well. For example, teachers would not be able to say “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously.”
The legislation would, however, call the existing system a “meritocracy” in which a person should not feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex.”
In the proposed law, Tennessee public school teachers cannot teach that:
1. one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex
2. an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously
3. an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex
4. an individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex
5. an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex
6. an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex
7. a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex
8. this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist
9. promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government
10. promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people; or
11. ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex
Democrats said “our children deserve to hear the full story.” But they said the legislation could have even harder consequences.
“We fear this law will further damage Tennessee’s reputation in education, making our state less desirable for career-oriented teachers and educators,” reads the letter, noting that about one-in-three public school teachers are eligible for retirement.
