Story at a glance:
- From May 31 to June 1, 2021, it will be the 100th anniversary of America’s deadliest race riot.
- Oklahoma schools have been teaching more about the tragedy in recent years.
- Gov. Kevin Stitt’s new anti-critical race theory law adds ambiguity to how in-depth teachers can instruct about the massacre without causing “psychological distress”.
On May 31 and June 1, the U.S. marks the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa race riot.
The occasion marks one of the nation’s worst days in Black history: the destruction of Black Wall Street and the massacre of many Black residents in Greenwood.
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Mobs of armed white residents attacked a once thriving Black community in Oklahoma for 18 hours straight, destroying businesses, killing about 300 Black people, most of whom were unarmed, and causing thousands to lose their homes in the process, according to History Channel.
In the rise of teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) – the notion that traditional liberal approaches to dealing with racial inequalities need to be reconsidered because laws favor white supremacy – Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation to combat efforts that he said would scar or divide the children.
“Teaching concepts or courses that would cause people to ‘feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress’ because of their race or gender. It also bans promoting concepts such as that anyone by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” Stitt tweeted, NBC News reported.
“As governor, I firmly believe that not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to define and divide young Oklahomans about their race or sex. That is what this bill upholds for public education,” the governor added.
Educators fear that the new law could have a chilling effect on the teaching of the Tulsa massacre in the state, as well as other issues of race.
“I think the law was written in such a way that there’s so much ambiguity,” said State Rep. Monroe Nichols, who represents the Greenwood District, according to NBC News. Nichols resigned from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission in protest of the new law.
The massacre has been part of the state’s academic standards since 2002, but there were no specifics on how or what teachers should teach, which meant for some students the topic could have been skipped or barely mentioned.
As Changing America previously reported, the state launched a new initiative in early 2020 to support and encourage teachers in covering the massacre. As evident by a NBC News report, some Tulsa children did not know their city’s deadly past.
“For decades, Oklahoma schools did not talk about it. In fact, newspapers didn’t even print any information about the Tulsa Race Riot. It was completely ignored. It was one of those horrible events that everyone wanted to just sweep under the rug and ignore,” Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford said.
As Changing America previously reported, for people like Viola Fletcher who was 7 years old when the attack by a white mob occurred in Tulsa, history is still alive as she demanded justice for what she and her brother endured that day.
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