Stated in the proposed legislation’s language is a list of “unlawful employment practices,” which is a list of prohibiting any “condition of employment […] that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual to believe any of the following concepts […],” including: “An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.”

Diaz claimed in defense of the bill that it’s not about overlooking the “dark” parts of American history. (That’s what he seems to be calling brutalizing, raping, and killing generations of people, ripping families apart.) “No individual is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, solely by the virtue of his or her race or sex,” Diaz said. “No race is inherently superior to another race.”

I can’t argue with Diaz there, but like in several other states attempting to whitewash Black history, that quote is quite different from what is proposed in the actual legislation.

State Sen. Shevrin Jones, the only Black man on the troubled Senate education committee, made a passionate plea to his peers against censorship in voting against the bill. “This bill’s not for Blacks, this bill was not for any other race. This was directed to make whites not feel bad about what happened years ago,” Jones said. “At no point did anyone say white people should be held responsible for what happened, but what I would ask my white counterparts is, are you an enabler of what happened, or are you going to say we must talk about history?”

Republicans supporting the proposed legislation have done so under the guise of opposition to critical race theory, a framework for interpreting law that maintains racism has an undeniable effect on the legal foundation of American society. The framework would be pretty exclusively confined to law schools if not for Republicans taking advantage of public ignorance about the theory to assert that it translates to anything revealing the truth of racism or prejudice in America.

When Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, asked on Twitter why Democrats are so upset about critical race theory being banned, Jones responded with this tweet: “.@ChristinaPushaw let’s throw the cards on the table, it’s not about CRT, it’s about shielding the facts of American (Black) History. Lastly, you can’t ban what’s not being taught, but you can damn sure try and whitewash the facts.”

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