The Oklahoma State Board of Education lowered the rating of two districts—Tulsa and Mustang—for offering lessons or training that violated state bans on “critical race theory.”
Let’s be clear: hardly anyone in the state of Oklahoma knows what “critical race theory” is.
The board punished the two districts because they asked students or teachers to reflect on the meaning of racism.
In Mustang, one teacher complained.
Tulsa is a majority-minority district, but it made the mistake of teaching something other than lily-white stories about America., where racism might have long ago existed. Teaching about racism today is intolerable.
Representatives for the Tulsa and Mustang school districts did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday. In a statement to the Oklahoman, Tulsa Public Schools denied that the training stated that people of a certain race were inherently racist, saying it would “never support such a training,” but the system defended the need for implicit bias training.
“In Tulsa, we are teaching our children an accurate — and at times painful, difficult, and uncomfortable — history about our shared human experience,” the district told the newspaper. “We also teach in a beautifully diverse community and need our team to work together to be prepared to do that well.”
Charles Bradley, the superintendent of Mustang Public Schools, said in a statement published by News 9 that he was “shocked” by the board’s demotion, which he called a “harsh action.”
H.B. 1775 prohibits teaching that any individual “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.” It also bans any course material that would make a student “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex.”
Message: Never teach the truth!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Something about discovering the truth about that darned ol’ Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Let’s just keep that hushed up and under the rug (smh).
True. However, it’s easy to blame Oklahoma. Not many people live there. It’s harder to look at your own State (wherever that is) and look at the human atrocities that not only went on in the past, but are going on today.
In his greatest work, Voltaire had his protagonist finally understand that the best approach was to ‘tend one’s own garden’. That was good advice, however it is a bit ambiguous (as all art is meant to be).
We in the United States should best be concerned with our own problems. We in any particular State ought to do the same. We in any Municipal jurisdiction should be staring into our own naval. And, even at the personal level, each one of us needs to address the inconsistencies in our own philosophy. As Jesus (a Jew) purportedly said, “Before pointing to the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, first address the log in your own’.
Have to be careful that your advice does not veer into “whataboutism” as an excuse for inaction. Oklahoma has not operated in its own little historical bubble untouched by happenings further afield. Recognizing errors in judgement in other states does not mean we are ignoring our own provincial failures. What is happening in Oklahoma is not an Oklahoma problem but a societal problem that we all need to acknowledge and address wherever it rears its ugly head.
I got a splinter in my eye once from sawing firewood.
It was very irritating for several days as it ended up behind my eye. It eventually worked it’s way forward and i was able to get it out.
I can’t imagine how a log in the eye must feel.
How would you get a log in your eye, anyway?
Inciddntally, after the splinter experience, I now always wear safety glasses when I saw stuff, which may be shy I have also never gotten a log in my eye.
If you got a log in your eye, is it safe to assume that it would probably also penetrate into your brain?
Maybe it would be like pbineas Gage sho got a bar through his skull (including his eye)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
I wonder if Phineas cautioned people Before pointing to the needle in your neighbor’s eye, first address the crowbar in your own’.
When I think of z log, I usually envision something that is several inches in diameter. Otherwise, it’s just a branch.
So how would a log even fit in your eye?
Jesus raised more questions than he answered.
Logs in your eye, tamping irons through your brain! Don’t you hate it when that happens!
yes, that damned ‘woke’ world expects everyone to not only recognize historic truth but TALK about it…
haaa!
Actually, ‘The Truth’ is never available to the human mind. Instead, we look ‘through a glass, darkly’ thanks to our nervous system. So, let’s do the best we can.
AGREE with “ Let’s be clear: hardly anyone in the state of Oklahoma knows what “critical race theory” is.
Well, I guess we cannot speak the truth about racism. Sweep under the rug. Keep the white population dumb, happy, and psychologically stable.
This means, of course, we will ignore the minority population who do know the truth about racism and live it everyday. I am very sure they feel “discomfort, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.” I imagine at times they feel “guilty” about NOT being white.
Curiously, ‘Racism’ and ‘Fascism’ are very similar, and only differ by one extra letter and the initial ‘R’ vs. ‘F’. .
Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons. 🙂
August 2022
By Ja’han Jones/MSNBC
An Oklahoma law meant to protect fragile white psyches from facing the reality of bigotry is being put to the test.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education punished two school districts for trainings apparently deemed too injurious to white kids and teachers.
The complaint against Tulsa Public Schools involved a training video in which teachers were advised to be “aware of our own inherent biases, as well as historical biases against minorities.”
