Category: Censorship

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The Victors Write The History

N.C. School Board Adopts Bonkers New Anti-Critical Race Theory Curriculum Standards After Funding Threatened

Evan Brechtel

Oct. 09, 2021

Republicans remain hysterical over the alleged teaching of critical race theory, which posits that current racial inequalities often presented as happenstance are inextricably linked to centuries of overt racist violence and subjugation—is the subject of the Republican party's latest moral panic.

The theory is rarely, if ever, taught outside of college classes and the very Republican legislators who oppose it are often unable to actually define what it means.

Nevertheless, Republican legislatures across a number of states are weighing or have already imposed restrictions on unvarnished teachings of America's racist history.

In states like Tennessee, school districts could be penalized with millions in fines for lessons that violate these restrictions. At the federal and state level, Republicans have supported the adoption of strictly "patriotic" teachings of history, glossing over the moral complexities and even atrocities of America's founders to present them as inherently exceptional instead.

In the final year of his presidency, Donald Trump established the 1776 commission to explore new ways of integrating so-called "patriotic education" to combat more unflinching records of America's past.

Similar efforts are now underway in communities across the nation, including in Johnston County, North Carolina, where the school board was recently forced to adopt new rules forbidding lessons acknowledging that racism is ongoing in the United States. What's more, any historical figures who contributed to American society must be presented as "reformists, innovators and heroes."

The decision came after the county's Board of Commissioners withheld millions in funding from education funding until assurances were made that no lessons on critical race theory or "potentially divisive" topics would be delivered.

Watch below.

Raleigh's CBS 17 News spoke to one teacher, April Lee, about the changes.

She said:

"I just have a really hard time figuring out how to do that with characters in U.S. history like Andrew Jackson and McCarthy and several other people who made some really bad decisions along the way. I think it ties our hands, at least for some teachers who won't feel comfortable because they feel like they're being called into question."

Others agreed that the new rules—and the Board of Supervisors' withholding of funding—had gone too far.

People could only imagine the alternative history the far-right would teach.

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Stop SOPA and PIPA

My site will go dark tomorrow (January 18) in protest of the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA).

On January 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill—PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House—to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

I personally feel very strongly about freedom of expression. I believe strongly not only in people's self expression, but in the free form of that expression.

Help fight against internet censorship. Call your congress person and express your commitment to the free expression of ideas, as protected by the U.S. Constitution. Learn more at SOPAstrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org.