The Wednesday edition of CNN This Morning reacted to the news that Arkansas will not be offering AP African American Studies for graduation credits by tying the move to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s campaign against Critical Race Theory and everyone from the former Democrat, supposed fact checker, and Republican deputy chief of staff all agreed: Republicans want children to be dumber.
Co-host Poppy Harlow got the ball rolling by pointing out to former Democratic South Carolina State Rep. Bakari Sellers that the Arkansas Department of Education has said, “We teach it, you know, a course, it covers African-American history, that you get credit for, this is not something to be concerned about. What do you say?”
Sellers wasted no time in getting to the hysteria, “This is what structural racism looks like.” He also provided a theory for why Republicans are passing anti-CRT laws, “I have come to realize it's a lot of white folk not wanting to recognize or deal with what white people did in this country throughout history.”
Torching some more straw men, Sellers continued, “But to be in Arkansas where you have the history of the Little Rock Nine and say that we're not going to teach AP African-American History is absurd.”
Senior political analyst John Avlon fancies himself as a “realty checker,” but instead of fact-checking Sellers’s assertion that the Little Rock Nine won’t be taught in Arkansas schools, he agreed with it, “it’s the importance of learning the history behind the headlines. You know, if you don’t know what happened in Little Rock High School in 1957, that's presumably part of that course.”
In more straw burning, Avlon added:
We should be doing is teaching much more civics education, I’m incredibly passionate about that. Much more American history, the good, the bad and the ugly, embrace all of it, understand all of it. And we can have a debate about the outer reaches and sometimes people try to push ideological agendas, but when you start trying to pull books and pull courses, that's just about dumbing down our discourse rather than elevating it up.
Co-host Phil Mattingly then turned to former deputy chief of staff for Adam Kinzinger and press advisor to Speaker John Boehner, Maura Gillespie and asked “how much of this, though, is, kind of, a strategy, a plan and how much of this is, you know, you look at the number particularly on a state and local level of CRT-related legislation… Am I minimizing this, Maura—am I not giving enough credit to some broader effort or plan here or is this just political points that people feel like they have scored?”
Gillespie apparently thinks that because Critical Race Theory has the word “critical” in its name, it must promote critical thinking, “You know, we should want our children to learn critical thinking, so it's not indoctrination, I think that's really misleading and that’s putting it kindly. I think having an education on all of our history, the good, the bad, the ugly, as John said, is so important to our critical thinking skills as children and as young people.”
As for Sellers, he equated not teaching a book in class with banning it, “I mean, we're watching, I mean, in South Carolina they actually banned Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book. I mean this is, like, patently absurd and so instead of educating our children, we're making them dumber and Republican voters hope dumb children vote for them.”
Since Sellers didn’t mention it, it should be noted that the class was an English class, not a history or civics class. Maybe CNN wants its viewers to be dumber.
This segment was sponsored by Volkswagen.
Here is a transcript for the August 16 show:
CNN This Morning
8/16/2023
6:49 PM ET
POPPY HARLOW: Bakari, they’re saying this is pilot. We teach it, you know, a course, it covers African-American history, that you get credit for, this is not something to be concerned about. What do you say?
BAKARI SELLERS: This is what structural racism looks like. And I have a fascinating theory about taking books out of schools, not teaching AP U.S. history. And for a long period of time I thought it was that individuals were afraid of black young people having some level of self-empowerment and seeing the struggle, the perseverance, seeing the history that we made in this country. But I have come to realize it's a lot of white folk not wanting to recognize or deal with what white people did in this country throughout history.
And I think what Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing is the epitome of anti-intellectualism, is fear and I don't like having conversations about CRT because many people don't even know what it is from the beginning and you have to start with educating the person, and you just, kind of, get bored and it's a waste of time.
But to be in Arkansas where you have the history of the Little Rock Nine and say that we're not going to teach AP African-American History is absurd, but here we are in this country having to fight these battles and as a father of three black children, one at Howard now and two others starting pre-K, that is the, you known, what do we do when our kids leave the house and how do we educate them?
You have the fear of all these other things, but how do we educate them and you recognize that you now have to teach your kids in the home because of this fear perpetrated by many people on the right to educate your children and I think it's a fear of recognizing what they actually did throughout history.
JOHN AVLON: Yeah, I think Bakari makes such an important point about—it’s the importance of learning the history behind the headlines. You know, if you don’t know what happened in Little Rock High School in 1957, that's presumably part of that course.
PHIL MATTINGLY: It also feels like from an optics perspective, if you’re in politics, you might want to be cognizant of that reality before you go down this—
AVLON: Oh, I think they’re acutely aware of the optics and they feel it benefits them with the base and I think that's part of the problem. It’s politicizing history, it’s politicizing books, it's turning American history into a battlefield. We should be doing is teaching much more civics education, I’m incredibly passionate about that. Much more American history, the good, the bad and the ugly, embrace all of it, understand all of it. And we can have a debate about the outer reaches and sometimes people try to push ideological agendas, but when you start trying to pull books and pull courses, that's just about dumbing down our discourse rather than elevating it up.
MATTINGLY: But, how much of this, though, is, kind of, a strategy, a plan and how much of this is, you know, you look at the number particularly on a state and local level of CRT-related legislation, legislation related to gender ideology, any of that type stuff over the course of an 18-month period that just flew out into the public-- bills and trying to push these issues and Republican legislatures in particular, it didn't seem necessarily like this was a grand plan or strategy. They thought there was political upside to it. Am I minimizing this, Maura—am I not giving enough credit to some broader effort or plan here or is this just political points that people feel like they have scored?
MAURA GILLESPIE: I think it's political points for suburban moms, maybe, looking at that aspect of it, but my take on this is if we don't teach and learn about our past, how can we appreciate our progress and where we have come from. You know, we should want our children to learn critical thinking, so it's not indoctrination, I think that's really misleading and that’s putting it kindly. I think having an education on all of our history, the good, the bad, the ugly, as John said, is so important to our critical thinking skills as children and as young people.
I know in college I went to a liberal arts school where it was, you know, very focused on the left of things, but I had to think for myself, I had to speak up, raise my hand if I had a question about something.
We should want our children to do that. I think what Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing is following DeSantis in a lot of ways and I will point out that she has not made her endorsement for president yet.
SELLERS: Yeah, I think you are minimalizing it.
MATTINGLY: Well, that’s why I asked.
SELLERS: Yeah, I think it is a part of a larger scheme. I think that any time you can divide people along gender—ideology or race or whatever it may be, these are culture wars that Republicans think that they are winning and so what happens is our children get caught. I mean, we're watching, I mean, in South Carolina they actually banned Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book. I mean this is, like, patently absurd and so instead of educating our children, we're making them dumber and Republican voters hope dumb children vote for them.
