Schools are under attack again, this time by the U.S. Department of Education. No, not because they may discriminate against various groups of Black and “Brown” – a term that includes a multitude of ethnic groups – students, but that the curricula may make comment that the United States was built on “systemic and structural racism,” also a term that could encompass a large group of people.
This remarkable letter sent to school districts throughout the country also includes a complaint form which, rather than encouraging racial and ethnic harmony, actually encourages various ethnic groups, including Asians and whites, to pit against each other.
The first two paragraphs of the letter speak to the moral repugnance of any form of discrimination, but then it moves into telling schools that they cannot recognize and talk about what our history of such discrimination has wrought. The letter does not have the force of law, as one school board lawyer said, but limiting what teachers can discuss in a classroom is a step towards censorship, no matter what you call it.
Prayer for the Day
Give us grace, we pray, to care for all your children,
Healing each other’s hurts and bearing each other’s pain,
Give us imagination, we pray, to look beyond the limits
We often set for ourselves, thinking nothing can help.
Give us strength, we pray, to live each day with courage and hope,
Moving into your future with the promise of true life,
In the name of the One who shows us how to live with grace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
This letter radically upends and re-writes otherwise well-established jurisprudence. No federal law prevents teaching about race and race-related topics, and the Supreme Court has not banned efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in education.
American Federation of Teachers lawsuit statement
This is nothing less than blackmail from the federal administration
Mike Gottesman, NJ Public Education Coalition
The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.
They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
So that it does not hear the voice of charmers.
Psalm 58: 4-5