Gov. Bill Lee Signs Bill Banning Critical Race Theory Teachings .

OK now it is REALLY official: 

I know ---- maybe you are saying: "Enough already" but rest assured, we will be hearing much more about this issue.  The MIRACLE passage of this legislation is JUST THE START!  Some teachers are already saying that they plan to BREAK THIS LAW and go ahead with their agenda, there might a lawsuit, etc. 

All this means is that parents MUST be tuned in and watchful about what happens in their student's classroom in the fall and LET US KNOW! 

This subject is NOT going away anytime soon.

How Biden grants and parent concerns of 'indoctrination' spurred Tennessee Republicans to limit how race and racism are taught

By Marta W. Aldrich May 25, 2021, 7:04pm CDT

Flanked by Republican leaders in the House and Senate, Gov. Bill Lee speaks with reporters about legislation that passed as the Tennessee General Assembly finished its session on May 5, 2021.Courtesy of State of Tennessee

For months, Tennessee Republican lawmakers were hearing from dozens of parents concerned about how educators were trying to make their lessons more inclusive in response to the nation's racial reckoning.

One mom even reported that her 7-year-old daughter, who is white, was having suicidal thoughts because of uncomfortable conversations about race in her classroom.

Simultaneously, GOP leaders were tracking bills that would restrict how race and racism are taught in other states. But they hadn't planned to push their own version until the week of April 19, when President Joe Biden's administration announced a new grant program for history and civics education.

The grant program - prioritizing instruction on diversity, anti-racism, and the legacy of slavery - unleashed a torrent of backroom discussions just 2½ weeks before Tennessee's General Assembly adjourned on May 5.

Interviews conducted recently with key players in those discussions shed light on why Tennessee lawmakers abruptly moved to join their counterparts in Idaho, Iowa, and Oklahoma to ban the teaching of topics they viewed as cynical, divisive, and misguided.

The bill passed along partisan lines in Tennessee's GOP-controlled legislature on the final day of the session, with white Republican legislators voting for it and Black and white Democrats voting against it. On Monday, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation into law.

The new law restricts how public school teachers can talk about racism, sexism, and bias in their classrooms beginning next school year. But most educators were unaware of the 11th-hour proposal as it barreled through the legislature during Teacher Appreciation Week. They were focused instead on giving their students annual state tests and closing out a pandemic-challenged school year.

"We moved fast," said House Education Committee Chairman Mark White of Memphis, who helped guide the bill's passage.

"It was too important to wait until next year," White added. "We want our teachers to know that, when the new school year begins, they should not teach certain concepts."

Viral email stokes mistrust about socialist indoctrination in schools

In formal House discussions, Biden's grant program was not highlighted as Democrats inquired several times about the impetus for the legislation.

Rep. John Ragan, the Republican sponsor from Oak Ridge near Knoxville, said divisive social concepts mirroring Marxist-style indoctrination were seeping into Tennessee classrooms. He cited statistics about lagging literacy rates and graduates who need remedial coursework and said "far too much classroom time is devoted to things that do not adequately teach our students reading, math, science and other essential academic skills."

During discussions in committee and on the floor of the House, Ragan also read parts of an email forwarded to him about the 7-year-old student in Franklin, an affluent town south of Nashville in Williamson County.

The story circulated extensively on social media after an April 21 education forum sponsored by the Republican Party's local chapter and covered by the Tennessee Star, a conservative news outlet. According to The Star, a woman identifying herself as the parent of a student at Liberty Elementary School said her daughter came home from school one day and told her, "I'm ashamed that I'm white."

Ragan told lawmakers: "The daughter then asked her mother, 'Is there something wrong with me? Why am I hated so much?'"

"The 7-year-old is now in therapy," Ragan said. "She is depressed. She doesn't want to go to school. ... She is scared to death and has even had thoughts of killing herself."

Bobbie Patray, the long-time president of the Tennessee Eagle Forum, which lobbies on family issues and opposes critical race theory, said the story mobilized people in Williamson County and across Tennessee to call for stricter guardrails on what teachers are teaching.

