OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICAN TEXAS LEGISLATORS (AND OTHERS OF LIKE MIND)

by Ruth A. Sheets

The new wrinkle to the Texas legislature’s anti-American actions is forcing teachers to teach alternative points of view related to history, in at least one case, the Holocaust.

OMG!  An alternative to the Holocaust???  Don't you foolish ignorant legislators and school district officials know that we, the allies were the alternative to the Holocaust and we didn't do all that well.  We refused to let Jewish and other asylum-seekers from Germany enter the US.  We did nothing to end the death camps even when we knew about them.  Then, we imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent, mostly American citizens in the most horrific conditions in places in this country no one else would live, just because they were Japanese.  Then we forced them to fight for us, their country that had imprisoned them on pain of even longer imprisonment.  Then, we used and abused service members of color through segregation and other humiliations.  

So, tell me Texas legislators, what is it you would have teachers include in their curriculum of lies?   Which points of false history will you have fed to your young white kids?  The truth might be too painful for their little psyches! 

I get it Republicans are totally enamored with lying and cheating these days to get what you want, so what will you white-wash so your poor sheltered privileged little white kids won't have to read or hear about atrocities done by white people, in Europe or here?  Are your kids so fragile they can't learn the truth and discuss it? 

How do you think your kids are going to respond when they learn that you all have worked hard to deny voting rights to American citizens of color?  How are they going to like knowing you chose to gerrymander districts so Black and Brown votes would be absorbed by the fewer white voters now living in Texas?  What about the warped history and possibly science curricula? 

I am guessing you are trying hard to keep them from learning to think critically so they won't notice.  I suspect they are smarter than you think.  They will find out, you know, even if you don't admit what you have done. 

From your first bill in this recent session to the present including your anti-abortion actions, the legislation you are passing is singularly racist and misogynistic and has nothing to do with truth, justice or what should be the American way.  Neither is any of it about faith or concern for your kids.  It is about control of women and people of color, often through fear and intimidation, your fear of them and thus your intimidation of them

I am interested to see how else you will try to white-wash education for your state’s children.  You've been at it for a while, since Texas began so I suspect you will come up with more ideas and excuses.  After all, the white-washing convinced you to run for office believing you should deny people's rights.  I guess you can pass it down through your family as it was passed to you.  That is how racism and misogyny as well as homophobia and xenophobia continue. 

Scared white people are afraid of losing the unbelievable privilege you of course, claim you don’t actually have.  Like little kids, you will wrap a blanket of vile legislation around yourselves so you won’t have to encounter the “monsters” you fear are under the bed while the monsters you should fear are within yourselves.  

However, you must know, despite what you want teachers to teach, it won't brainwash your kids as white as you would like.  This is still a democracy and your kids have access to the internet and excellent strong teachers who care enough about your kids to teach the truth even if they have to hide it in the garbage you Republicans want taught.    

In some other state legislatures, the white men and some women are licking their lips ready to pass all the same stuff Texas has passed.  However a lot of the people of this country are horrified that such evil is nearly unchecked.  An entire political party has dismissed any morals or ethics it has ever held in favor of fear mongering and passing hateful legislation that helps no one but themselves.  Shame on Texas Republicans and any other states that follow your example.