Texas Board of Education engages in white supremacy

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:57 am

The Board is no stranger to promoting ignorance and bigotry, but just when you thought it couldn't get worse something like this comes along:

They're perpetuating the dumb-ass pseudoscience that black people are descended from a "cursed" Biblical figure, Ham.

This reminds me of an article I read, where Bob Jones University and some fundamentalist Christian schools in Louisiana were teaching students that "the KKK wasn't all that bad."

Spreading hate and dehumanizing people of color, that's what Jesus would've wanted!

Fuchs · Post by **Fuchs** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:04 pm

Sickening.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:53 pm

How in the hell is this considered legal? Seriously? You can teach racist theology in public schools, now? WTF?

No hay palabras.

mean_liar · Post by **mean_liar** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:27 pm

Ham's Redemption, by Modesto Brocos y Gómez

I couldn't find any information on the artist as to whether this is supposed to creep us out or not.

nockermensch · Post by **nockermensch** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:15 pm

mean_liar wrote:Ham's Redemption, by Modesto Brocos y Gómez

I couldn't find any information on the artist as to whether this is supposed to creep us out or not.

As a brazilian, this is my shame. My country seriously had a "population whitening" policy, that thankfully was more worried about bringing more european immigrants than about killing our afro-descendant population. If anything, this was done around the time eugenics was being promoted as good science in the USA and Europe, but it's still sick in the head.

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:38 pm

PoliteNewb wrote:How in the hell is this considered legal? Seriously? You can teach racist theology in public schools, now? WTF?

No hay palabras.

The Christian Right has a long and sordid history with white supremacist circles. Even though a lot of them will vehemently deny any charges of racism, a good number of their leaders supported segregation in the Civil Rights Era and attacked racial equality as "Communist subversion." Even to this day they still use racist codewords and dog whistle politics employed by the segregationists of the 60s. Comparing black liberals to Marxists? Check! Tea Party leaders wanting to bring back "literacy tests" to "prevent foreigners from voting?" Check! Claiming that portrayal of slavery as a bad thing is anti-white? Check!

Christian Right leaders were very strong in the South, and when integration became law, a lot of "Christian" private schools opened up for white parents who didn't want their kids to interact with African-American children. Bob Jones University is a college example: black people were banned from attending until the 80s, and interracial dating was banned until 2000.

While dudes like Jerry Falwell promoted racist pseudoscience, they stopped doing it openly once they realized that it wasn't socially acceptable anymore. Now they've gotta be sneaky about it.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:33 pm

Yeah, I knew all of that...but while obviously racism is still a major issue and problem in America, I didn't think teaching that kind of crap was permitted in public schools. Private schools are another kettle of fish (though I don't think we should give up on requiring them to teach actual facts).

After reading one of the links, it appears this teaching is occurring in a sort of "bible's influence on history and literature" manner, which is probably how they're slipping it past the church & state barrier. But the link makes clear that the schools (with the approval of the Board of Education) are going way way over the line.

IMO, this shit should get shut down by the feds.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:20 pm

You know, I've actually seen that "Descendents of Ham" thing before.

It was in a Confederate history textbook.

Libertad · Post by **Libertad** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:43 pm

name_here wrote:You know, I've actually seen that "Descendents of Ham" thing before.

It was in a Confederate history textbook.

Neo-Confederate: "The Civil War was about States' Rights, not slavery!"

Bub, your own letters, books, and statements by CSA leaders disprove your argument.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:00 am

Libertad wrote:Neo-Confederate: "The Civil War was about States' Rights, not slavery!"

Bub, your own letters, books, and statements by CSA leaders disprove your argument.

I tend to think of it as "The Civil War was about States' Rights...to have slaves"

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:08 am

So are texts made based on state basis or are the same texts studied across the nation?

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:14 am

Bias. I live in Mass, and we never had textbooks saying that Ham was anything other than a delicious sandwich.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:14 am

Texas and California are the largest states, so textbook makers cater to those markets, then peddle the books everywhere else - and thus, small schoolboards that approave textbooks in Texas and California determine which textbooks are offered across the nation. Because California has been broke until lately, this has given Texas disproportionate influence over textbook content.