Florida W.O.K.E. Law:
Schools must avoid curriculum that makes people "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish" because of past actions done by people of his or her race."
Studies Weekly publishes short articles on topics in social studies for young students. It is revising its material to meet the requirements of Florida law.
Current material: Addresses Rosa Parks' race and why she was required to give up her seat.
Initial proposal for approved text: Leaves out her race and why a White person had a right to her seat, i.e. the segregation laws in effect. Leaves out that she was arrested.
Updated text to be certain to meet Florida law: Leaves out any mention of race, or the law in effect, or why she was told to move, or what happened to her.
I consider the W.O.K.E. Act oddly self-defeating in its effect. If a goal of teaching American history to children is to create patriotic pride in a country making progress toward "liberty and justice for all," then it makes sense to show the problems of the past, not to hide them.
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25 comments:
“Woke,” an old, rarely used term from the African American vernacular, has been appropriated by the far-White to denote anything they don’t like, including Black history, the Walt Disney Co., the FBI and even the U.S. military. In other words, it means everything and nothing. In their mouths, it’s become another derogatory name to call those who believe in social justice.
American history, especially the treatment of African and Native Americans, would make anyone with a conscience uncomfortable. However, it’s also a history of gradually expanding rights and tolerance. Today the U.S. has people of all races and religions living together in relative peace. That’s what really makes America great, so let's not blow it. We need to make sure that atavisms like DeSantis don’t drag us back to the bad old days.
How is this law not blatantly racist?
Asking for a friend...
Gerald Murphy left the following comment in the comment section of the Substack site. He write satire in multiple venues:
I tried to write a short history that would avoid hurting anyone's feelings and came up with this: Someone recently complained that the Rosa Parks story will no longer be taught in Florida, an assertion I deny vehemently. In fact, here is a direct quoted from Florida’s new eighth grade history text: Rosa Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery. She worked sewing clothes from the 1930’s until 1959. Then she became a representation of the demand for men to act like gentlemen. Rosa Parks boarded a bus and noticed that all the seats had been taken. A young healthy man had just beaten her to the last seat. “You are no gentleman,” said Rosa to the young man. “Have you never heard that a gentlemen should always give his seat to a lady?” The young man scoffed at her, saying, “I paid my fare and I found this seat before you did.” “But I am old and tired,” pleased Rosa. “I need to rest if I am to work all night long sewing clothing for orphans!” At this, several strong men appeared in the aisle, lifted the young man out of his seat, and gave the seat to Rosa. “Oh, thank you,” said Rosa. “I see now that chivalry will never die in the Old South!”
Submitted by Peter Sage for Gerald Murphy
Very interesting and revealing that women are not mentioned in this comment, particularly during Women's History Month. Probably most Americans know more about the history of Native Americans and African Americans than they do about women's history. The ignorance is real. Patriarchy is the problem.
The advocates of extreme social justice ideology (commonly referred to these days as “woke”) have gone way too far in pursuit of their goals, including a demand for rigid racial quotas (they call it “diversity“) everywhere. It’s unsurprising that the resulting backlash is going too far in the other direction.
Somewhere in between lies the realm of common sense.
Dear Anonymous. No comment can cover everything. It didn’t cover climate or income distribution or gay rights or access to Justice or other problems. It was about Rosa Parks.
Please come out of the shadows and write a guest post about women, If you feel this blog does not cover women well enough.
Peter Sage
The comment was specifically directed at one particular comment, not the blog post. Thank you for shining the spotlight on Rosa Parks in this blog today.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a good article online (Dec. 1, 2015) about Rosa Parks and the history of this incident.
It has been pointed out, many times, that some people prefer to comment anonymously, such as your friends in Florida. Why can't you just drop it? Like a dog with a bone.
I was just reading an article that had a brilliant new word for referring to wokeness: DEIdeology.
To honor Rosa Parks, 8th Avenue North in Nashville, Tennessee was renamed after her (Rosa L. Parks Boulevard, as I recall).
