Does Georgias Board Of Education Resolution Perpetuate The Racism Of Prioritizing White Peoples Feelings Over Truth?
Credit: getty  The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) has documented over 4,380 victims of racial terror lynching that occurred between 1865 and 1950. While lynching a human being is horrific, even more gut-wrenching is the reality that lynching of Black men, women, and children in this country was considered a form of entertainment by the White power structure. Public spectacle lynchings were those in which large crowds of white people, often numbering in the thousands, gathered to witness pre-planned, heinous killings that featured prolonged torture, mutilation, dismemberment, and/or burning of the victim, explains EJIs report Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror. Many were carnival-like events, with vendors selling food, printers producing postcards featuring photographs of the lynching and corpse, and the victims body parts collected as souvenirs. While that imagery is repulsive to virtually everyone today, within that white supremacist culture the uncomfortable and embarrassing truth is that White peoples feelings (even entertainment) mattered more than Black trauma. As the height of the lynching era transitioned into Jim Crow and the status of Blacks progressed from subhuman to subordinate, White peoples feelings continued to dominate and cruelly constrain the daily lives of Blacks in America. While Black men in particular continued to fear being lynched or otherwise terrorized upon suspicion of angering a White person, virtually all Blacks carefully orchestrated their day-to-day actions to meticulously nurture White peoples sense of satisfaction, superiority and happiness. A ridiculous web of racial etiquettereferring to White men as Boss or Capn, Black men regularly answering to boy or worse, Blacks stepping off the sidewalk to allow Whites to pass and confining themselves to designated Black areas as to not contaminate White spacesall in a concerted, determined attempt to ensure White people remained psychologically comfortable perched atop the clearly defined social order. Arguably, the elevation of White peoples comfort and feelings over all else has long been ingrained in the DNA of White supremacist culture. Today, while we dont have explicit laws perpetuating race-based inequality, were left to contend with the inherited remnants of a deeply racist culture. Since former President Trumps controversial ban on critical race theory (CRT) based diversity training in federal agencies, states and local jurisdictions seem to have developed a new obsession with regulating how race is presented and discussed in public school classrooms. One of the most recent examples of what some might consider self-inflicted angst and hand wringing over the idea of teachers conducting full-throated, candid discussions about the countrys difficult, sometimes tragic, history on race relations is that of Georgias Board of Education (BOE). On May 20 of this year, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp sent the Georgia BOE a letter urging the organization to take immediate steps to ensure that critical race theory and its dangerous ideology do not take root in our state standards or curriculum. Less than three weeks later, on June 3 the BOE passed an oddly, oftentimes vaguely worded resolution outlining a range of beliefs seemingly intended to limit and constrain race discussion within Georgia public schoolsin part out of an abundance of concern that it might result in feelings of guilt, angst or discomfort (ostensibly for White parents and students). To many, the message seemed to beupsetting White students with pesky details of Black oppression is not allowed. At a time when individuals across the country of all races and backgrounds are coming to recognize the history of racism in the United States and its ongoing effects, the Georgia Board of Education has taken the opposite approach by attempting to silence important discussions on this point, insists NAACP Legal Defense Fund Senior Counsel Ajmel Quereshi. Although the resolution does not have the force of law, its use of vague terms employed by the Trump Administration in an Executive Order that has since been invalidated and rescinded is a dangerous attempt to scare educators into silence on basic matters of history.  Just as with voting disenfranchisement regulations during Jim Crow, the resolutions wording is not overtly racist, but the general intent seems eerily clear. In my opinion the resolution is a political ploy to distract, destroy and disturb the educational equity movement taking shape in this state, explains Rosalynne Duff, CBCT, Equity Coordinator of the CREATE Teacher Residency Program. Its a tactic to incite fear into the hearts and minds of the educators, distracting us from the path of truly educating students and providing them with the necessary knowledge to resolve or reckon with our racial past. The strategically, yet awkwardly worded resolution doesnt explicitly name critical race theorythe academic concept developed in the 1970s and 1980s by legal scholars including Derrick Bell and Kimberl Crenshaw. However, these types of local resolutions are widely seen as a reflexive fear-based response to Trumps now defunct Executive Order which labeled CRT divisive, anti-American propaganda. While CBT critics often insist that the theory demonizes White people, the article White Peoples Fear of Critical Race Theory is Based in Ignorance explains, Critical race theory does not assert that Black people are superior to other races. On the contrary, it posits that Black people are equal to other racial groups but have been systematically oppressed because of the creation of the racial caste system. A key tenet of critical race theory is acknowledging that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation, as outlined in the American Bar Association article A Lesson on Critical Race Theory.  