Teaching Dylann's history.

I have a lot of love for the Color Of Change folks, and I think that they do important work by keeping us focused on issues that matter.

They recently sent me an e-mail which I am going to share with you because the s**t is that serious.

  "Dear Wayne, 

Schools should be a place for learning, not spreading racist ideology. But not in Texas. This fall, five million children across Texas were given textbooks that profess the same toxic and distorted view of history professed by Dylann Roof and defenders of the Confederate Flag.

These textbooks omit, sanitize, and downplay how horrible slavery was and glorify historical figures who defended slavery. All because the Texas State Board of Education has an agenda to promote a neo-Confederate ideology.  

And if the Texas State Board of Education has their way, future textbooks could be even worse than they are right now.¹ Future textbooks could remove altogether any references to Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Codes- the foundation for modern day prison labor exploitation. The half-truths and omissions in these educational materials will teach a new generation of children a deliberately distorted view of American history and the story of race in our country.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. If we put factual and accurate educational materials about Black history in school libraries across Texas, we can give countless students access to the resources they need to learn the truth. Join the fight to get books about Black history directly into the hands of children across Texas.

The harm that these textbooks do is real. Not only are these whitewashed textbooks inaccurate and racially damaging, they even hurt the academic performance of both Black and white students. Studies have shown that both Black and white students who are exposed to negative racial stereotypes about Black people perform significantly worse on standardized tests.²³

The intentional whitewashing of the story of the Civil War happens as early as grade school and not just in the books you read. Right now there are 29 schools in Texas named after generals like Robert E. Lee. There are textbooks and educational videos that glorify politicians like John C. Calhoun, who believed that owning, abusing and exploiting Black humans was key to achieving the American dream and was the architect behind the enforcement of the Indian Removal Act. Too often, the stories and truths of all the Black and Brown folks that built this country are either censored or completely left out of the books we consume from early on in life."

I don't usually do this kind of thing, but... OK, I will go ahead and give the COC folks some love. 

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Pic courtesy of Martin/Flickr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A face only a mama and wingnuts could love.

I have to give props to the crew over at Color Of Change for taking on Glen Beck, (You know him don't you? He is the former drug addict and certifiable crazy person -his mother killed herself because she suffered from schizophrenia-) and the folks at FOX News. So far they have gotten over thirty advertisers to withdraw their ads from Beck's show. Of course that's kind of easy for these companies to justify doing when the guy is calling the president of these divided states "a racist".

But now, of course, Beck is fighting back. And he is doing it by going after Van Jones, who was with Color Of Change a couple years ago, but now has a prominent position with the Obama administration. Forget the fact that Jones has not been with Color Of Change for a couple of years, and that he currently has absolutely nothing to do with the organization.

This is from the LA Times: "During a six-minute biographical profile, set to ominous music, Beck said Jones was twice arrested for political protests and has described himself as a "rowdy black nationalist." The talk show host cast the piece as part of a broader examination of Obama's "czars," special advisers to the president who "don't answer to anybody.""Why is it that such a committed revolutionary has made it so high into the Obama administration as one of his chief advisers?"

“Glenn Beck is trying to change the subject,” said James Rucker, executive director of Color of Change, who noted that Jones has not been active with the group in almost two years. “The issue is his baseless fear mongering.”

Now I have to give a disclaimer here: I have absolutely no problem with the incivility of political discourse as it now stands here in A-merry-ca. When it comes to politics, I am not a very civil person. But I respect those who are, and who fight their battles by quietly organizing. Which brings me to the Color Of Change people.

I have met Gabriel Goodlatte (A dead ringer for Vince from "Entourage") and James Rucker a couple of times, and they seem to be classy hard working individuals, who have mobilized thousands of people with their hard work and online activism. This latest boycott against the people who advertise with Beck is an example of what can happen when people organize around a common cause and goal. The fact that Beck and his minions are fighting back means that it is having an effect.

Glen Beck is going to get his millions of viewers every night. He will continue to see black helicopters and stoke up fear among the...ahem ahem, less educated citizens among us about the black bogeyman living on Pennsylvania Avenue. But that doesn't mean that the rest of us can't flex our collective muscles as well. As long as there is a cultural and social divide in this country we might as well pick our sides and dig in for a long hard battle. Personally, I welcome it. I love the smell of charred red necks in the morning. I hate Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and the rest of the right wing hate merchants who push inflammatory rhetoric, like I do cancer. Actually, I hate them more. At least, with cancer, damn near everyone can agree that it is a terrible thing to be afflicted with. Sadly, the idiots who embrace these phonies, never realize that they are sick.