MSNBC’s Katie Phang Accuses GOP of Trying to Bury Black History

PHANG: “But those words, they ring true decades later, as today marks the first day of Black History Month, and many educators across the country are grappling with restrictions on how they can teach it, if at all. So far, 17 states have enacted laws restricting how teachers can discuss race in the classroom. GOP governor Ron DeSantis leading the way here in Florida with the most aggressive legislation, with teachers facing jail time for simply teaching the truth. One Florida teacher telling Axios that they’re approaching teaching black history, quote, ‘carefully,’ because, quote, ‘no one wants to be fired.’ So its all part of a broader right-wing push to whitewash American history, a blatant refusal to come to terms with racism in America.”

[Clip starts]
KIRK: “I don’t think there should be a Black History Month.”
(...)
DeSantis: “That particular passage wasn’t saying that slavery was a benefit. It was saying there was resourcefulness, and people acquired skills in spite of slavery.”
(...)
Jones: “The word ‘racism’ is almost extinct now because we can’t discern true racism from wokeness. Wokeness is racism in and of itself.”
(...)
WATTERS: “It’s all activism. It’s all ideology. It’s no history.”
(...)
HUCKABEE Sanders: “We cannot perpetuate a lie to our students and push this propaganda leftist agenda teaching our kids to hate America.”
[Clip ends]

PHANG: “Joining me now is Brittney Cooper, professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. Professor, I get pretty mad when I watch that. It’s a combination, right? I’m mad, I’m angry, but I’m sad that that — this is a conversations we’ve been having now for God knows how long. I wanted to get your thoughts on this ongoing push to restrict black history in the classroom. It sounds like it’s going to get to the point where you can’t be black and actually physically be in a classroom at this rate.”
COOPER: “Listen, that thing has been true for our history in America longer than the idea that we have been able to read, have been able to be in a classroom. Our default position in our country is that black people are not worthy of education, that they don’t get a chance to read, that they don’t have the life chances that other folks have — and I think the thing we should recognize is that is what Ron DeSantis is trying to do. So, he wants an undereducated citizenry, so that he can control them.”
PHANG: “Yup.”
COOPER: “This push on the right is designed to take away our ability to understand ourselves in history so that we are doomed to repeat that history.”