A group of nine educators submitted a proposal to the Texas State Board of Education that would require public schools to describe slavery to second-graders as "involuntary relocation."
The proposed curriculum changes came just one year after Texas passed a law to eliminate topics in school if they pertain to race or sexuality or "make students feel discomfort."
The proposed draft standards were obtained by The Texas Tribune, which noted that they say students should "compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times.”
\u201cPublic schools in Texas would describe slavery to second graders as "involuntary relocation" under new social studies standards proposed to the state's education board, according to @TexasTribune. https://t.co/iaYOTl7zyB\u201d— The Associated Press (@The Associated Press) 1656633308
The news received pushback from advocates who say that children are old enough to grasp the concept of slavery. One of them is board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fort Worth. Davis brought her concerns to her fellow board members, arguing that referring to slavery as "involuntary relocation" is not a “fair representation” of the slave trade.
Referring to the state board, Davis said she "can’t say what their intention was, but that’s not going to be acceptable."
Slavery was in fact a brutal legal institution, comprising the enslavement of Blacks who were kidnapped from their homes and families and forced to reside in a foreign land where they served as the economic backbone of the American South.
The treatment of slaves in the United States varied widely depending on conditions, time, and place, but in general it was brutal, especially on plantations. Whippings and rape were routine. The asymmetrical power dynamics between enslaved Blacks and White slaveowners gave Whites both the de facto and de jure freedoms to bend their property to their will.
Many took to social media to criticize the Texas State Board of Education.
\u201cTexas and all these other idiot states, Parents can and will teach their children the truth of our history and what is still happening to minorities. No matter how white washed school curriculums becomes.\u201d— Mel Devo (@Mel Devo) 1656767162
\u201cIf we're not going to call it slavery we @ least have to finish the definition: involuntary relocation OF HUMANS to be bought & sold BY OTHER HUMANS for the purpose of FORCED LABOR, & are treated as less than human because of capitalism & a power- complex.\u201d— Mary Katherine (@Mary Katherine) 1656767509
\u201cWhat the frilly heck is wrong with people???? It wasn't involuntary relocation! Human beings were kidnapped into bondage and treated like livestock to be bred, beaten, sold, or killed at the whims of their masters. Putting a pretty spin on it doesn't change things!\u201d— AzureHart (@AzureHart) 1656766918
\u201cI am suing if my kids get a textbook calling slavery "involuntary relocation" and I will go bankrupt doing this..\n\nYou will not rewrite history to benefit your children and demean mine.\u201d— Sailor Michael\u2693\u2708 (@Sailor Michael\u2693\u2708) 1656685240
\u201cOh hell no! No sugarcoating history while the after-effects are still plaguing black people. Unacceptable!\u201d— Ngolo Kante (@Ngolo Kante) 1656766741
\u201cEducation is about making sure students have the tools to succeed.\n\nMAGA Republicans are rewriting curriculum to indoctrinate kids.\u201d— Jesse Ferguson (@Jesse Ferguson) 1656778984
\u201cThese people are so very, very good at avoiding the difficult truths of history. And yet they call Democrats \u201csnowflakes\u201d.\u201d— Aaron Mahnke (@Aaron Mahnke) 1656689280
\u201cThis is absolutely insane. \nRepublicans have absolutely gone off the rails. Every single Republicans who disagrees with this in Texas needs to make it known. We can not reach our kids slavery did not exist or that it was just \u201cinvoluntary relocation\u201d\u201d— David Hogg \u262e\ufe0f (@David Hogg \u262e\ufe0f) 1656767791
\u201cWhat in the world is this?????\n\nHow are they going to describe the Holocaust?\n\nHow will they describe Apartheid???\n\nIs this how it will be described what happened when the first pilgrims came here???\u201d— David Garlock (@David Garlock) 1656768506
Last year, Texas approved House Bill 3979, the so-called “critical race theory law” that aims to limit how race-related subjects are taught in public schools.
False claims schools have been teaching critical race theory to young children have also inflamed hostilities among the right-wing, particularly since the publication of The 1619 Project, which repositions the consequences and legacy of slavery as elements vital to the historical narrative.
Critical race theory is a body of legal and academic scholarship that aims to examine how racism and disparate racial outcomes have shaped public policy via often implicit social and institutional dynamics.
Although critical race theory is just one branch of an incredibly varied arena of academic scholarship, it has nonetheless galvanized critics and threatened to obfuscate nationwide discussions about racial reconciliation, equity, and justice.
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