Texas Senators passed a new bill which eliminates the requirement for public schools to teach students that the Klu Klux Klan and their emphasis on white supremacy is “morally wrong,” HuffPost reports.
In an 18-4 vote on Friday, the state’s Senate, which is dominated by Republicans, passed Senate Bill 3, removing most people of color and women from Texas’ required education curriculum.
“Texans roundly reject ‘woke’ philosophies that espouse that one race or sex is better than another and that someone, by virtue of their race or sex, is innately racist, oppressive or sexist,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) said in a statement following the bill’s passing.
“Senate Bill 3 will make certain that critical race philosophies, including the debunked 1619 founding myth, are removed from our school curriculums statewide," he added. "Texas parents do not want their children to be taught these false ideas. Parents want their students to learn how to think critically, not be indoctrinated by the ridiculous leftist narrative that America and our Constitution are rooted in racism."
In addition to rejecting the KKK and their practices, Senate Bill 3 also removes nearly two dozen other curriculum teachings, such as the requirement to study Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Susan B. Anthony’s work regarding the women’s suffragist movement, Indigenous people’s history and more.
The legislation, spearheaded by Republican Sen. Bryan Hughes, also includes language that teachers should not “be compelled” to discuss current events or “controversial issue[s] of public policy or social affairs” and that if they do, they can’t give “deference to any one perspective.”
“How could a teacher possibly discuss slavery, the Holocaust, or the mass shootings at the Walmart in El Paso or at the Sutherland Springs church in my district without giving deference to any one perspective?” Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-TX) asked, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Senate Bill 3 also reflects language in House Bill 3979, signed and passed last month by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, as Blavity previously reported. The bill explicitly outlawed “critical race theory” in public schools in Texas from K-12 and prohibits teachers from discussing certain perspectives in the classroom, including the concept that some people are “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.” Additionally, H.B 3979, bans teachers from expounding upon The 1619 Project’s principles, which would allow students to examine slavery’s role in American history.
The new measure will move next to the Texas House of Representatives, also dominated by Republicans, but the bill cannot pass due to the lack of quorum required to vote. Currently, Democratic representatives are out of state after 51 out of 67, the number needed to break quorum, fled to Washington, D.C. to block a restrictive voting bill last week.
