Let's be perfectly clear about what Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is doing to Texas abortion clinics: shutting them down permanently by criminalizing what they do on a daily basis, putting cash bounties on everyone's heads, and having them sued out of existence in civil courts by wingnut assholes.
Now let's recall that Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis apparently wants to do the same to Florida public schools.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing a new bill that would allow parents to sue school districts if their children are taught critical race theory in classrooms, which mirrors how Texas' abortion ban is enforced.
DeSantis announced the "Stop W.O.K.E. Act" in Wildwood, Florida on Wednesday, alongside state Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez and Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran. "Our legislation will defend any money for K-12 going to CRT consultants," the governor said. "No taxpayer dollars should be used to teach our kids to hate our country or hate each other."
Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, also spoke at the event with DeSantis. In a tweet earlier this year, Rufo promised to make the concept of critical race theory "toxic" in the public imagination.
Under the proposed measure, parents would be granted a "private right of action" to enforce the state's ban on critical race theory in schools. The bill also takes aim at such training in companies, allowing individuals the right to sue businesses if they are forced to learn critical race theory.
There's scant evidence that critical race theory — an academic area of study that examines the modern-day impact of systemic racism in law and society — is actually being taught in Florida public schools or in any other public school system, but it has become a conservative flashpoint. CRT, as it's sometimes known, is often used as a catch-all phrase encompassing diversity trainings and other anti-racist efforts criticized by conservatives.
DeSantis' new plan comes after he directed the Florida Department of Education to ban critical race theory in schools in June.
The Florida State Board of Education unanimously voted to ban teaching ideas related to critical race theory, making it one of the largest public school systems to fall in line with conservative efforts across the country to regulate certain classroom instruction of American history.
As an example of critical race theory being pushed by educators, DeSantis cited an “Equity Toolkit” posted online by the Arizona Department of Education, which he said claimed that “babies show the first sign of racism by three months old.”
The graphic posted by the Arizona government actually cites studies, conducted by researchers in the U.S., the United Kingdom and China, which found that three month olds of all ethnicities prefer to look at the face of someone from their own ethnic group.
The governor called "woke ideology" an attempt to erase the country's history, referencing the removal of statues in recent years. The bill would also let parents collect attorneys fees if they are successful with their lawsuits, DeSantis said.
Consider the overly broad definition of "Critical Race Theory" that DeSantis himself has cited. The entire point of this exercise is to frighten teachers -- and corporations -- into leaving. DeSantis can simply call any company or teacher who leaves a racist, and he wins.
I suspect the courts will have a field day with this law on First Amendment grounds, but the damage would be done as soon as the law would be passed. How many teachers will quit knowing that angry parents will sue them for teaching basically anything in American history or culture? How many businesses will just leave the state?
The more fights DeSantis can pick on this front, the more popular he gets among the Trump CHUD crowd, and he knows it.
There's no downside for him if this passes, unless Florida voters are going to exact a toll, and frankly, the majority of them will support this.
Pretty soon, I suspect we'll see calls for public schools to be eliminated completely in states, and that day is coming sooner rather than later in places like Florida and Texas.
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