Today’s episode, breaking down the socio political context that led to the information battles over K 12 curriculum that we’ve seen in the news in the last couple of years, and look at some recent
developments, both positive and negative, to kind of see how that’s actually playing out across the country.

You and yours.

During the past decade, there’s been an increased awareness of racial and other oppression in America due to many factors, including an increase in videos of police brutality. Outcry against
books about black, brown and LGBTQ plus issues being banned in various locales. Virtual schooling due to the pandemic.
And a racist pushback against efforts to present more truthful narratives
of American history.

What I think is interesting is that this
cycle that you just presented is not new, right?

This has been the experience of almost every living generation where there has been In
some way, shape or form, progression that is met with challenges, pushbacks to return to, right, what was known before.

What do you think is especially interesting about this current cycle that
we’re experiencing with the advent of technology access for nearly all,
right? The ways that communication has increased amongst different
groups and thinking about how we have the ability to just absorb
information from so many different sources.
Yeah, I think it’s a huge part of what’s happening, right? So, for example,
one of the things is just transparency, right? These police videos, this
has been happening, right? Police oppression and police brutality, but
now it’s all caught on [00:02:00] video. It’s hard not to get caught up in a
video, right? So… Um, that is transparent what’s happening on the street
becomes transparent for the whole world to see.
I think also, you know, with virtual schooling, whatever is talked about in
school, you know, now is transparent to the home in a different kind of
way with during those couple of years of all virtual schooling. So if
parents, you know, if teachers were trying to kind of tell their students,
um, trying to tell their students why there is this police brutality or try to
teach a real black history, you know, some parents.

Who really buy into the American mythology or racist narratives of
America aren’t going to be happy with that. As a result of the increased
awareness and action for change, we see two juxtaposing trends. One is
to continue to have an honest dialogue about American suppression and
how it continues to impact people in society and then push for change.
And the other. It’s to turn around and sprint to the past, i. e. quote, make
America great again and double down on socializing students to racist
narratives [00:03:00] and ban thought and discussion around American
oppression. I’ll break down the context that led to this and then discuss
some of the suppressive efforts and then Brielle will note some of the
positive efforts.
So first of all, I think what we see happening is that political operatives
from the right are really taking advantage of white rage and fear that has
Come about because of, uh, basically because of the increased
awareness of racist depression. Um, and you know, in my opinion, you
know, when we see this kind of resistance, it’s, it’s also a good sign
because we know that good things are happening or there’s some
progress being made, even if it’s not as much as we wanna see.
Um, but, you know, resistance is, is showing that there is some good
progress. So one thing is we see an increase in banned books recently.
Um, we see that local there’s local fights taking place through school
boards over history curriculum and educational districts. And in those
contexts, we’ve seen angry, usually white parents screaming at school
board members [00:04:00] with claims of reverse racism and those types
of arguments when they talk about like truthful black history being taught
in classrooms basically is what they’re rebelling against.
Now, this being that the. The case being that there’s some parents
involved in this, it looks like it’s a grassroots efforts, looks like they’re
grassroots efforts, but they’re really not, you know, I think these, these,
uh, a lot of these parents are pawns politically, um, you know, because
the efforts and movements here are really led by right wing operatives
that seek to disrupt public education ultimately, um, to help make the
case for education privatization, i.
e. the school voucher system, you know, so basically white rage is being
used to benefit the interests of rich people. So Now, you know, I think
public education is highly problematic. There’s so much racism baked

into it, just like America generally. But the answer is not privatizing public
education, right?
There’s a lot of reform that could happen instead. Um, and one of the
things we’ve seen in the news, especially Fox News is like claiming that
critical race theory, quote unquote, is [00:05:00] being taught in K
through 12 education. This is really a smokescreen. It’s a distraction,
right? Because critical race theory is a graduate level framework for
research.
And, you know, it’s not being taught in classrooms. What is starting to be
taught is just an increased aware or being presented is a more truthful
narrative of American history that includes its oppression, right?
Specifically. These movements, though, are being funded, not by these
parents, but by, again, people that have big money related to the GOP.
So one group is called Fight for Schools. It’s a PAC. Another is called
Parents Defending Education. And, you know, you’ll notice that the
names of these groups is very much like Doublethink in a very Orwellian
1984 ish kind of way, right? They’re not defending education, they’re
attacking it and making sure that it suppresses everyone except the
white American mythology story.
Something interesting to keep in mind, for example, are the recent
affirmative action [00:06:00] cases that were brought to the Supreme
Court that seem to have been led by minority students, namely Asian
American students seeking right to vote. For affirmative action to be
ended. A lot of these efforts are actually funded and fueled by the
Students for Fair Admissions, which is headed by Edward Blum, right?
A white 71 year old who has been supporting lawyers and plaintiffs in
these affirmative action cases for higher education. Um, and pressing for
an end to any. Consideration of race. Um, in any sort of admissions for
college, just as clearly has mentioned that when we see PTA meetings
and school board meetings with parents who seemed just very charged
and upset about recent changes.
It’s important to think about who is supporting those individuals
[00:07:00] and who is informing those individuals and getting them fired
up and riled up and ready to fight. So to say, right. And if you speak to
the local school board members, if you’re an activist, especially, they’ll

