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.

CAREER OPPORTUNITY IN TEXAS

by Ruth A. Sheets

On the 82^nd anniversary of the German attack on Poland that began World War II, I want to introduce you to a job opportunity inspired by the Nazis.  All you Texas Republicans, primarily men because conservative men do Nazi so well, get ready to earn a bundle for betraying your neighbors for $10,000 a pop.

Sound easy?  Of course it is, particularly if you are white.  It helps if you are also a misogynist and a self-righteous Christian too. 

“What do I have to do for such a bounty?” you ask.

Find a desperate woman of child-bearing age who may have become pregnant but can’t afford to keep the pregnancy or the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, two very common occurrences in Texas, as you well know.  Note:  This works especially well if you are the implanter of the pregnancy.

Follow the woman around and watch to see where she goes and who she talks to.  If it looks like she is heading toward a Planned Parenthood center or some other abortion clinic, you get to sue that center or clinic or hospital, the person who drives her to the facility, and anyone else you can suspect of helping her, an automatic $10,000 per betrayal.  That’s a lot of money for almost no effort on your part. 

Where else in the United States of America can you get money for a simple betrayal?  Where else do you get to use your sadistic tendencies as well as your business acumen and well-developed misogyny to so much personal gain?  And you thought that kind of benefit died with the defeat of the Nazis at the end of WWII and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe! 

Well, you’re wrong!  And, it’s right there in good ole Texas.  You can quit your old job and grab a few burgers and cokes and just sit and watch those baby-killing joints so you can nab as many pathetic women and their helpers.  The best part of this new career, your hypocrisy will be highly valued.  You say you got a girl pregnant once and she had an abortion because she was still in school and couldn’t take care of a child and you didn’t want to either?  No problem, no one will ask what kind of person you are really.  You just need to be an outward fanatic in a cause your Republican brothers see as essential to life in Texas.

If you are worried about people in your town shunning you when they learn of your betrayals, no problem!  Just do your stalking and betraying in a nearby community where you aren’t known.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

- ability to dismiss feelings that the job might be unjust

- a nominal Christian faith that misses the love part and is into the do harm to those who are not like you part

- time to stalk women of child-bearing age and a willingness to betray them in their time of need

- a belief that democracy is whatever Republicans say it is

- a cut-throat competitive spirit to out-betray the other men and some women who are going after the same money 

Good luck.  Apply at the Texas State Legislature immediately.

NOTE:  This career may be coming to a Republican state near you.  Republicans are really good copy-catters, especially when it involves taking away people’s rights, that is, people who are not rich white straight Christian Republican men.