Florida could shield whites from 'discomfort' of racist past

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Florida could shield whites from 'discomfort' of racist past

BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Tue, January 18, 2022, 5:44 PM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A bill pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel “discomfort” when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation's past received its first approval Tuesday.

The Senate Education Committee approved the bill that takes aim at critical race theory — though it doesn't mention it explicitly — on party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.

Democrats argued the bill isn't needed, would lead to frivolous lawsuits and said it would amount to censorship in schools. They asked, without success, for real-life examples of teachers or businesses telling students or employees that they are racist because of their race.

“This bill's not for Blacks, this bill was not for any other race. This was directed to make whites not feel bad about what happened years ago,” said state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is Black. “At no point did anyone say white people should be held responsible for what happened, but what I would ask my white counterparts is, are you an enabler of what happened or are you going to say we must talk about history?”

-snip-

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/florida-could-shield-whites-discomfort-214413002.html

[Lovie777]

1. These people are sick ....

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. Can't mention history because it might hurt their feelings,

can't leave the house without a Glock and/or an AR-15, can't wear a mask because their poor little lungs can't handle it, can't get vaccinated because of the needles and the injectable GPS tracking chips in the vaccine... how on earth did these delicate little snowflakes survive before their messiah descended to earth on his golden escalator?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. okay but like...what about our racist present

[Caliman73]

5. If we don't have a racist past, we CAN'T have a racist present.

That is exactly why they are doing what they are doing. These assholes actually know that we have a foundational relationship with racism and White Supremacy in the US, but they think if we do not educate the youth about this real history, that it will be easier for them to convince people that we don't have problems today, just whiny people of color and women.

[Solly Mack]

9. Exactly. They want that protected too. When talking about workplace discrimination. When talking

about the kinds of jokes being told or how one employee behaves to another. Or hiring/promotion practices, etc..

They not only want to stop talking and teaching about past atrocities, or the facts about the South, slavery and the Civil War, and those Confederate monuments, as well as Civil Rights, they want permission to be as racist as they want to be now, without being told to stop or how it all connects to past acts.

It'll be the black guy made me feel uncomfortable as a white person because he claimed my joke was racist. Or, that black woman claimed I passed her over for a promotion because she's black and now I feel uncomfortable as a white person. That black man said my confederate flag t-shirt is racist and now I feel bad as a white person.

And they will all expect for the those on the receiving end of racism and discrimination to be punished for causing them to feel uncomfortable.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. This is exactly it.

10/10, no notes.

[Solly Mack]

12. And this will happen in schools as well. Black and brown kids being stifled in speech, and in

addressing the racism they experience while at school.

This has been their wet dream for a long while now.

They don't want to deal with their racism. They want everyone else to put up with it.

[peggysue2]

4. Once the slate is wiped clean?

Republicans and Trumpers and religious zealots will be able to more effectively rewrite history to their liking, as in slave holders being benevolent, true Christians treating slaves as members of the family; that the Civil War was an abhorrent assault on the South, her culture and rights (The War of Northern Aggression); and implementing all the other myths that neo-Confederates, white nationalists and theocrats have on their wish list as a baseline of accepted knowledge and belief.

Democracy dies in darkness? No, our democracy is dying in broad daylight.

[gratuitous]

6. Blacks have to take the full force of the fire hoses

But Whites can't take the shame of holding the hoses? I just want to understand the nation's past and its impact on the present.

[crickets]

7. Florida, why do you identify with the bad guys?

Beau of the Fifth Column
https://www.youtube.com/c/BeauoftheFifthColumn/videos

Recent video topics -

"Let's talk about history and an oppressor narrative...."

He points out that Repubs have turned CRT into historical studies when it's really about legal theories. Responds to a message that says in part, "CRT is racist garbage that only seeks to divide people by creating an oppressed vs oppressor narrative along the lines of race." Beau's answer is to immediately pull the historical window back to what happens with the arrival of Europeans... anywhere on earth, not just North America. Then he pulls back further to point out that power struggles with an oppressed vs oppressor narrative are the human experience all over the world, all through time. The only way to draw benefit from historical study is to discuss it accurately.

When studying history, you are studying about people in the past, not about you here and now. Of course you feel uncomfortable when learning about bad things that happened, but when you feel like you're being accused, ask yourself: why are you identifying with the slaveholders? Why are you not identifying with the abolitionists? Why are you identifying with the bad guys? That outlook isn't saying anything about history, it's saying something about you.

Paraphrased and there's more - I don't know that I agree entirely with all of his points, but he explains them much better than I do and it's a highly recommended listen.


"Let's talk about identifying with the bad guy a little more...."

Responds to a message saying in part, "I was with you up until you said I had chosen to identify with the bad guy.
Talking about systemic racism is where you always lose me... [mentions slaveholders among the founders, comes back around to ask] Does systemic racism still exist today?"

Discussion of the founders and slavery, systemic racism, and finding your heroes in history. No spoilers, and there's an unexpected twist or two. Again, highly recommended.

Videos posted in V&M: https://democraticunderground.com/1017706226

[maxsolomon]

8. And we're the snowflakes.

The stubborn refusal to look at the facts of our history is the shame of Whipipo.

"I'm not black, but there's a lot of times I wish I could say I'm not white".
-Zappa, Trouble Every Day

"We're rednecks, we're rednecks; we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground"
-Newman, Rednecks

[Baitball Blogger]

11. This is an affirmation of what I suspected my entire life.

The entire perception of American life has been a fabrication. It has always been about protecting the sensibilities of white people. And that is why there are so many who will have a tough time adjusting to the changes that are coming to this country. It will be hard for them to live by the rules.