Alabama doesn’t want to teach its children that they are responsible for the sins of others in the past or that meritocracy is racist or sexist. For MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight Wednesday guest host Ali Velshi, not only does this mean teaching the history of segregation just became more difficult, but those in favor of such a law might as well be George Wallace himself.
Velshi began by playing a clip of Samford University student Akeem Tims opposing the law, “History shall not and will not repeat. The time has come for a new wave of activists and empowered individuals to speak up and spread justice and equity in every way possible.”
Instead of pointing out that Tims’s claims of what would happen under the bill were completely illogical and false, Velshi indulged him, “The bill he referenced was a new Alabama Senate bill restricting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in public schools, universities, and colleges, and the history Akeem Tims referenced included this: spring 1963, thousands of students gathered to protest segregation in Alabama. They faced fire hoses, police dogs, and arrests while calling for the diversification of classrooms and one of the most segregated cities in the country?”
Velshi then falsely stated, “That was just 61 years ago and today it became that much harder to learn that history and diversify classrooms in Alabama.”
We know Velshi was spreading fake news because Velshi himself then read two portions of the bill, “Despite student protests, today Governor Kay Ivey signed that new anti-DEI bill into law. The bill, which takes effect October 1, prohibits the teaching of quote ‘divisive concepts' including 'that individuals are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past’ or ‘that meritocracy is racist or sexist.’”
How in the world does prohibiting teachers from telling students that they are responsible for something that happened decades before they were born or that meritocracy is racist or sexist prohibit them from teaching about fire hoses and police dogs?
Velshi also mourned that, “It also bans schools and agencies from sponsoring DEI programs and it bans trans people from using restrooms aligning with gender identity.”
He additionally parroted some outlandish comments from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who “wrote, ‘if supporting inclusion becomes illegal in the state, hell, you might as well stand in front of the school door like Governor Wallace.’ Governor Wallace, the former Alabama governor, who in 1963 stood in a doorway to block black students from attending classes at the University of Alabama. He’s the one whose inaugural promise was quote ‘segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.’”
If Velshi has his way, MSNBC will spread fake news now, spread fake news tomorrow, and spread fake news forever.
Here is a transcript for the March 20 show:
MSNBC Alex Wagner Tonight
3/20/2024
9:41 PM ET
AKEEM TIMS: History shall not and will not repeat. The time has come for a new wave of activists and empowered individuals to speak up and spread justice and equity in every way possible.
ALI VELSHI: That was Samford University student Akeem Tims gathered with hundreds of Alabama student protesters earlier this month and the bill he referenced was a new Alabama Senate bill restricting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in public schools, universities, and colleges, and the history Akeem Tims referenced included this: spring 1963, thousands of students gathered to protest segregation in Alabama. They faced fire hoses, police dogs, and arrests while calling for the diversification of classrooms and one of the most segregated cities in the country?
That was just 61 years ago and today it became that much harder to learn that history and diversify classrooms in Alabama. Despite student protests, today Governor Kay Ivey signed that new anti-DEI bill into law. The bill, which takes effect October 1, prohibits the teaching of quote “divisive concepts including that individuals are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past” or “that meritocracy is racist or sexist.”
It also bans schools and agencies from sponsoring DEI programs and it bans trans people from using restrooms aligning with gender identity.
Criticizing the bill, Birmingham Mayor Woodfin wrote, “if supporting inclusion becomes illegal in the state, hell, you might as well stand in front of the school door like Governor Wallace.”
Governor Wallace, the former Alabama governor, who in 1963 stood in a doorway to block black students from attending classes at the University of Alabama. He’s the one whose inaugural promise was quote “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