The resolutionwhich the BOE insists does not change educational standards or guidelinesoutlines certain beliefs held by the governing body, some controversial, others so seemingly obvious as to lead one to question why the organization felt it necessary to document them. Belief #1: America is not a racist country, and Georgia is not a racist state. This belief arguably defines the contours of the overall document. Another belief asserts that teachers should not use any curricula or instructional materials with concepts causing any individual should (sic) feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex. The document also denounces any instruction suggesting that with respect to their relationship to American values, slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality. Its hard to see how the truth telling of 246 years of chattel slavery, several Constitution signators owning slaves themselves and defining slaves as 3/5 a person in the Constitution to accommodate the system of slavery (which formed the bedrock of the Southern economy) would not violate the resolutions euphemistic belief system. As 2020 Georgia Teacher of the Year Tracey Pendley and others expressed serious opposition to the resolution during the live-stream BOE meeting, the majority supported it stating that they did in fact want to encourage the teaching of facts in the classroom, clarifying that nothing in the resolution should put brakes on anything occurring in the classroom, highlighting that Vice President Kamala Harris said herself that America is not a racist country and emphasizing the fact that the resolution was not a rule but instead a belief statement or affirmation. Beyond ideological concerns, the resolution without question puts many teachers in a difficult position. History is replete with instances of, and lessons about, oppression, Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) said in a written statement released in response to the resolution. Culturally-responsive pedagogy is now being thrown out the window limiting our teachers autonomy to teach something other than what has been handed to them. Good teachers realize that they must find age-appropriate ways to tell hard truths about our countrys past and present to prepare our students to create a better future. Other educators have interpreted the resolution as offensive overreach reflecting a lack of trust in teachers. Blocking, censoring the ability for educators to teach about race is hypocritical and hinders our ability to push our students to think critically, search for true meaning and ultimately be advocates for change for all systems that suppress the voices of all people, insists education consultant Dr. Melanie Dillett-Dukes. We are watching in real-time the fight to keep white male dominance.  Arguably the debate over CRT is a reflection of the broader cultural war intensified by Trumps Executive Order following the publication of The New York Times 1619 Project which focused on the critical role of slavery and Black contributions to American history. Recently, angry parents packed meetings in Georgias Cherokee and Forsyth counties to plead with local boards to reject critical race theory claiming that it distorts history and casts White people as exploiters or oppressors. Some critics consider it Marxist while others insist that focusing on the history of racism is itself divisive. One Cherokee County parent reportedly held signs outside the meeting that read CRT = Racism. Reportedly, proposals to outlaw critical race theory in schools are pending in at least 16 states. As people learn more, they often begin to shift their perspective. Some would call that maturity or progress while others may see it as threatening the status quo. Referencing the resolution as a grave mistake, perhaps the Atlanta Public Schools statement best summarized many educators views. If we are to truly educate our children in a manner that enables them to become engaged citizens, laboring to create a more perfect union, then we must provide them with an honest understanding of our history. This includes calling attention to the long-established systems that reinforce racism and uphold white privilege. It also includes educating our children about the rich diverse history that every group has contributed to our nation. Both can be done without diminishing the very important contributions of others.  Note: Representatives from Governor Brian Kemps office and the Georgia Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment for this article.