"It lit the match," Patray reflected later in an interview with Chalkbeat. "It's fine to think about what goes on in New York or California or somewhere out there, but this story about a 7-year-old girl brought it home to parents who said, 'That could have been my baby!'"

"A 7-year-old girl ought to be playing with doll babies," she added.

'I Plan To Ignore It': Tennessee Teachers Criticize Critical Race Theory Ban At Public Schools, Say It Will Harm Students .

Teachers at Tennessee public schools criticized the state's ban on Critical Race Theory (CRT) instruction, saying it will hurt their ability to teach students about racism, Chalkbeat reported Monday.

The Tennessee General Assembly banned CRT instruction in early May, preventing schools from teaching students that an individual is inherently a racist or an oppressor because of their race, or that the U.S. is an inherently racist country, the Tennessean reported. Schools that do teach CRT could have funds withheld by the state.

Some teachers plan to continue teaching elements of CRT anyways, while others view the ban as harmful for students who need to be taught about subjects like racism based on the CRT framework because it helps develop critical thinking skills, Chalkbeat reported. 

American Medical Association Embraces Critical Race Theory, Rejects Meritocracy

BY GQ PAN May 12, 2021 Updated: May 12, 2021

The American Medical Association (AMA), the largest national organization representing physicians and medical students in the United States, says it will set aside its long-held concept of meritocracy in favor of "racial justice" and "health equity."

In an 86-page strategic plan released May 11, the AMA set out a three-year road map detailing how the advocacy group will use its influence to dismantle "structural and institutional racism" and advance "social and racial justice" in America's health care system.

According to its plan, the AMA will be following a host of strategies, including implementing "racial and social justice" throughout the AMA enterprise culture, systems, policies, and practices; expanding medical education to include critical race theory; and pushing toward "racial healing, reconciliation, and transformation" regarding the organization's own "racially discriminatory" past.

The AMA also makes clear that it now rejects the concepts of "equality" and "meritocracy," which have been goals in the fields of medical science and medical care.

State AGs ask Biden to withdraw education proposals supporting 1619 Project, critical race theory

Letter calls for 'a traditional understanding of American history, civics, and government'

A coalition of 20 state attorneys general called Wednesday for the Biden administration to withdraw education proposals that they argue are meant to promote critical race theory and the New York Times' "1619 Project" in classrooms.

The group's criticism centered on recent proposals from the Department of Education that detail plans in April to provide grants under American History and Civics Education programs for a curriculum teaching diversity and the effects of "systemic" inequality. 

In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, the group, led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, argued the proposal was a "thinly veiled attempt" to introduce the "deeply flawed and controversial teachings of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project" to students

"The Department should not adopt the proposed rule or, at a minimum, should make clear that grants may not fund projects that are based on CRT, including any projects that characterize the United States as irredeemably racist or founded on principles of racism (as opposed to principles of equality) or that purport to ascribe character traits, values, privileges, status, or beliefs, or that assign fault, blame, or bias, to a particular race or to an individual because of his or her race," the letter said.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia signed the letter.

STARTING AT THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS IS WHERE THE DEBATE SHOULD BE TAKEN NOW:

New PAC Aims To Fight Back Against Critical Race Theory, 1619 Project By Targeting Local School Board Elections

"Now it's time to fight back." By  Jon Brown May 25, 2021   DailyWire.com

A new political action committee (PAC) launched Monday that is dedicated to eradicating critical race theory and the 1619 Project from U.S. schools by targeting local school board elections.

The 1776 Project PAC, which was started by political consultant Ryan Girdusky, is the "first national political action committee to target local, historically nonpartisan school boards," according to Axios.

The PAC intends to "abolish" the anti-American curricula from U.S. classrooms with the hope of  "[reforming] our public education system by promoting patriotism and pride in American history," according to the PAC's website.

"A new and troubling trend has emerged in our nation's public school system," the website further explains. "School districts in all 50 states have adopted critical race theory and parts of 'The 1619 Project' as part of their curriculum."

"Critical race theory is a radical belief that pushes the idea that America is an inherently racist country and white Americans are stained with the original sin of racism for which they can never be cleansed. Their solution is to remake the U.S., abandoning our founding documents and the capitalist system."