I read this column by Cary Clack earlier today and took note of this paragraph for future conversations (full column below) : "State Board of Education member Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, a mother of young children, asked Jenna to be more precise in her objections.
“Be specific about what you’re talking about,” Perez-Diaz said, “so that we understand that you actually have a legitimate concern or it’s not something you’re just hearing and reading and repeating.”
Sunday's column.
Clack: What, exactly, is harming students? It’s not Gandhi or CRT
San Antonio Express-News
Sep. 2, 2022
In the 2010 movie “Tooth Fairy,” action superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a minor league hockey player who, after sprouting wings one night and becoming a tooth fairy, confronts the head tooth fairy, played by Julie Andrews, to protest. (I felt silly writing that sentence.)
The Rock’s character asks, “Who’s above you? Gandhi? Who do I talk to?”
Until last week, that was the only connection I was aware of between Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Indian leader who is history’s greatest thinker and practitioner of nonviolence, and the tooth fairy, the magical being who exchanges cash for fallen teeth.
At a Texas State Board of Education meeting about the social studies curriculum for K-12 students, the mother of a student was worried about her child learning about that infamous symbol of critical race theory: Gandhi.
“This revision wants to teach a first grader who is still putting notes to the tooth fairy under her pillow about following Gandhi’s lead to a peaceful protest,” said the mother, identified as Jenna. “A first grader! CRT is already rampant and baked into our curriculum, and we don’t want to be good little global citizens where our borders are considered a military zone.”
I don’t have the space to unpack all she has managed to fold into that statement. Nor am I the best person to turn to if you don’t want American children learning about world historical figures from other countries.
In 1986, when my oldest nephew was 2, I taught him to say “Mandela” at a time when many American adults weren’t aware of Nelson Mandela, the long imprisoned Black South African leader who few thought would ever be released. (If Jenna’s child is blessed with the opportunity to study Gandhi, she’ll learn South Africa was his training ground before he led India to peaceful independence from the British empire.)
But Gandhi had nothing to do with critical race theory. He was assassinated in 1948, decades before CRT emerged as an intellectual framework.
And CRT isn’t rampant. Not in the first grade, fourth grade or any grade through high school. Jenna believes it is, and she is upset because of politicians such as Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who are so intent on wanting her to believe they are knights on white horses slaying the dark, dangerous, dragon that is critical race theory that they’re banning something that has never been taught in Texas classrooms.
State Board of Education member Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, a mother of young children, asked Jenna to be more precise in her objections.
“Be specific about what you’re talking about,” Perez-Diaz said, “so that we understand that you actually have a legitimate concern or it’s not something you’re just hearing and reading and repeating.”
Jenna accused Perez-Diaz of belittling her, which wasn’t the case.
Perez-Diaz’s request should be asked of anyone, especially politicians, when they demagogue about CRT. What, specifically, do they mean by critical race theory?
In what Texas school districts, specifically, has critical race theory been taught?
Which writers, do they believe, are proponents of critical race theory?
What are the books they’ve read that advocate critical race theory?
Despite the restrictions in SB 3, passed last year by the Texas Legislature to keep so-called critical race theory out of public schools, the social studies curriculum does require students to have an understanding of, among other things, the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850; the history of Native Americans; the Indian Removal Act; the 13th,14th, and 15th amendments of the Constitution; the history of white supremacy; César Chávez and Dolores Huerta; and Martin Luther King Jr., often called the “American Gandhi.”
If topics about race are required to be taught in Texas K-12 schools, and if critical race theory isn’t being taught in Texas K-12 schools, what is it that CRT alarmists want banned?
And what’s wrong with Gandhi? A child can write notes to the tooth fairy and still follow the wisdom of a man who wrote: “It is a bad habit to say that another man’s thoughts are bad and ours only are good and that those holding different views from ours are the enemies of the country.”
The reference to fundamentalism strikes a chord for me. I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s within that movement (as we called it at the time) and the mindset is very familiar. Perhaps that background causes me to see it behind every tree, but it seems to be a framework that explains a lot of our corrupted discourse in politics as well as religion.
It’s worth pointing out that I’m not talking about fundamentalist theology/dogma. That stands or falls based on different standards.