Nashville is a Democratic city in a very red state. (Memphis, the state's largest city, also is Democratic.) There has been a lot of tension between Metro Nashville city council and the Republican legislature in recent years.
Recently, the city refused to allow the Republican Party to hold its national convention in Nashville in 2024 (at the Music City Convention Center). The Republican legislature is retaliating against the city. Among other things, the state legislature passed a law to cut the size of the city council in half, from 40 members to 20. The issue is going to court.
Not only is the state interfering in city governance, but there is a concern that the number of African Americans on the council will be greatly reduced.
The buses are desegregated and the city has honored Rosa Parks. Unfortunately, the struggle for representation and political power continues.
MT, I just learned a term for your comments about WOKE: BWOKEN WECORD.
I just learned a term for your comments about WOKE: BWOKEN WECORD.
Eh… what’s up, Doc?
Maybe you should go back to hunting that Wascally Wabbit, Elmer…
The anonymous feminist was obviously referring to my comment, which only mentioned African and Native Americans. It’s true that many other groups have experienced discrimination in the U.S., but none so cruel, brutal and prolonged as the two I mentioned. It’s also true that some of the so-called “woke” can be over the top, but they have a mighty long way to go before matching the hatred and violence perpetrated by White nationalists, including mass murder. I pray they never catch up.
It’s also true that some of the so-called “woke” can be over the top, but they have a mighty long way to go before matching the hatred and violence perpetrated by White nationalists, including mass murder. I pray they never catch up.
I agree. There are definitely worse things than “woke”.
But woke Ideology is a particular threat to intellectual integrity and the pursuit of excellence in our institutions of higher education and science and culture. There’s no reason why we can’t recognize and act against thisthreat, even as we recognize and act against other threats as well.
Let’s give the final word to someone who knows what they’re talking about. For anyone interested in common sense, Jen Psaki does a nice job of putting the subject in perspective:
‘Let your woke flag fly’: Psaki picks apart GOP’s war on wokeism | Watch (msn.com)
Still sounding like a bwoken wecord. “WOKE” has been clearly explained on this blog, innumerable times. Pay attention!
Or you could read this very good description of wokeism by a very left wing guy.
“ Woke” or “wokeness” refers to a school of social and cultural liberalism that has become the dominant discourse in left-of-center spaces in American intellectual life.”
I guess you refused to believe all the times please on this blog explained how wrong that belief is,eh? Still BWOKE.
I guess you refused to believe all the times please on this blog explained how wrong that belief is,eh?
I’m supposed to “believe” just because some people around here repeated an assertion that I find incorrect?
Malcolm - Everybody knows that 'woke' means what the dictionary says it means. Beyond that, it also means whatever the 'unwoke' (or comatose) say it means because they believe in 'alternative facts.'
Yes, indeed, since a logical person can see the way the word has been bastardized. Including you, if you’ll be honest.
The meaning of the word “woke” has definitely changed over time. Lots of words change over time. “Gay“ used to mean happy and carefree until activists took over its meaning for their own purposes.
Now a similar thing has happened with “woke“. I suspect you see a difference in these two cases. I suspect the difference has to do with who you sympathize with, and who you don’t. I suspect that when it comes to “woke,“ my sympathies and yours go in different directions.
More evolution:
global cooling --> global warming --> climate change --> climate crisis
gun control --> gun violence prevention --> assault rifle ban
abortion --> pro-choice --> reproductive rights
and likely more examples to come...
What we see here are excellent examples of conservatives' inability to define what they consider an existential threat. What we know is they don't like diversity, equity, inclusion, Black history or socially responsible investments. Sounds pretty racist and irresponsible to me.
What we see here are excellent examples of conservatives' inability to define what they consider an existential threat. What we know is they don't like diversity, equity, inclusion, Black history or socially responsible investments. Sounds pretty racist and irresponsible to me.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have is the r-word, …
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