tell you that, you know, it’s really a small group of people making just the
most noise, right?
Because they have the resources and backing to do so. So this leads
into the legislation we’ve seen the last couple of years. According to
Education Week, which is actively tracking this still, since January 2021,
44 states have introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict teaching or
discussing racism and sexism in the classroom.
18 states have imposed restrictions via legislation or other means
already. So I’m going to just give you a few examples of those states. So
Florida is the one probably we’ve all heard about. Time and time again.
Right. And we see that it’s all being led by the administration of Governor
Ron DeSantis, who’s also trying to make a bid for presidency.
So I think you have to understand a lot of what he does is trying to build
support from his [00:08:00] base for that presidential candidacy. Um, so
this, he’s an extremist. Um, and we’ve seen that the restrictions in
Florida have, that they’ve passed, have allowed them to remove books
and ban books from many of their classrooms.
Um, they have been able to censor their existing high school African
American Studies AP course curricula. And more recently, it’s come to
light that their history curricula will teach that slavery benefited those
enslaved Africans in some ways. Also, as the new academic year school
year begins, we’re seeing a battle in Florida over the ability for high
schools to teach high level psychology courses because they include
discussions about race and gender and sexual orientation, which the
state has pretty much effectively banned.
And that’s just the summary. Then we have Arkansas. Recent laws
enacted under Governor Sarah Sanders, a former Trump press
secretary, allowed her administration to effectively ban teaching AP
African American Studies. Now when we say effectively, this will often
mean that the legislation that’s [00:09:00] passed doesn’t explicitly say
you can’t teach black history, but what it does say, um, things along the
nature of not having divisive conversations or talking about controversial
issues, basically makes those discussions.
Uh, null and void and effectively quote unquote, um, banned in Virginia,
um, where I live after former governor Ralph Northam’s administration
did do some good work for black history curriculum. Current

administration under governor Glenn Youngkin is trying hard to undo it in
similar ways to what DeSantis is doing in Florida.
One of the reasons he hasn’t achieved more of those because the
Virginia legislature is not Republican enough. Basically, and if those
changes, but if that changes next year during the election, he’ll be a lot
more effective in doing so. So it’s really important to stay engaged with
this. So that was a summary of the negative trends that we’re seeing
across the country.
But again, we’re also seeing some positive trends across the country. So
you know, in this podcast, we really want to [00:10:00] focus and amplify
what’s positive. So Braille is going to give us a few examples of those as
well. So first we have Office
of the State Superintendent’s Social Studies standards are some of the
most progressive, um, they are rigorous and inquiry focused and they
will seek to introduce students to an understanding of anti racism, power
and bias, environmental literacy, democratic citizenship. Civic
dispositions and experiences and global perspectives.
A lot of the commentary for these new standards was positive,
informative, and constructive. Um, suggesting that there’s more attention
to economics, digital literacy, and the recognition of diverse,
underrepresented groups. So we’re really excited to see what this
implementation looks like. So you mentioned inquiry based learning, and
not everyone might be [00:11:00] familiar with that term.
So could you tell us, what is that? And how is it different from what’s kind
of the more standard approach in American schooling? So the standard
approach would be students receiving information typically from their
teacher and textbooks. Inquiry based instruction allows for students to
take a question And investigate and research, um, answers to that
question.
It’s more of an autonomous discovery orientation towards learning as
opposed to one where students are encouraged to just take the
information they are given and apply it for some sort of test or
assessment. Okay. AP African American Studies is going into a second
year of a pilot and will be introduced to students across hundreds of
schools with the first AP exam taking place in spring of 2024.