I am talking about a mindset that took over that camp and gave rise to the trope of the “fighting fundamentalist.”
The main characteristics are an obsession with purity and separation from anyone who fails to meet our personal standard.
It’s ultimately a corrosive attitude that leads to shrinking in-groups and constant splintering.
But it’s a common development any time a group of people have closely held beliefs that they are serious about. It’s so common that we would do well to be alert to signs of it within our own groups, to educate people about the risks and perils of falling into it, and to be ready to name it and call it out when we see it.
Thanks Kristin as you know, as a teenager, I thought for a bit that I’d like to become an Episcopal priest. Women were finally becoming ordained in our denomination. This was in the 1970s. By the early 1980s, there was a change in the tactics of several of the prominent Evangelical leaders. The “othering” of mainline denominations, the scapegoating of many, and the “selling” of their causes embarrassed me. I found myself saying to people “I’m a Christian, but I’m not that kind of Christian”. I vehemently disagreed with Falwell, Dobson, Wayrich and others. My anger and disappointment remains as I’ve watched things only get worse with the “othering”, the worshipping of fear and hate, and the celebration of cruelty. I became a public school teacher and administrator instead of a priest. I’ve loved that calling. I’m even angrier now, watching many theobros call my fellow educators “groomers” and worse. I’m reminded of the hatred in “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. I’m wondering if current Theobros and Christian Nationalist leaders really understand the evil they have enabled and unleashed. We are in for a very dark period if that movement doesn’t change its trajectory. Like a truck in a free roll down a steep hill, many of us will need to work together to help apply the brakes. Thanks again for another great piece.
Even months later I keep coming back to this post and being reminded just how much modern “orthodoxy” (or whatever word is current) is easily reducible to a sales operation). Also to be reminded of the Tim Gloege book, which I actually read before J&JW and which provoked all manner of “a-ha”-ness and dismay and a raft of other emotions in between. The hucksterism is impossible to miss once that connection is made.
I read this column by Cary Clack earlier today and took note of this paragraph for future conversations (full column below) : "State Board of Education member Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, a mother of young children, asked Jenna to be more precise in her objections.
“Be specific about what you’re talking about,” Perez-Diaz said, “so that we understand that you actually have a legitimate concern or it’s not something you’re just hearing and reading and repeating.”
Sunday's column.
Clack: What, exactly, is harming students? It’s not Gandhi or CRT
San Antonio Express-News
Sep. 2, 2022
In the 2010 movie “Tooth Fairy,” action superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a minor league hockey player who, after sprouting wings one night and becoming a tooth fairy, confronts the head tooth fairy, played by Julie Andrews, to protest. (I felt silly writing that sentence.)
The Rock’s character asks, “Who’s above you? Gandhi? Who do I talk to?”
Until last week, that was the only connection I was aware of between Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Indian leader who is history’s greatest thinker and practitioner of nonviolence, and the tooth fairy, the magical being who exchanges cash for fallen teeth.
At a Texas State Board of Education meeting about the social studies curriculum for K-12 students, the mother of a student was worried about her child learning about that infamous symbol of critical race theory: Gandhi.
“This revision wants to teach a first grader who is still putting notes to the tooth fairy under her pillow about following Gandhi’s lead to a peaceful protest,” said the mother, identified as Jenna. “A first grader! CRT is already rampant and baked into our curriculum, and we don’t want to be good little global citizens where our borders are considered a military zone.”
I don’t have the space to unpack all she has managed to fold into that statement. Nor am I the best person to turn to if you don’t want American children learning about world historical figures from other countries.
In 1986, when my oldest nephew was 2, I taught him to say “Mandela” at a time when many American adults weren’t aware of Nelson Mandela, the long imprisoned Black South African leader who few thought would ever be released. (If Jenna’s child is blessed with the opportunity to study Gandhi, she’ll learn South Africa was his training ground before he led India to peaceful independence from the British empire.)
But Gandhi had nothing to do with critical race theory. He was assassinated in 1948, decades before CRT emerged as an intellectual framework.
