Yesterday afternoon, the Oklahoma Senate passed HB 1397 by a 35 to 9 margin.
Dubbed the Oklahoma White-Washing of The American Civil Rights Movement Act, once the bill is signed into law by Governor Stitt, it will task Ryan Walters and the State Ministry of Right Wing Indoctrination and Propaganda – formerly known as the Oklahoma Department of Education – to develop curriculum that will teach Oklahoma students a very sanitized and likely incorrect version of the US civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968.
It may seem odd that we need a special bill to authorize the teaching of a limited yet important window of American civil rights history, but thanks to Kevin Stitt and the legislature enacting some of the strictest anti-CRT laws in the country back in 2022, it’s virtually impossible for any educator to teach or lead a discussion about race in Oklahoma classrooms.