Texas education board rejects proposal to call slavery ‘involuntary relocation’
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
www.washingtonpost.com /nation/2022/07/01/texas-board-education-slavery-involuntary-relocation/
Texas education board rejects proposal to call slavery ‘involuntary relocation’
Adela Suliman 5-6 minutes 7/1/2022
A group of educators in Texas proposed referring to slavery as “involuntary relocation” in second-grade classes — before being rebuffed by the State Board of Education.
The nine educators made up one of many groups tasked with advising the Texas board on changes to the social studies curriculum, which would affect the state’s almost 9,000 public schools.
Minutes of a June 15 meeting in Austin, which lasted over 13 hours, said committee members got an update on the social studies review before giving their feedback.
“The committee provided the following guidance to the work group completing recommendations for kindergarten-grade 8: … For K-2, carefully examine the language used to describe events, specifically the term ‘involuntary relocation.’ ”
Aicha Davis , a Democratic board member representing Dallas and Fort Worth, raised the wording during the meeting, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune.
She told The Washington Post on Friday that when looking through a hefty package of recommendations, she saw the proposed language the group wanted to suggest, and “I immediately questioned it.”
“I am not going to support anything that describes the slave trade as ‘involuntary relocation,’ ” she said. “I’m not going to support anything that diminishes that journey.”
Part of the proposed draft standards for the curriculum directed students to “compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times,” the Texas Tribune reported and Davis confirmed to The Post.
She said that such comparisons were “absolutely” not fair. “The journey for the Irish folk is totally different from the journey of Africans,” she said, adding that any comparisons “will distort a lot of things in a young child’s mind.”
The chair of the State Board of Education, Keven Ellis, told The Washington Post in a statement that the board “voted unanimously to send the language back to be reworked.” Adding, “this board is committed to the truth, which includes accurate descriptions of historical events.” He said there had been no attempt to “hide the truth from Texas second-graders about slavery.”
The work group behind the recommendation included teachers, social studies specialists, instructional coaches and a university professor, according to a list on the education agency’s website.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday, the Texas Education Agency responded to the backlash the proposal had created.
“As documented in the meeting minutes, the SBOE provided feedback in the meeting indicating that the working group needed to change the language related to ‘involuntary relocation,’ ” it said.
“Any assertion that the SBOE is considering downplaying the role of slavery in American history is completely inaccurate.”
The State Board of Education mandates policies and standards for Texas public schools, setting curriculum rules, reviewing and adopting instructional materials and overseeing some funding. It will have a final vote on the curriculum at the end of the year, according to board member Davis, who said it had a responsibility to adopt truthful information to prepare students for their futures.
Next year, the board will also select textbooks to match the standards they eventually adopt, she added. “We have some work to do.”
The incident has sparked anger on social media. Former Austin and Houston police chief Art Acevedo called it “whitewashing history” and said “slavery deniers are just as dangerous as Holocaust deniers.”
One user wrote : “Involuntary relocation is what happens when you lose your home in a hurricane. Not what happened during slavery.”
Texas’s education system has been the subject of much recent controversy amid a culture war over how historical and current events should be taught.
Recent policies have led to books on sexual orientation being banned , as well as those that “contain material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.”
Last year, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill prohibiting K-12 public schools from teaching “ critical race theory ” — an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is systemic, not limited to individual prejudices, that conservatives have used as a label for any discussion of race in schools.
More recently, a north Texas school district was forced to apologize after an administrator advised teachers that if they have books about the Holocaust in their classrooms, they should also include reading materials that have “opposing” perspectives.
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Any comments about Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, AOC, cancel culture, black lives matter , and other off topic comments will be reported for possible deletion.
The political right wants to white wash American history.
You are assuming it is the political right. Did you read who recommended the suggestion?
Don't see anything that they are from the political right. Considering Democrats are the ones that can't define what a woman, man, or anything else is- there is a really good chance that this came from their own. We all know how the left love to eat their own.
Previous such proposals have come from the far right. Texas still doesnt even acknowledge that the Republic of Texas was a "nation" that promoted slavery.
