Alabama's "Thank God I was born White" bill
"Be suspicious of simple answers.... That shit's for fascists and maybe teenagers"
To those of us who were fortunate enough to be born White, Cisgender, and Heterosexual…well, it’s good to be King, yeah?
To the rest of you, I’m not quite sure what to say except that it sucks to be you in America today, a place where diversity is valued in some, but certainly not all, places. It would seem that the number of states that can credibly claim to value diversity is on the decline.
The latest to bite the dust is Alabama. No surprise there, I suppose. Alabama has always been a state designed of, by, and for the interests of good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual males. It’s just been a question of how overt the American judicial system has allowed them to be about it.
Now the Yellowhammer State’s at it again. This time, they’re killing off diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Because DEI is viewed by the good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual folks in the Alabama Legislature as “divisive.” Uh-huh….
Yeah, you wouldn’t wait to hurt the tender sensbilities of White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexuals by teaching their children that their forebears were oppressors, would you?
Historical truths can be SO inconvenient.
Alabama’s GOP-led legislature passed a sweeping new measure on Tuesday that would ban state funding for diversity programs at public universities and other government entities, an effort opponents say would undo decades of advancements in civil rights.
Lawmakers in the state Senate overwhelmingly passed the new bill, which, if signed into law, would broadly ban programs that advocate for “divisive concepts.” Public universities, state agencies and local boards of education would not be allowed to use state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs. And the bill would also ban transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities.
Republican Governor Kay Ivey just signed the bill into law.
Democrats, understandably, are concerned about the broad language in the bill that would bar the teaching, for example, that White people were responsible for slavery.
So, who would they lay the blame on, then? Packer fans? Democrats? Supporters of Joe Biden?
White folks WERE responsible for slavery…so now they’re going to be taught that Blacks were enslaved because they needed to learn job skills and get three squares a day while they were training?
Democrats have expressed alarm about the broad language used in the bill, specifically the ban on “divisive concepts.” As written, the measure would ban teaching that links “fault, blame or bias” to any race, religion, gender or nationality. The bill would also bar instruction that a person is “inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, religion, sex ethnicity or national origin.”
Any teacher or employee that violates the bill would be subject to disciplinary action or termination. The bill does note that DEI programs are allowed on campuses as long as no state funds are used to sponsor such programs.
Democrats in the state expressed deep concern about the bill on Tuesday, pointing to the state’s racist past.
“Pointing to the state’s racist past.” That would be something of an understatement, no? Alabama wasn’t exactly friendly to Blacks even once Lincoln freed the slaves during the Civil War. And some White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexuals still aren’t sure that the “War Between the States” has ended.
It’s interesting to note that even though Blacks in Alabama pay taxes just as Whites do, their taxes can’t be used to teach their history, nor can they be used to support programs that teach diversity, equity, and inclusion. What the predominantly White Legislature is doing, then, is denying Black Alabama residents an equal opportunity to access and learn about their heritage, as Whites are allowed to do.
Because only White history matters.
Black history is, as such, defined as less significant than White history and, therefore, unworthy of tax dollars being delegated to support the teaching of it. Because, when you break it down, Black lives DON’T matter.
Once again, we see that little by little, Republicans are using their majority in a red state to define those who aren’t good, God-fearing, White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexuals as “less than.”
Welcome to 21st-century AmeriKKKa, y’all….
“It is allowing our racial ethnicity, and the significance of our skin color, to be slowly stripped away, in every shape, form or fashion,” state Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D) said on the statehouse floor, per the Alabama Reflector.
“The advancements that we have made — race relations, human rights, social rights, social justice — in this country,” she added, “They’re slowly rolling it back.”
Civil rights groups have condemned the measure. PEN America called the bill a “pernicious educational gag order” that would lead to campuses “devoid of intellectual freedom.” And the ACLU of Alabama said the passage was a “blow” for students, activists and everyday Alabamans who “showed up to oppose these bills.”
Yes, here in 2024, good and decent Americans are once again having to fight the bastards for the right to be treated like human beings.
Haven’t we seen this movie before?
If I was of the greatest generation I'd be pissed
Surveying the world that I built, slipping back into this
I'd be screaming at my grand kids: "We already did this"
Be suspicious of simple answers
That shit's for fascists and maybe teenagers
You can't fix the world if all you have is a hammerThe first time it was a tragedy
The second time it's a farce
Outside it's 1933 so I'm hitting the barBut I don't know what's going on anymore
The world outside is burning with a brand new light
But it isn't one that makes me feel warm
Don't go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn
Don't go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn
For the dawnAren't you ashamed of this? I surely hope that you are
Living in a society that's maybe heading for Mars
But down here we still have a shower of bastards leading the charge
Outside it's 1933 so I am hitting the bar
Frank Turner, 1933
DEI programs have increasingly become targets for Republicans since Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting them in 2020. Trump called DEI programs divisive efforts intended to cater to the Left. Sure, because diversity, equity, and inclusion are evil leftist programs that cater to Black activism and are intended to teach them that their lives matter.
How insidious. How frightening to the established order, eh?
In reality, Trump’s executive order was just another brick in the wall of his grievance politics. It was one more effort to give his base someone to hate and to blame for problems that didn’t exist. Nonetheless, the executive order helped to deflect attention from the winds of incompetence that were buffeting Trump at the time.
“This legislation will build bridges to celebrate what people have in common, not erect walls that silo people into the idea that their race, religion, and sexual orientation solely define who they are and how society should view them,” state Sen. Will Barfoot (R) said in a statement last month.
Florida and Texas passed similar legislation, which prompted some colleges to eliminate DEI-related positions to comply with such regulations.
For Republicans, eliminating DEI programs has never been about celebrating what people have in common. When programs are eliminated, they’re not replaced with anything intended to meet the goals they espouse. The funding is eliminated, the DEI programs disappear, and White folks go on their merry way. And why shouldn’t they? They’re sitting on top of the socioeconomic pyramid.
It’s almost like Black people and their history cease to exist. Which, if Republicans had their way, is more or less what would happen.
The Civil Rights Era seems like such a long time ago.
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