I was appalled to hear about the so called “Texas Textbook Massacre”.  After reading over the changes set to take place in the curriculum for The Texas State Board of Education to be used by over half the nation, I became scared for our country’s children and the fact that history is being rewritten because of a political agenda.

Let me put this into context.  Textbook companies can’t afford to make many different versions of textbooks for different states.  Since Texas is one of the largest textbook purchasers, what they choose is what most of the rest of America gets.  The decisions that they make will likely have an effect on your family.

The following is what the board decided in their debates:

Thomas Jefferson: The board decided that Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote The Declaration of Independence and was the  first head of the census bureau, would be replaced by theologians and philosophers St.St Thomas Aquinas or John Calvin.  This is outrageous on two levels.  First of all, acting like Jefferson was  no big deal and minimizing his influence on our country is an insulting to both him and to our country.  Secondly, isn’t church and state supposed to remain separate? Why, all of a sudden, do they think that teaching about religious leaders in public school systems to this degree is okay?

This country was founded on the notion of freedom of religion meant not pushing one religion on all citizens.  Even the Treaty of Tripoli stated that, “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…”

Forgetting Latinos: In a state that was part of Mexico and where more than half the population is Hispanic, it was a huge slap in the face from board members who made it a point to try and remove many of the important Latino figures. They tried to remove any mention of Cesar Chavez! Even Bobby Kennedy referred to him as “one of the heroic figures of our time.”  Mention of Hispanic artists, leaders and historical figures has been significantly reduced, if not removed.

Glossing over the Civil Rights movement: the Civil Rights movement was about getting equal rights for all minorities.  Board member, Don McLeroy, had the nerve to try to say that it was the result of the white male voter getting it to pass, since minorities couldn’t do it by themselves.  Luckily, he was just voted out of his office.

Members of the board found it necessary to remove the children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See? They mistook author Bill Martin, Jr. for another author by the same name.  The other author wrote Ethical Marxism, which they wanted gone because it was critical of capitalism.  Even McLeroy said, “Well, it was embarrassing.”

While everything has already been voted on, there are still further conferences to happen in May before finalizing the board’s curriculum.  So, if you’re as disgusted as me by this gross misuse of power, call your own school board’s office.  Please do all that you can to make your dissatisfaction heard so that we can stop the rewriting of American history.

Author: Crissy Zamarron