Texas Board of Education received proposal to call slavery “involuntary resettlement.”
Minutes of a June 15 meeting in Austin that lasted over 13 hours show that committee members received an update on the social studies review before providing their feedback.
“The committee provided the following guidance to the working group completing the recommendations for the 8th grade of Kindergarten: … For K-2 carefully examine the language used to describe events, particularly the term ‘involuntary resettlement’. ”
Aicha Davis, a Democrat representing Dallas and Fort Worth, said during the meeting that the language was not a “fair portrayal” of the slave trade, according to the Texas Tribune, which first reported the story.
Part of the proposed curriculum standards, the Tribune reported, instructed students to “compare trips to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary resettlement of Africans during the colonial era.”
State Board of Education Chairman Keven Ellis told the Tribune that the board “by unanimous approval directed the working group to revisit this specific language.”
Davis, Ellis and the Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to a late-night request for comment from The Washington Post.
The working group behind the recommendation included teachers, social studies specialists, classroom coaches and a university professor, according to a list on the education agency’s website.
in one expression The Texas Education Agency, posted on Twitter on Thursday, responded to the backlash the proposal had caused.
“As documented in the minutes of the meeting, SBOE provided feedback at the meeting indicating that the working group needed to change the language related to ‘involuntary resettlement,'” it said.
“Any claim that the SBOE is considering downplaying the role of slavery in American history is utterly inaccurate.”
The State Board of Education sets guidelines and standards for Texas public schools, establishes curriculum rules, reviews and approves instructional materials, and oversees some funding. According to the Tribune, the board will vote on the curriculum in November.
The incident caused outrage on social media. Former Austin and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo called It “whitewashed history,” saying, “Slavery deniers are just as dangerous as Holocaust deniers.”
A user wrote: “An involuntary move is what happens when you lose your home in a hurricane. Not what happened during slavery.”
“Involuntary resettlement” because of slavery? human bondage? The sale and purchase of people from Africa or of African descent? Do people understand that this is family history for millions of you? That this means a civil war for the country? https://t.co/JLnS12l8p4
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) July 1, 2022
The Texas education system has been the subject of much controversy in recent times amid a culture war over how historical and current events should be taught.
Recent guidelines have resulted in books on sexual orientation being banned, as well as those that “contain material that may cause students to feel uneasy, guilty, afraid, or of any other form of psychological distress”.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott last year signed a bill banning K-12 public schools from teaching critical race theory — an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is systemic and not limited to individual prejudice, which conservatives use to label any discussion of race have used in schools.
Recently, a north Texas school district had to apologize after an administrator advised teachers that if they have books about the Holocaust in their classrooms, they should include reading materials with “opposite” perspectives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/01/texas-board-education-slavery-involuntary-relocation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_national Texas Board of Education received proposal to call slavery “involuntary resettlement.”