That passing mention was apparently so traumatizing to the educator, identified by Public Radio Tulsa as right-wing activist and science teacher Amy Cook, that she filed a complaint saying some of the training materials “shame white people for past offenses in history.” She apparently needs to be reminded that nonwhite people have feelings, too.
Oklahoma’s education board also demoted Mustang Public Schools to “accredited with warning” after the district accused one of its teachers of making students “feel uncomfortable” during an anti-bullying exercise. As part of that lesson, students were reportedly asked whether they’ve experienced or engaged in discrimination or bullying.
In light of this news, is there any question how it is that Oklahoma routinely ranks among the worst educated states in the country? The choice to punish schools for offending petulant white educators and coddled white kids suggests racist indoctrination — not education — is a priority for the state’s officials.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/oklahoma-hb-1775-critical-race-theory-rcna40916
Exactly!!!!!
But what affect does the rating have on the the district .How is the district funded? Perhaps I missed it.
It’s about accreditation. More details at the WaPo. Same kind of thing as low tests scores – puts you on a warning/ remediation path with a deadline. What was really egregious: the ‘political’ situation – the one initiated by some minor politico Amy Cook got a “double demotion”, which is not even per the law, strictly punitive. Then this poor other district miles away got the same thing because they felt they had to be “consistent.” 😡
Hardly anyone that’s a fascist who voted for Traitor Trump and still supports the traitor knows what “critical race theory” or any other issue is other than what they hear from fascist propaganda sites like FOX, et al. or hateful, lying, talking heads such as Alex Jones.
Correct, Lloyd. Even I (who have very little interest in ‘race’) don’t understand (or care) about this ‘concept’.
There is no doubt that ‘race’ is relevant to American politics. As Zinn explained, it was important to Britain, as it allowed the ‘landowners’ to identify the ‘slaves’. The Irish could simply ‘blend in’, but Africans? Not so much.
I live in a State that still has ‘Mullungeons’ (sp.?), people with brown skin and blue eyes. They claimed that they were descended from the Phoenicians, however it’s far more likely that they were the result of a community of escaped African slaves and escaped Irish. The Native Americans had no reason to give them any hassle. After all, those three ‘races’ were endangered by a common enemy.
The Melungeon claim to be Portuguese arose from attempts to deprive a family in Hancock County, TN of land. in 1874, they “proved” their Portuguese ancestry and held on to their land. This group has also been attributed to the Lost Colony (the American genetic version of the Medieval view of the true cross) and many other sources.
To me the Melungeons show how important racism became as the 19th century grew.
Another day, another dollar. Corporate greed will take over your state legislature and your state legislature will take over and privatize your public schools. They will use whatever excuses are applicable to the culture of your state. If it’s a mostly rural state, teachers unions with progressive curricula will be the excuse. If it’s a mostly urban state, teachers unions with conservative curricula will be the excuse. Sometimes, hurricanes and floods are made into excuses. The rich will get richer and the poor will get taken over, one district at a time. A great deal of work must be done to restore the balance between democracy and capitalism, work far above and beyond the level of dealing with the excuses they use to call public schools failing, no matter how maddeningly preposterous those anti-CRT excuses are.
Well said!
Ain’t we got fun! The ‘rich’ get rich and the ‘poor’ get poorer.
And, we see, that after a century, no progress has been made.
There is no ‘balance’ between democracy and capitalism. It’s one or the other. Either money (wealth) or people. Time to address the root cause.
“Making whites feel uncomfortable” is the new standard for all constitutional law. And since it will be based on the rules of contract law, wording of agreements, not Ms. “justice is blind” human rights-friendly stuff. Loopholes favoring the right, I mean white, side will be the new precedents.
Strike that “since” above.
Oklahoma is not too concerned about women and girls that must very uncomfortable being forced carry a child against their will. The laws against LGBTQ In Oklahoma must make a lot of people feel uncomfortable as well. I suppose that Oklahoma isn’t too concerned about how uncomfortable the Osage natives were when they were murdered between 1910 and the 1930s. Let’s not forget all the lynchings of the past in the state as well. We really must defer to the fragile egos of white people in 2022.https://www.hrc.org/resources/state-scorecards/oklahoma
Let me say that OK is not my choice as a ‘great place to live’. That’s the reason that the ‘wonderful’ US Government forced the Cherokee to go there (via the ‘trail of tears’). Too dry in the summer, too cold in the winter. However I do appreciate your reference to the Osage.
But (as I said elsewhere) it’s so easy to ‘point a finger’ in order to distract from our own community, and it’s so much easier to engage within our own community. Only those without sin are entitled to cast the first stone.
It is interesting that the first major case taken on by the brand new FBI was the Osage murders.
Awwwww. Poor wittle white peeple!