"White Backlash Is A Type Of Racial Reckoning, Too," By Hakeem Jefferson and Victor Ray | FiveThirtyEight

This piece by Hakeem Jefferson and Victor Ray is a bit disheartening, but real, capturing quite well the this moment we find ourselves in of white ethnonationalist backlash and retrenchment. 

Here is where a full accounting of history is much-needed in our state curriculum and public schools, yet this is also what sits at the crosshairs of right-wing, ethnonationalist public policy enthusiasts. In the meantime, if you're in Texas, advocates for teaching the truth need to be present at the April 5, 2022 meeting of the Texas State Board of Education to testify on the K-12 Social Studies Standards. More on this later as the date approaches. 

In the meantime, check out these pertinent news: Scholar who called Biden election a 'literal coup' advising Texas social studies curriculum review. Clearly, we need credible members on these curriculum review teams. If you're interested in being on one of these teams, reach out to whoever represents you and ask to be on one of the teams. In particular, it would be helpful to get historians and social studies experts, professors, graduate students, and teachers to serve as evaluators, in particular, to counter-balance Professor 

Stephen Balch who is a conspiracy theorist.
This link gives you access to the implications of Senate Bill 3, Texas' "anti-Critical Race Theory bill," to state curriculum: Senate Bill 3, 87th Texas Legislature, Second Called Session – Update to Instructional Requirements and Prohibitions.

The Texas State Board of Education has always been a space of contestation. The stakes are as high today as they've ever been. Let's defend the teaching of truth in history and in our social studies curriculum, generally. 

From an organizing perspective, now, more than ever, our African American, Latina/o/x, Asian American and Native American communities with white allies need to come together and form coalitions of conscience so that we can effectively challenge the white backlash we're witnessing right now in local, state, and national-level politics.

We also all need everybody to vote. If you're in Austin, here is the info on
Travis County: Early Voting Locations 2022. If you're not in Austin, here is an informational County Elections web page from the Texas Secretary of State where you can locate voting information for every county statewide.

-Angela Valenzuela

Reference

Jefferson, H. & Ray, V. (2022, Jan. 6). White backlash is a type of racial reckoning, too, FiveThirtyEight, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/white-backlash-is-a-type-of-racial-reckoning-too/

JAN. 6, 2022, AT 6:00 AM

White Backlash Is A Type Of Racial Reckoning, Too

By Hakeem Jefferson and Victor Ray | FiveThirtyEight

Filed under Racial reckoning



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