Teacher, students sue over Arkansas' ban on critical race theory

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Scripps News

Posted: 9:02 p.m. EDT Mar 25, 2024


A high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas on Monday over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.

The lawsuit by the teacher and students from Little Rock Central High School, site of the historic 1957 racial desegregation crisis, stems from the state's decision last year that an Advanced Placement course on African American Studies would not count toward state credit.

The lawsuit argues the restrictions, which were among a number of education changes that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law last year, violate free speech protections under the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“It absolutely chills free speech” and “discriminates on the basis of race,” the lawsuit said. “Indeed, defendants’ brazen attack on full classroom participation for all students in 2024 is reminiscent of the state’s brazen attack on full classroom participation for all students in 1957,” the lawsuit said.

Read more: https://scrippsnews.com/stories/teacher-students-sue-over-arkansas-ban-on-critical-race-theory/

[SARose]

1. Karma

In ya face, Sarah!

The Little Rock Nine

[Ford_Prefect]

2. What needs to be brought out in this suit is the behind the scenes coordination of RW think tanks who wrote the

legislation models to push this forward in so many states. The overall plan is to divide America in as many ways as possible by erasing our history so that it becomes impossible to question powers that be.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Usually ALEC is behind this type of RW legislative crap

offering red states a large variety of draft legislation/templates to use.

When they were "outed" a few years ago, a number of big corp. sponsors dropped out. But once the furor died down, I expect many came back and started the operation up again.

[Ford_Prefect]

5. ALEC is only one of nearly 2 dozen similar outfits along with many, many smaller less visible groups engaged in the same

subversion.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. They are the biggest and most notorious though

(main reason why I brought them up - especially when you see multiple states using the same "template" )

[Ford_Prefect]

7. The are the most visible. They operate as part of a stunningly large, corporate funded network.

[ancianita]

8. ALEC's funders

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council#Full_List_of_ALEC_Funders.2C_1981

Here are some of the foundations that are or have been donors to ALEC:

The Charles G. Koch Foundation and Claude R. Lambe Foundation-- both are Koch Family Foundations that Charles Koch is centrally involved in.
Charles Koch is the CEO of Koch Industries, the "largest privately owned energy company in the nation."[17] Other groups it has funded include the Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Heartland Institute and the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
The Koch Associate program of the Charles G. Koch Foundation also provides ALEC and other groups with “Koch Interns” and “Koch Fellows.” Some Koch Fellows go on to become ALEC staffers, such as Jonathan Williams, Director of ALEC's Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.
Research from CMD and Greenpeace documents that the Koch foundations have given ALEC at least $600,000 in the past decade or so, and Koch Industries has donated an untold amount.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Back in 2012, there was a big exodus of corporations from it

and lots of threads here on DU about that. I found a couple from the period -

- https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10021214189
- https://www.democraticunderground.com/1014163140

Also found one where they supposedly morphed their subject matter -

https://www.democraticunderground.com/101499823

I don't know how many slithered back but I know back then, there was lots of celebration here to finally get a little bit of the knee off the neck...

[ancianita]

10. Thanks for the helpful review. A lot of what DU covers needs this kind of history.

I remember that once Illinoisans complained about the insurgency of ALEC in the Springfield legislature, they got rid of it. It's been a stealth Koch/Mercer/Bradley project for decades.

[Jimvanhise]

4. THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS VERY SPECIFIC

The Government cannot restrict free speech. Claiming it cannot count as an education credit is just a sleazy way to get around that. "You can teach it but it won't mean anything" is underhanded. Come forward and state your objection. Do they even know what Critical Race Theory means? Tucker Carlson once admitted that he did not. This whole controversy was started four years ago when a white supremacist went on Tucker Carlson and revealed the existence of Critical Race Theory and called it a threat to America even though it was only taught in a few law schools as an extension course. A woman who specializes in that has offered to debate it with people but it is easier for Republicans to just yell about it and claim that it attacks white people.

[Igel]

11. There's where there's a bit of dissonance.

even though it was only taught in a few law schools as an extension course.

But it's commonly taught, apparently, in public schools--enough that to ban something that's rarely taught is an extensive intrusion into free speech.

BTW, public school teachers while on the job have limited free speech rights. We are not free agents in many respects.