Defending the need for a parental rights bill at a House Education Committee meeting, State Representative Josh Bonner, R-Fayetteville, acknowledged that Georgia parents can already legally address most of their bill. Huh.
“If I went to Whitewater High School today and asked to look at the book being used in my child’s history classes, they would provide it, no matter what,” Bonner said, adding that she was impressed by the teachers, the principal, Knows the superintendent and member of the school board in Fayette County.
Jumping off the stage, House Education Chair Matt Dubnick interjected, "If you were a John Q parent and not a state representative and you didn't know that administrator, that teacher, that school board, it would be hard to make those kinds of requests." to keep that dialogue open."
I have an easier solution for Bonner and Dubnik than befriending the principal or enacting an unnecessary parental rights bill about what their kids are studying in class: Just ask your kids.
Bonner argues that his bill integrates parental rights in one place, saying it should not turn into a "scavenger hunt." His option is to turn it into a witch hunt.
"At its core, this is an attack on teachers and administrators," said DeKalb kindergarten teacher Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. "What this law says is that we don't trust the experts in this field."
The parental rights bill is part of a legislative package designed to testify the conservative credentials of Gov. The most controversial bill in the package is a ban on the teaching of "divisive concepts," a proxy for critical race theory and discussions about race and racism in America that some white parents oppose.
The divisive concept prohibition assures a clear outcome: teachers and principals, feared by the 2022 edition of White Citizens Councils, will avoid race and racism. Those councils and their anti-unification efforts in the 1950s and 60s would track down "subversives" within their communities.
State Representative B. Nguyen, D-Atlanta, said lawyers for the House Education Committee were also confused on the bill after hours of discussion, and yet teachers would be expected to understand it.
"I am very concerned that this is going to create a cooling effect on teachers, and they will be unable to have thoughtful and honest discussions in class," she said.
While sponsors insist they worked hard on the language so teachers have nothing to fear, legislation with similar terminology already in some states has sparked censorship and complaints.
In Alabama, parents reported to schools to organize Black History Month programs. A Tennessee parent group filed a complaint that white students were uncomfortable learning about Ruby Bridges, who had integrated a white school in New Orleans in 1960. A photograph of him arriving at school as a 6-year-old, guarded by US marshals, has been discovered in the conscience of the nation.
A Central Florida district has canceled a seminar by a local college professor for history teachers on the American civil rights movement over fears it would violate new state law. The second largest school district in Utah banned the display of Black Lives Matter flags in the name of remaining "neutral". Teachers in the Oklahoma District were advised to avoid the words "diversity" and "white privilege."
Georgia House Bill 1084 prohibits teaching that children should feel guilty for slavery just because they are white. In a recent hearing, the sponsor, State Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville describes the turmoil of his own second grader upon learning about Rosa Parks. Wade said his teary-eyed daughter asked, "Why do white people do this? Why do people hate each other, daddy?"
This sense of anguish, he said, is okay, as it stems from his daughter's own "natural empathy" from past atrocities.
What about that tear-eyed black kid who always wants to talk about being chased by clerks in stores who treat him as a potential shopper? What about a Korean American second grader who asks his teacher why someone yelled at him and Grandma, "You have the Chinese virus, go back to China."
Pressing on the intent of his bill, Wade said it would help Georgia "get past the past without forgetting the past."
But racism is not an artifact, whatever Wade or his allies maintain. His law may allow his own daughter and other children to be inflicted over past racism directed at Rosa Parks, but it will limit opportunities for students of color from breaking through today's painful racism.
Wade repeatedly stated that his bill "focused on the child." The question is, whose children?