The Tennessee Dept. of Education is refusing to investigate a far right group’s claims that a second grade curriculum which includes books about Black Civil Rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is “anti-American” and “anti-white” – but on a technicality.
The Williamson County, TN chapter of the group Moms for Liberty had filed an 11-page complaint with the state, claiming that the “classroom books and teacher manuals reveal both explicit and implicit Anti-American, Anti-White, and Anti-Mexican teaching,” as The Tennessean reports.
The complaint is signed by the local group’s chairperson, Robin Steenman, who Reuters has called “an Air Force veteran and white mother of three.” It claimed the Williamson County Schools district is violating the law:
Her comments to some may sound straight out of a Fox News or right wing media reports. They claim the curriculum amounts to a “heavily biased agenda,” one that “makes children hate their country, each other, and/or themselves.”
Rather than be concerned that these events actually happened, Steenman appears to be suggesting teaching they happened is anti-Americanism:
ThinkProgress and Popular Information founder Judd Legum:
Moms for Liberty says learning about MLK Jr's March on Washington is emotionally traumatizing for Tennessee students
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 29, 2021
Learning about past injustices, they say, violates Tennessee law pic.twitter.com/ElOx4ysfJ8