Meanwhile, Back In The Classroom

If you support the anti-CRT laws being passed, do you believe schools should, or should not, teach the Tulsa Massacre? What about the Tuskegee experiment?

— LolWhatInsurrectionHat (@Popehat) May 31, 2021

There are rules, and there are rules:

Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, attempted to strike the bill down during procedural moves late Friday. He called a point of order, invoking a Senate rule that no vote could be taken on the passage of any bill on its third reading within the last 24 hours of a session, unless it was to correct an error or unless four-fifths of the members voted to suspend the rule.

After a 15-minute break, Patrick announced that the point of order was overruled, but did not elaborate. After West asked again for reconsideration on the ruling, Patrick declined.

What was that?

Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, who called the successful point of order in the House, issued a release late Friday saying that by allowing the Senate vote, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went against the Texas Constitution that prohibits passing a House bill after the 135th legislative day.

“It’s ironic that Lt. Governor Patrick ignored the Texas Constitution to revive a bill about civics,” he said in the statement.

Sunday is the last day for the House to approve conference committee reports and advance legislation to the governor’s desk for signature. 

The Democrats who walked out Sunday also blocked passage of a bail reform bill the GOP wanted to use to keep more people in jail (where they deserve to be!  They were arrested, right?!).  Abbott says he's putting that on the special session agenda, too.  The special session is starting to look like a Christmas goose:  stuffed.  And here's the first indication I've seen of when the session will meet:

In a statement Sunday night, Gov. Greg Abbott said that changes to bail — which he had declared an emergency item earlier this year — would be added to the agenda for a special legislative session. He did not specify when the session would be, though lawmakers are already expected to return in the fall to redraw the state’s political maps. 

(Since then Abbott has threatened the Lege with vetoing their budget, which adds a new wrinkle to all this.) 

Pile all this stuff up with redistricting and it's almost certain never to get addressed; or redistricting will go on for several sessions.  And the downside there is the longer they are kept in Austin, the more likely Dems are to flee the state again.  Good times, good times.   But back to the education bill, which is all about protecting the delicate sensibilities of white people:

Educators say the bill would have a chilling effect on conversations about race in the classroom. Supporters characterize the bill as a way to keep critical race theory out of classrooms saying it fuels division and causes white students to be ashamed of their race.

In Texas’ upper chamber, lawmakers initially stripped a number of provisions the House approved, including some that would have required students to learn the history of Native Americans and study the writings of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Senators also removed a provision that would have mandated students learn about the history of white supremacy and the ways in which it is morally wrong.

Now, the question is:  this article was written on May 28.  The House Dems walked out on May 30th.  Did the bill die, or was it passed because Patrick ignored the State Constitution?  I'm honestly not sure.  The point of order was successful in the House, so there's reason to hope.  Still,  the feelings of white folks must be protected at all costs, so.... 

I am curious whether "supervisors" (not sure who they are) can require teachers to teach Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" or the history of the Tulsa massacre, or of the better known Tuskegee experiments.  Or just the history of the 20th century in America, from the racism of Woodrow Wilson to Truman integrating the military to LBJ and the Civil Rights Act and VRA.  Just for openers.

Honestly, teachers in Texas are mostly teaching to the test, the state mandated testing all students must pass, and all schools must get their students to pass, lest they be punished by the Texas Education Agency. "Supervisors" at the local level have precious little to do with it.  I suspect if this ends up calling the International Baccalaureate program into question (popular among wealthy white families in many schools in major metropolitan areas of Texas), the Education Code will be amended tout de la suite.

This is Texas, after all,  Money still talks. 

Overall I see this as an opportunity for harassment of administrators by cranky locals.  Will anybody actually sue their school district for claimed violations of this provision?  I seriously doubt it.  I also don't see too many courts (maybe in the rural areas, come to think of it) trying to "take over" the school curriculum to enforce this vaguely worded and mostly toothless provision.  It would be expensive (who wants to foot that bill?) and take years to resolve in court, and, as I say, state courts are loathe to "take over" local curricula.  Mostly this is something to give shouters a stick to wave; an imaginary stick they can wave in their imaginations.

The Lege had much better things to do this session.  I think that's going to be clearer as Abbot keeps calling special sessions to do things that don't improve the quality of schools in Texas, or fix school funding (which is still a mess and a joke) or to fix the electrical grid (the biggest change appears to be increased electric bills for everybody!  Winner winner chicken dinner!).  This shit is just getting cranked up.  The Killer Bees may return and become folk heroes once again. (And again, Abbott’s veto threat is another conversation entirely.)

Meanwhile, since I brought it up:

I am 52 and was never taught about the Tulsa Massacre or Juneteenth.

— Pack Mama/Remove the Traitors! (@PackMama92) May 31, 2021

I'm gonna say I was in my '60's when I heard about it (66 by the end of the month, btw).  Maybe a little earlier.  I did know about Juneteenth, but only because I live in Texas (for those unaware, Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865, when slavery was declared to be ended in Texas under Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.).  That one I didn't learn about in school, either.  Of course, I was taught the Texas war for independence from Mexico was because Santa Anna was a tyrant.  The truth is more complicated:  it was because Mexico banned slavery, and the Texican settlers who came here by agreement with Mexico wanted to get some of the money from that sweet slavery economy.  So they wanted the freedom to be slave owners.  Such ironies abound in American history.  Oddly, about the only place where cotton would have been grown with slave labor (and not extensive irrigation, something slavery couldn't provide) was in a narrow reach of East Texas, which was far more forest than farmland, and more suited to the timber industry than cotton plantations; and some parts of north Texas, in the black soil there.  But shortly after we broke off from Mexico and joined the U.S, we broke off again to keep our slavery prospects alive.  Then came June 19, 1865, and what never really had a chance came officially to an end.

As I say, ironies abound.

So many reasons to feel bad about being a white person.  No wonder I'm so messed up.