Last year a Rhode Island Republican state lawmaker made nationwide news after claiming to have once “had a Black friend,” lamenting that she lost her despite having done nothing “except be white.” Rep. Patricia Morgan (photo) recently filed a bill targeting schools that could be described as “Don’t Say Black, Don’t Say Gay.”
Morgan in December was thoroughly mocked over this tweet, which as of this writing is still posted on Twitter:
Her latest legislation, H7539, may prove to provoke a similar response. It is another GOP bill designed to erase LGBTQ people from public schools, and to whitewash slavery.
It uses terms like “sexual preference,” which hasn’t been in accepted use for decades, and “sexual lifestyles,” which, given it refers to minors, is disturbing:
“The sexualization of children shall not be permitted in educational or extracurricular activities,” Rep. Morgan’s bill reads. “Sex education shall not explore sexual preference, gender dysphoria, or sexual lifestyles.”
Uprise RI describes Rep. Morgan’s bill as “racist, anti trans anti public education” legislation. In their report they included a massive 43 videos of people, mostly students, speaking against the legislation at Monday’s committee hearing.
“To justify her position, Representative Morgan made a series of claims that ranged from the banal to the outrageous. Some of what she said was factually incorrect – what could be classified as lies,” Uprise RI reported.
Morgan’s bill is steeped in what sounds like reasonable rhetoric, but that quickly unravels into far-right extremism.
“Racial slurs or terms that describe race, ethnicity, gender or religion in a pejorative context shall not be presented or used in schools,” part of the bill reads. That sounds perfectly acceptable, you’re probably thinking about terms like the “n” word, but no, that’s not what she means, according to what’s in the bill:
“Examples of prohibited terms include ‘supremacy,’ ‘racial guilt,’ ‘racial fragility,’ and other racial slurs or terms used to cast negative opinions on individuals based upon race, ethnicity, gender, or religion.”
There’s a good dose of fake anti-CRT rhetoric, like: “An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.”
There’s also a move to not judge historical figures for their actions as long as they were somewhat accepted norms at the time, for instance, “owning” people as slaves.
“History shall be taught using the standards, customs, and traditions in use at the time of the historical event.”
The bill is a pro-slavery and Holocaust denier’s dream.
“Books and instructional materials shall not center any race, ethnicity, gender, religion or viewpoint. Instructors, librarians, and all school personnel who interact with children are required to use books that balance instruction and promote critical thinking. In all curricula where ideological material is studied in an educational facility, students shall be exposed to the alternative perspective to achieve educational balance. Provided, historical, factual events shall be taught and presented as historical, factual events, as part of a high quality curricula.”
“Schools shall not use the 1619 Project curriculum or any other curricula that pursues a
predominantly ideological and/or activist outcome.”
Here’s one student’s brilliant testimony during Monday’s legislative committee hearing: