Institutional Neutrality: The Radical Right's new assault on Academic Freedom

It is easy, if you are concerned about the future of higher education, to focus on the continual war of rhetoric, budget, and legislation coming from Governor Ron DeSantis, Christopher Rufo, and the Florida GOP because that definitely requires our attention, yet ...

... to focus almost exclusively on that would be to ignore a completely different war against academic freedom being waged nationwide by right-wing "think tanks" like the American Enterprise Institute, the National Review Institute, or the Manhattan Institute, along with old standbys like the Heritage Foundation -- and one that, in the long run envisions the political neutering of high education in the public square.

They're beginning the process now, obscured by the peals of thunder and bright lightning created in Florida, by using dryly "intellectual" op-eds in places like Christopher Rufo's Manhattan Institute mouthpiece City Journal by people like Dr. Joshua T. Katz, formerly a Linguistics professor at Princeton, who became "formerly" either for inappropriate sexual relationship with one or more female undergraduates or because Princeton wanted him out of the way because his conservative views bothered the ruling elites there.

Given those circumstances, it is hardly surprising in today's climate that the Right has made Dr. Katz into one of its "poster child" academic heroes or the Dr. Katz himself has become a critic of Universities speaking out -- as Universities -- on the social and political issues of the day.

Arkansas is firing public librarians for resisting book bans

... and the fact that the Radical Right has now moved beyond school libraries to public libraries is not even the scary part of the story.

The scary part is the River Valley City Elders (better known in my mind Doddering Old Guys of the Republic of Gilead):

The problem was that Grzymala respected all library patrons, even those of the LGBTQ community so she offered books they too wanted to read. That did not go over well with the new library board chairman, Tammi Hamby, or the frankly scary River Valley City Elders, the organization with the mascot lion and a claim that the group’s “watchmen” spiritually govern the gates of the valley’s cities.

Here they are in all their glory:

Hoo boy ... We are in some deep trouble.

Duval County Moms for Liberty now going after private religious schools

Moms for Lunacy respects no boundaries.

Here is the lesson plan that a vigilante lunatic mom posted on the Duval County Moms for Liberty Facebook page recently:

And here's a portion of the comments:

The thing is, the school in question is the highly-respected college-prep Episcopal School of Jacksonville, which apparently sincerely believes in its stated commitment to "small class size and an environment that is safe, achievement-oriented, supportive, and welcoming to all."

If you are somehow unaware, the Episcopal Church has an obviously Marxist-groomer-Woke-CRT perspective on America that warrior Moms for Lunacy are sworn to stamp out:

In the first century, Jesus of Nazareth inspired a movement. A community of people whose lives were centered on Jesus Christ and committed to living the way of God’s unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial, and redemptive love. As Episcopalians, we believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death and resurrection saved the world.

We have a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God’s love for every human being. Ordination and the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon are open to all without discrimination. Laypeople and clergy cooperate as leaders at all levels of our church. Leadership is a gift from God and can be expressed by all people in our church, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

We believe that God loves us all – no exceptions.

More White people determining what Black kids are allowed to know about their history

These pictures are here because they will probably soon be illegal for schoolchildren in Florida, Virginia, North Dakota, Arkansas, and Mississippi to view them in their classes.

And just in case you think you're safe where you are, there are at least 18 states now with legal restrictions on teaching about Black history:

Soon, one suspects, you won't be able to discuss the enslavement of Black Americans as having anything to do with race, because, as Candace Owens's brother tells us, it didn't:

“It’s absolutely absurd because nobody really wants to get the real history of it. America was not founded on racism. Don’t get me wrong, yeah, there was slavery going on but slavery itself was not initially a racist thing. It never was about race initially, so to sit there and take it like America was founded on racism is a complete lie.” — Ty Smith

Or, when people speak about reparations, the radical right wants us to know that there should be reparations for the descendants of ... slave owners:

Yes, Black labor in the South contributed to an enormous amount of wealth for these plantation owners. … And when you say, "Who build something?" Well, who designed it, who was the architect, who financed it? Labor's just a part of it. — Jesse Waters

“When people talk about reparations, do they really want to have that conversation? Like it or not, slavery was legal. Their legal property was taken away from them after the Civil War, so you could make an argument that the people that are owed reparations are not only just Black people but also the people whose ‘property’ was taken away after the end of the Civil War.” — Larry Elder

The radical right wants you to believe that Black people weren't even the majority of people enslaved in early colonial history:

“Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white.” — Liam Hogan

In fact, we should either just forget about the enslavement of Black Americans, or acknowledge that they should THANK US for the experience:

“Slavery was abolished a century and a half ago, nobody today has a grandparent who was a slave, and in that sense I think you reach a point where you need to move on.” — Mark Steyn

“Black people in America get special access to essential drugs, receive special federal funding due to race, and are first-in-line for every college and every job. America isn’t in debt to Black people, if anything it’s the other way around.” — Libertarian Party of New Hampshire

And maybe they'll even tie it to current events:

“There was no abortion happening when we had slaves.” — Candace Owens

Be clear here: they REALLY are serious about wiping out the history of American racism.

It didn't exist.

You're a CRT loving Marxist if you think so.

And America's public schools will soon not be allowed to teach it.

States now moving to criminalize the COVID-19 vaccine

If you could make this stuff up, nobody would believe you.

From Forbes:

If two Idaho state lawmakers get their way, it would become a criminal misdemeanor to administer a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine in Idaho.

This might seem to be a curiosity if North Dakota wasn't already breaking that ground:

House Bill 1200, introduced by Rep. Jeff Hoverson, R-Minot, passed in a 78-13 vote. The bill would ban colleges and universities from requiring or promoting COVID-19 shots for students, specifically exclude COVID-19 vaccines from the state's school immunization requirements, and extend the state's COVID-19 "vaccine passport" ban for another two years.

The "vaccine passport" ban prohibits state and local governments and businesses from requiring vaccination documents for access, funds or services. The ban passed in 2021 includes numerous exemptions for entities such as prisons, public health units and health care providers, among others.

Here's the thing: remember when making the individual decision to have or to reject the Covid-19 vaccine was the touchstone for "bodily autonomy" and a rallying cry for libertarians and the radical right?

I sure do.

Funny, now bodily autonomy doesn't apply to women's reproductive rights, the rights of trans people to control their own bodies, or -- apparently -- even your right to receive the Covid-19 vaccine if you think it's appropriate.

It IS important to watch and fight against what Metro Weekly describes as Ron DeSantis's "master class in white nationalism," but we cannot allow that to take all the air out of the room.

They are coming for EVERYTHING you hold dear.

Amazon sells it ... and "straight pride" lovers want you back in the closet

 

Sorta speaks for itself. As do the reviews.

I would never have known about these had not Amazon sent me an email suggesting that on my past record of purchases I might be interested. I am more than willing to share my last five years of purchases with you ... and then we can agree that AI is not yet ready for prime time.

Florida teachers' proud history, regardless of today's radical right destructors

Florida today is ground zero for the radical right's war on education, freedom of speech, and outright censorship, played out at every level from kindergarten to higher education by race-hustling, self-aggrandizing neo-fascists like Ron DeSantis and Christopher Rufo, aided an abetted by the willing dupes of Moms for Lunacy.

The administrative leadership in Florida's school districts has been seemingly cowed by this onslaught of State power, perhaps because the addiction to high salaries and great perks has become more important than the welfare of students to far too many of them. They seem, most days, to be in a race to see who can ban the most books or fire the most teachers (including substitutes) for exercising freedom of speech.

Likewise, the Florida teachers' union seems to be a theater of unearthly silence, which does make one wonder why it is still collecting dues out of its members' paychecks if it is not going to be their voice.

But in the long run, it is Florida teachers who will emerge (with or without their union) to lead the movement to re-infuse the soul of education and resistance to race-hustling fascism in the Sunshine State's schools.

How do I know that? Because they've done it before.

It's more than worth spending the $2.99 for a Kindle copy of Michael Gengler's We Can Do It: A Commmunity Takes on the Challenge of School Desegregation to discover the story of how teachers, attorneys, and community members in Alachua County and Gainesville came together in the 1960s to make integration work in the public schools.

It is not a neat, pretty story because such processes are rarely even neat and pretty. There are stumblings and ugly moments. But the picture that emerges is of teachers having a leadership role in helping their community get it right in implementing the mandates of Brown v Board of Education.

Things could have gone the other way back in 1964, because there were enough radical right race-hustling fascists out there in state government back then to tilt the balance.

It wasn't an easy time for those teachers, as Gengler tells us:

When the Supreme Court ordered Alachua County to fully desegregate student bodies and facilities in February 1970, the schools had to make major changes in curriculum, extracurricular activities, music programs, and so on. The secondary schools also had to respond to episodic but serious outbreaks of on-campus violence.

And he adds,

When problems arose, either from whites or blacks, the administrators, teachers, parents, and students, unprepared, would have to step up and show as much generosity of spirit and courage as was needed to overcome them. On the front lines of these changes were the teachers. Overarching all other lessons to be learned from this story, in my opinion, is the thinness of their resources and the strength of their dedication to public education.

This is a story worth reading, not just to celebrate that generosity of spirit and dedication of an event no forty years removed, but to realize that we can recapture it.

There were devout segregationists in power in this period, as there are radical right race-hustling, gay-baiting neo-fascists creating this crisis today FOR THEIR OWN POLITICAL PROFIT.

It used to be a given in America that you could assume good intentions on the other side of nearly any issue.

This is no longer true.

But it can be.

I am reminded of the words of Science Fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, who later became something of an mascot for right-wing libertarians and conservatives, but who wrote for a national audience in 1948 his essay This I Believe:

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime.

I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses, in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land. I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

If we remember to be these people, if we remember to believe in and support Florida teachers they will rise to the challenge -- again! -- to defeat the forces of darkness.

DO NOT F*CK with FLORIDA TEACHERS.