And CRT isn’t rampant. Not in the first grade, fourth grade or any grade through high school. Jenna believes it is, and she is upset because of politicians such as Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who are so intent on wanting her to believe they are knights on white horses slaying the dark, dangerous, dragon that is critical race theory that they’re banning something that has never been taught in Texas classrooms.
State Board of Education member Marisa B. Perez-Diaz, a mother of young children, asked Jenna to be more precise in her objections.
“Be specific about what you’re talking about,” Perez-Diaz said, “so that we understand that you actually have a legitimate concern or it’s not something you’re just hearing and reading and repeating.”
Jenna accused Perez-Diaz of belittling her, which wasn’t the case.
Perez-Diaz’s request should be asked of anyone, especially politicians, when they demagogue about CRT. What, specifically, do they mean by critical race theory?
In what Texas school districts, specifically, has critical race theory been taught?
Which writers, do they believe, are proponents of critical race theory?
What are the books they’ve read that advocate critical race theory?
Despite the restrictions in SB 3, passed last year by the Texas Legislature to keep so-called critical race theory out of public schools, the social studies curriculum does require students to have an understanding of, among other things, the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850; the history of Native Americans; the Indian Removal Act; the 13th,14th, and 15th amendments of the Constitution; the history of white supremacy; César Chávez and Dolores Huerta; and Martin Luther King Jr., often called the “American Gandhi.”
If topics about race are required to be taught in Texas K-12 schools, and if critical race theory isn’t being taught in Texas K-12 schools, what is it that CRT alarmists want banned?
And what’s wrong with Gandhi? A child can write notes to the tooth fairy and still follow the wisdom of a man who wrote: “It is a bad habit to say that another man’s thoughts are bad and ours only are good and that those holding different views from ours are the enemies of the country.”
This is, as always, very helpful.
The reference to fundamentalism strikes a chord for me. I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s within that movement (as we called it at the time) and the mindset is very familiar. Perhaps that background causes me to see it behind every tree, but it seems to be a framework that explains a lot of our corrupted discourse in politics as well as religion.
It’s worth pointing out that I’m not talking about fundamentalist theology/dogma. That stands or falls based on different standards.
I am talking about a mindset that took over that camp and gave rise to the trope of the “fighting fundamentalist.”
The main characteristics are an obsession with purity and separation from anyone who fails to meet our personal standard.
It’s ultimately a corrosive attitude that leads to shrinking in-groups and constant splintering.
But it’s a common development any time a group of people have closely held beliefs that they are serious about. It’s so common that we would do well to be alert to signs of it within our own groups, to educate people about the risks and perils of falling into it, and to be ready to name it and call it out when we see it.
More clarity. Thank you
As only a good historian can do ... thank you.
Thank you.
evidence! Thank you for your essay.
Thanks Kristin as you know, as a teenager, I thought for a bit that I’d like to become an Episcopal priest. Women were finally becoming ordained in our denomination. This was in the 1970s. By the early 1980s, there was a change in the tactics of several of the prominent Evangelical leaders. The “othering” of mainline denominations, the scapegoating of many, and the “selling” of their causes embarrassed me. I found myself saying to people “I’m a Christian, but I’m not that kind of Christian”. I vehemently disagreed with Falwell, Dobson, Wayrich and others. My anger and disappointment remains as I’ve watched things only get worse with the “othering”, the worshipping of fear and hate, and the celebration of cruelty. I became a public school teacher and administrator instead of a priest. I’ve loved that calling. I’m even angrier now, watching many theobros call my fellow educators “groomers” and worse. I’m reminded of the hatred in “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. I’m wondering if current Theobros and Christian Nationalist leaders really understand the evil they have enabled and unleashed. We are in for a very dark period if that movement doesn’t change its trajectory. Like a truck in a free roll down a steep hill, many of us will need to work together to help apply the brakes. Thanks again for another great piece.
Even months later I keep coming back to this post and being reminded just how much modern “orthodoxy” (or whatever word is current) is easily reducible to a sales operation). Also to be reminded of the Tim Gloege book, which I actually read before J&JW and which provoked all manner of “a-ha”-ness and dismay and a raft of other emotions in between. The hucksterism is impossible to miss once that connection is made.