Alabama Bill Would Ban Teachings of ‘Divisive Concepts,’ Including Race and Gender

The anti-Critical Race Theory and book banning movements multiplying across America are striving to engineer a complete remake of history to cater to those who want to ignore atrocities and injustices done to minorities in this country.

According to AP News, a bill by Republican Rep. Ed Oliver of Dadeville would ban the teaching of “divisive comments” about race and gender. This would include anything saying, “The United States of America is “inherently racist or sexist” and that anyone should be required to “acknowledge, affirm, or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or a need to work harder solely based on his or her race or sex.”

From AP News:

“We are fighting for a colorblind America,” Oliver told the committee. He said the legislation gives clear guidelines to educators about what can’t be taught. Colleges could not compel students to “assent to any divisive concept,” according to the bill.

“The American experiment is a two-sided coin, featuring on one side the promise of liberty and equality, while engraved on the other side with chattel slavery, broken promises to indigenous peoples, and codified discrimination,” he said.

At a public hearing before the House State Government Committee, people opposed to the bill voiced their concerns.

“Education is about facts and truth,” Veronica Curtis-Richie, a retired educator in Huntsville, said. “One needs all the facts, positive as well as negative.”

Steve Murray, the director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, spoke about the fear that teachers may feel diving into specific subjects.

“The American experiment is a two-sided coin, featuring on one side the promise of liberty and equality, while engraved on the other side with chattel slavery, broken promises to indigenous peoples, and codified discrimination,” he said.

Camille Bennett, founder of Project Say Something chronicled her fight to get Black history taught at her school while myths about what happened are still persistent.

“If you feel that Black history, and the nuances of Black history, will hurt the white children — which in my opinion is a false narrative— please be sure to consider how Black children feel when you overlook their history to attempt to preserve the old South narrative,” she said.

The concept of “colorblindness” is a stance of the privileged. Rather, the idea is done to strip people of their heritage while perpetuating the lie that everything is equal for everyone. Running away from history is losing a chance to learn from it genuinely, and it seems that one group of people are too ashamed to acknowledge that oppressive things happened and persist even today.