HB1141: An Attack on Racial Equity Education
Legislation proposed last week from Missouri state lawmakers threatens to rewrite the narrative of history as we know it, removing the presence of systematic oppression, racism, and colonization from history books, lesson plans, and school curriculum throughout the state.
Missouri House Bill 1141 was originally written to offer protection for students whose grades have been impacted by the COVID pandemic; although this could possibly advance educational equity, an amendment proposed last Wednesday, April 21, would disempower teachers across Missouri from being able to educate children on the entirety of our nation’s history.
Amendment 23 to Bill 1141 would effectively disallow educators from teaching what state legislators determine to be “Critical Race Theory.” Some of the topics that legislators have identified as Critical Race Theory include acknowledging systemic racism and the usage of any content that identifies “people, entities, or institutions as inherently, immutably, or systemically sexist, racist, biased, privileged, or oppressed.”
This interpretation is both an inaccurate depiction of Critical Race Theory and pushes forward a false notion that it creates division. In reality the theory provides tools to understand how racial divisions and inequities were created and are sustained by people and institutions with power. Without a curriculum teaching awareness and critical thinking to students about the historical and present facts of racial subjugation and systemic discrimination, we are denying them an invaluable opportunity to learn about the world around them, to teach empathy, and to avoid future harm to disempowered groups of people.
The establishment of school curricula which centers a decolonizing, anti-oppressive, and humanizing framework is an ongoing battle that has been hard fought for on education boards and in statehouses for decades. Amendment 23 and legislation that is being proposed in more than five states around the country would prohibit the use of the New York Times’ 1619 Project and other such curriculum which identifies and confronts the history of oppression. The 1619 Project commemorates the 400 year anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans to the American colonies and reframes the cultural narrative of US history to include the contributions and plight of Black Americans.
We see Amendment 23 for what it is: a political powerplay to limit progress towards racial equity. It is a coordinated effort to scare organizations that catalyze greater awareness and understanding of systemic inequity and injustice — like We Stories, Education Equity Consultants, and Teaching Tolerance, named in the amendment — into silence. As Billie Mayo, co-founder and principal of Education Equity Consultants says, “silence is a best friend of oppression.”
At its origin, HB1141 was a bill that may have slowed the momentum of existing inequities, as it codifies relief from standardized measures of progress by erasing GPAs for K12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that the move to distanced-learning deepened already existing racial inequities in education. Forward through Ferguson’s Still Compromising Series of data-driven storytelling highlights this correlation between trends of racial inequity and the disproportional effects of COVID on Black residents in St Louis and across the country.
The Still Compromising Series also found that access to high-speed internet and parents’ flexibility to work from home are disproportionately unavailable resources for too many Black and Brown families in Missouri. Within these communities, students’ futures should not be further restricted by their grades from a single year when survival and emotional resilience in the face of incredible collective trauma are victories in and of themselves.
Despite the proposed Bill’s original intent, it is crucial that we recognize the detriment its amendments would have on the educational curriculum and student experience for all. HB1141’s function is changed by this amendment and the other amendments that seek to marginalize and criminalize transgender youth and their families. This bill, as is, will cause grave harm to our whole community.
In response to this amendment, it is essential that we hold our legislature accountable. They should consider the impact that the bill would have on all children. It is absolutely vital to educate whole school communities about the history of systemic racism and inequities in order to promote a better future.
Forward Through Ferguson stands with WeStories, STEMSTL, PROMO, Education Equity Center and other partner organizations in their efforts to resist such policy, and will continue to advocate for policy and systems change that moves us closer towards Racial Equity. You can let your voice be heard through this advocacy tool by WeStories.
