“Everything That’s Been Accomplished In The U.S. Was Not Done By Minorities”

Texas conservatives who wanted to remove Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall from statewide textbook standards for fifth grade social studies continue to advocate for some wacky revisionist history for their kids’ schoolbooks. You should care because the textbooks Texas orders are often the only books publishers make available to the entire country. (The only other state with this kind of buying power, we’re told, is California.) The first hearing by the Texas State Board of Education happened this week after a report from the revision committee, (appointed by the board and including, amongst others, the reverends Peter Marshall of Massachusetts and David Barton of Texas, both of whom advocate for history with an emphasis on morality and Christianity), recommended the removal of Chavez, a Hispanic civil rights hero, and Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. Gail Lowe, the chairwoman of the State Board of Education, put most fears to rest, however, when she stated that no one on the board wanted to take Chavez and Marshall out of the curriculum. Marshall and Barton also backed away from those recommendations after a deluge of minority groups protested loudly when the report became public some months ago.

Still, there were some rather ingenious arguments made for including more conservatives in textbook sections on civil rights. Board member Don McLeroy uses the following logic:

Everything that’s ever been accomplished in the United States [...] let’s take the civil rights movement for example [...] eventually, the Civil Rights Act,  it took a majority vote. It wasn’t minorities that got the Civil Rights Act. It was the majority that did it.  [...] For instance, the women’s right to vote. The women didn’t vote on it. The men did. The men passed it for the women.

We have no idea how these people haven’t just shot themselves in a drunken hunting accident. The State Board of Eduction does not vote on these proposed changes until January.

Texas activists: Chavez, Marshall must be taught [AP]
TX Board Of Ed Member: Minorities Must Be Thankful To ‘The Majority’ For Giving Them Rights! [TPM]