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57. 106. These numbers speak powerfully to what Republicans don't want kids to know about the U.S. [1]

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Date: 2023-02-18  

This is the kind of stuff that Republicans object to kids learning in school. Just 22 states have ever elected a Black woman to Congress, but Republicans—including politicians, Fox News talking heads, and “Moms for Liberty” types—want us to believe that racism is so far in the past that it’s illegitimate to even discuss it.

Meanwhile, the first woman of color ever elected to Congress was Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink, in 1964, and the first Black woman was Rep. Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968. You don’t have to be 60 years old to have lived in a United States that had never elected a woman of color to Congress. And most states have still never elected a Black woman to Congress—only 22 have.

All of which is to say that as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is moving against an AP African American Studies class, it’s not simply an erasure of history. It’s an absolute refusal to recognize where we are right now. In fact, you could say that the reason DeSantis and other Republicans are so threatened by the idea of kids learning history is because of what they might learn about the present. It’s definitely part of an effort to prevent continuing change for the better.

The United States has come a long way, but the most cursory look at the numbers, at the laws, at the culture, shows how far we have to go. And that’s why Republicans are so determined to throw up blockades to knowledge.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/18/2153353/-57-106-These-numbers-speak-powerfully-to-what-Republicans-don-t-want-kids-to-know-about-the-U-S

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