I see your reply to 2.1 which would also work as a reply to 2.2 (my post).
I reject your assumption, because that's all it is. There is NO PROOF here of any political leaning, you made that up all for your own gratification.
This offering comes out of a working group, of course they will not be identified for purposes of public ridicule or questioning. "Spokesperson" is not a role for a working group. However, common-sense and an understanding of the Texas Law will lead one to conclude who is interpreting the law to mean a change in the wording is "appropriate" - by law.
That would be some conservatives. Good on the unanimous SBOE-Texas to find the proposed wording unacceptable!
Some liberals can never, ever pass on any chance to rag on about Texas and some conservatives.
Even when the article doesn't support their nonsense!
Insert California and the same can be said of whatever it is that has become of Republicans.
Welo, gee, if the article was about Cali, you would almost have made a legitimate point!
Hiding behind 'not the topic skirt' are ya ...
Reading the article, I don't see how you are tying this to the political right. The wording of "involuntary relocation" came from a group of educators, not the State Board of Education. The work group behind the recommendation included teachers, social studies specialists, instructional coaches and a university professor, according to a list on the education agency’s website. Nowhere in that description of the work group does it show any political leanings.
Where is the tie in that allows you to lambast the political right with this seed?
Do you actually think that no one from the far right are in those professions?
See 2.1.2
Do you actually think that these people on the working group aren't Texans
and the majority of Texans aren't conservatives?
It is oft quoted here on NT that the last time a single Democrat won a state wide office was 1994.
Give it a minute and it will be Trump's fault directly.
Re-read the article and maybe next time you can actually respond to what I write rather than some bullshit that pushes your partisan bias.
Well I am surprised by your comment.
I read the article and I can read between the lines.
I believe it's referred to as an opinion;
one molded by where I live and what I see on the news every day.
I live in Texas.
2 of the 31 white guys arrested in Idaho are my neighbors.
A church a few blocks away espouses arresting and executing all LGBTQ.
I awoke yesterday to a massive Police and Fire Department action in
the neighboring community, 2 killed, 4 shot, including 3 officers by some ass
(now dead) with a "military style" rifle.
Causing an abortion is now a crime, the woman can get 2 to 5 years in prison.
Doctors performing an abortion, now face 5 to 99 years.
The Governor, Lt Governor and AG all openly wear their religion on their sleeves.
The GOP of Texas wants to secede again.
And as far as Texas schools whitewashing history goes.
Kudos to the SBOE for doing the right thing instead of voting 9-6 along party lines
like they usually do.
That is what I have been saying. No one can seem to define what these laws target. It is a catchall for whatever some deem inappropriate.
"The political right wants to white wash American history."
It seems that some on the left want to stir up racial division and hate
I agree.
Sorry....it posted too early before I was done
That does seem to be the case here.
Can you even IMAGINE the amount of complaining the left would do IF the 'political right' actually DID all the things the yahoos accuse them of?
Except for the FACT that YOUR article specifically tells us the proposed language was REJECTED.
Had the 'political right' wanted to white wash history, they would have DONE so, but even your article tells us DIFFERENTLY.
Sounds like just another thing for liberals to rage on about in the state of Texas.
I really cant make you understand. That is your problem.
Your problem looks to be seeding an article without understanding it fully, probably because it said Texas in it!
Did you read your article? The Board rejected the idea as soon as they saw it.
I’m honestly wondering if they’d even be talking about slavery in K-2. I think most schools don’t get much into history before about the 4th or 5th grade. And even if they did, “involuntary relocation” sounds a little highfalutin for 2nd grade.
It’s hard not to wonder if somebody was just trolling the State Board of Education.
Anything and everything to enrage lefties here:
Texas, slavery, schools, oh my!
Normally they don't.
I nearly laughed out loud.
Hmmm. Saying involuntary relocation is just a politically correct way to say slavery just like undocumented immigrants is just a politically correct way to say illegal alien. Cute how one is ok but the other makes their head explode.
Cue the rationalilization how one is different.
Yeah. Either someone is trolling the liberals in Texas, or they have decided to adopt their tactic.