Biff_Poindexter
Diamond Member
Oklahoma superintendent denies race caused Tulsa Massacre
Ryan Walters was invited by the Cleveland County Republican Party to speak at an event on Thursday when he had a heated exchange with attendees.
www.newsweek.com
"Oklahoma's Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters denied on Thursday that race was the main reason behind the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 that saw up to 300 people killed and left thousands of Black residents displaced. Walters was invited by the Cleveland County Republican Party to speak at the Norman Central Library when he had a heated exchange with attendees. The superintendent first spoke about his policies when he made remarks that some attendees found inappropriate and left the room in response, according to local news station Fox 25.
During the event, one attendee then asked Walters, who reportedly supports banning certain books from school, about whether the Tulsa Race Massacre falls under his definition of critical race theory (CRT), which denotes that systemic racism is part of American institutions such as the criminal justice system and the education system. "Let's not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined that," Walters said, which angered some attendees, with one woman saying, "This divisive rhetoric, the kids are watching this. The kids are watching this."
The superintendent acknowledged during the Thursday event that people might disagree with his views, but that "this is what Oklahoma needs to be about. This is how we get our schools back on track: us coming together despite what we agree or disagree on. Let's have that discussion." He's misinformed and this is a disgusting comment and it's so inaccurate and false," Solomon-Simmons told Newsweek. "
How can something called the "Tulsa Race Riots" not be about race? And how does teaching that supposed to make all whites feel guilty? For what? Whites were part of the opposition to those who were carrying out that evil. Also, do you understand the amount of audacity and depravity you have to have to tell SURVIVORS of the Tulsa massacre that their EXPERIENCES were not real; all in an effort to teach some revised-whitewashed alternate history to students; because today's Conservatives are uncomfortable about their children and grandchildren knowing what yesterday's Conservatives did? That is like telling students that those concentrations camps back in WW2 wasn't about exterminating Jewish people; or the slaughter of Native Americans in pursuit of "Nation building" didn't actually happen -- all to make other people feel better...that is not how history works....
For example, that is like me saying the Cowboys actually won the last 3 Super Bowls and if you claim they didn't -- you are just trying to make me feel bad for being a Cowboys fan. That is essentially the idiocy of the argument against teaching children accurate history...that if you teach children the mistakes of the past for the purpose of instilling them with humanity and empathy for the stories of all Americans -- that somehow, you are making them feel bad for being "white" -- you are basically robbing children of the sacrifices and coalitions that were formed by people of all colors to make Oklahoma (and the US as a whole) a BETTER PLACE -- instead of spitting in the face of those survivors by telling them their experiences aren't real because they could make some fragile minded racist, feel uncomfortable.