Um, this course was designed with many acclaimed scholars, um, like
Cheryl Finley, Robert J. Patterson, and Howard’s own [00:12:00] Greg
Carr. Thank you. So we’re really excited to see, um, especially because
there have been some recent, uh, inclusions to. The AP course guide,
including a very explicit acknowledgement of AP’s opposition to
censorship, indoctrination, and an emphasis on the elective nature of
these AP courses.
So while these course, while this course will aim to assess students
disciplinary knowledge, source analysis, and argumentation, and
culminates in a research project and AP exam. Um, we are really excited
to see the outcomes, um, of teachers of various backgrounds and how
they actually approach the course material.
You know, this all sounds really great, um, but you know, what we’ve
seen in the past is that oftentimes when things sound really great, they
can either be a smokescreen for really the opposite intention or even just
not be nearly as good as they seem to in the first place. So, one of the
[00:13:00] key things I think is that this type of course is connecting
history to the present, right, to increase critical consciousness and, and
just the ability to critically think.
So connecting history to the present, um, to show that everything that
happened historically is informing the present and that we need to
understand that in order to build for a better future. So that being a key
part of history teaching, do you think that this course will achieve that?
So it’s really interesting because similarly to college courses, there is a
lot of, um, individual choice that educators and instructors have with
these AP courses.
The course guide is really just that, a guide. Ultimately, teachers will
determine how to best prepare students for the AP examination, which
will have them, um, Um, use some sort of argumentation, analyzing
information, and making and taking positions on different [00:14:00]
sorts of prompts. What’s really interesting is today’s youth has a really
heightened awareness of social political issues and has taken a strong
interest in, um, attempting to make the world a better place, um, in
various different ways.
So I believe that if students push towards that direction, teachers will
have no choice but to answer the call. Finally, in Illinois, the governor
signed a Racism Free School Act that passed unanimously in the

Senate. Um, this is Senate Bill 90. It provides that each school district
must create, implement, and maintain an age appropriate policy on race
related harassment.
And discrimination, they have to establish systems to not only track
these types of harassment and discrimination cases, but ensure that
students are protected from retaliation. And overall, it formally addresses
the need for schools to protect [00:15:00] students from racial
discrimination and harassment from both teachers and other students.
Um, if known harassment is unacknowledged or unattended, it will be
determined to be a civil rights violation with, um, in the state of Illinois. It
is important to know that there is not only power in the instructional
content that our students and children encounter. but in the tone, voice,
perspective, and orientation of that curriculum.
Although it’s difficult to come through every piece of information our
students and children receive, we can do, um, some important work.
That would be to first introduce them to important historical, cultural, and
social content, um, within our communities and households. To try to
find organizations, systems, structures, and communities that we trust
with educating our youth.
To teach them to be critical and discerning of the information that they
do encounter. And [00:16:00] finally, to create a welcoming space for
them to build understanding, seek clarification, and wrestle with new and
complex ideas that they are developing. Yeah, I definitely agree with all
of that. And I would add too that it’s really important to consider the
perspective that’s being presented.
Right, so, for children of African descent, making sure that what’s
presented in curriculum considers them as the first person, as the
perspective through which that information is being channeled or filtered,
right, for that particular perspective to, on the world, which can have a lot
of overlap, of course, but first and foremost, we have to think about a
child’s background specifically.
And I think that leads me to one of my final points would be. There’s this
irony of banning information in the information age. The censorship that
we see happening, or attempts at censorship happening across the
country I think, really, ironically, works against the actual effort or desire
to suppress [00:17:00] information in the first place.

Because in many ways, when it does become suppressed, then it gets
more attention, right? It gets on the news, then we hear about all these
authors who’ve been censored, and then those authors, in turn, become
more prominent, become more famous, and more of their work gets sold
online. Right? So, you can ban stuff in a certain jurisdiction, but because
we all have access to smartphones and the internet, you know, people
are gonna…
Students are going to find out what they need to find out. So, the system
can either help them gain critical consciousness in a developmentally
healthy way by ushering them towards truth and information and
learning how to discern information. Or, of course, it can allow these
people that want to suppress information to do so.
Thereby giving, uh, this country a really, you know, producing a really
dumb citizenry eventually that… Or continuing to produce a dumb
citizenry that will eventually continue, you know, to produce really
backwards policies in the future, right? It’s cyclical. [00:18:00] So I think
if you really want to help developmentally positive outcomes and have
people that critically think and engage in a so called democracy, then
book bans just don’t work.
Obviously, even for those that want to actually suppress information and
continue to oppress others. In this episode, Brielle and I presented a
whole lot of information to you, just to kind of contextualize. Just to
scratch the surface of everything there is to look at and understand in
the present context.
But hopefully we’ve given you enough to at least start the conversation
that starts you thinking, get the wheels turning. In the next episode, we
want to continue the conversation. Um, by providing practical information
or practical tips and tricks, so to speak that we think teachers and
parents are really anyone that wants to socialize our youth can consider
and either countering the really oppressive nature of what’s happening
around them information wise, um, to suppress information or even the
more positive efforts [00:19:00] because sometimes those needs work
as well.
And those needs supplementation as well. So we want to, you know,
kind of dig into how can you supplement and make sure that even those
efforts, you know, get the right outcome for the child that you’re
interested in for the children that you want to help gain a critical

consciousness. So we want to make sure everything we’re talking about
is actually practical for everyone out there and in our lives.
So we hope you tune in to that next episode and we hope you enjoyed
today’s episode. Take care. Peace. Upcoming on Episode 3, we’ll speak
about some strategies for parents and teachers to raise critically
conscious children within these potentially hostile learning environments.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Lib Lab Podcast.
We hope it’s been helpful and that you’ll listen again. Peace.