After a Jewish lawmaker’s impassioned speech, Wyoming’s conservative legislature rejects critical race theory ban

Authored by forward.com and submitted by nosotros_road_sodium

Photo by Lifestyle Photography An undated headshot of Wyoming Rep. Andy Schwartz.

(JTA) — It seemed a slam dunk: The popular conservative cause of banning “critical race theory” in schools, being taken up for a vote in one of the country’s most lopsidedly conservative legislatures.

Then a Democrat, one of just seven in the 60-member Wyoming legislature, stood up Thursday and said he could not support the bill because he was Jewish.

“In this bill, page 9, line 19 states, ‘The teaching of history must be neutral, without judgment’,” state Rep. Andy Schwartz said during debate. “Now, how can that be possible? If I were a Native American, I doubt I could accept the neutral, judgment-free approach about the relocation, the decimation of the Indigenous population. If I were a Black American, I doubt I could accept a neutral, judgment-free approach on the enslavement of millions of Americans.

“But I’m Jewish, and I cannot accept a neutral judgment-free approach on the murder of six million Jews in World War II.”

Schwartz, whose Teton County district includes the city of Jackson, said that, to understand the depth of depraved actions, one must be discomfited by them.

“Going to page 8, lines 19 and 20, it says ‘no one should feel discomfort or distress’,” he said. “But in learning about the Holocaust, I have suffered a lifetime of discomfort and distress, and it’s essential that as students learn about this dark time in our history, they, too, feel discomfort and distress.”

The bill’s author, Republican Chuck Gray, said Schwartz’s interpretation was “disappointing.” The bill stipulates that “the discussion of otherwise controversial aspects of history” is allowed, Gray said.

“It can be taught in a complete and accurate perspective,” he said of the Holocaust. “So clearly, the Holocaust is something that we totally disapprove of and condemn totally.”

The bill garnered a majority of the chamber’s votes, 35, but not the two-thirds needed to advance the bill. The 24 lawmakers who voted against advancing the bill included a significant number of the chamber’s 51 Republicans.

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One of Schwartz’s Democratic colleagues suggested on Twitter that his speech moved votes against the bill. “The House just defeated a bill that would have banned critical race theory in schools after a powerful speech by Representative Schwartz, a Jewish man who refuses to learn about the Holocaust in a neutral manner,” Rep. Karlee Provenza said.

Conservatives nationwide are seeking to ban “critical race theory,” once a term legal scholars used to define the structural effects of racism, and now an ill-defined cudgel aimed at what its opponents say are the corrosive effects of teaching racial equity. The contradiction between its banning and advancing Holocaust education — something many Republicans and conservatives favor — has played out in multiple state legislatures.

The post After a Jewish lawmaker gave an impassioned speech, Wyoming’s conservative legislature rejected banning critical race theory appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Schiffy94 on February 19th, 2022 at 19:56 UTC »

“Going to page 8, lines 19 and 20, it says ‘no one should feel discomfort or distress’,” he said. “But in learning about the Holocaust, I have suffered a lifetime of discomfort and distress, and it’s essential that as students learn about this dark time in our history, they to feel discomfort in distress.”

The bill’s author, Republican Chuck Gray, said Schwartz’s interpretation was “disappointing.” The bill stipulates that “the discussion of otherwise controversial aspects of history” is allowed, Gray said.

Schwartz: "We shouldn't sugar-coat learning about the Holocaust"

Gray: "Holocaust bad, now vote for my bill to sugar-coat it."

epowe1 on February 19th, 2022 at 19:25 UTC »

“The bill’s author, Republican Chuck Gray, said Schwartz’s interpretation was “disappointing.””

First, he didn’t interpret it, he read from it.

Second, if you admit that it can be interpreted in such a disappointing way, you are admitting that you wrote it poorly. That is, why did you write it so ambiguously that it could be interpreted in such a diametrically opposing way than what you intended?

brain_overclocked on February 19th, 2022 at 17:47 UTC »

(JTA) — It seemed a slam dunk: The popular conservative cause of banning “critical race theory” in schools, being taken up for a vote in one of the country’s most lopsidedly conservative legislatures.

Then a Democrat, one of just seven in the 60-member Wyoming legislature, stood up Thursday and said he could not support the bill because he was Jewish.

Bits of his speech:

“In this bill, page 9, line 19 states, ‘The teaching of history must be neutral, without judgment’,” state Rep. Andy Schwartz said during debate. “Now, how can that be possible? If I were a Native American, I doubt I could accept the neutral, judgment-free approach about the relocation, the decimation of the Indigenous population. If I were a Black American, I doubt I could accept a neutral, judgment-free approach on the enslavement of millions of Americans.

“But I’m Jewish, and I cannot accept a neutral judgment-free approach on the murder of six million Jews in World War II.” ... “Going to page 8, lines 19 and 20, it says ‘no one should feel discomfort or distress’,” he said. “But in learning about the Holocaust, I have suffered a lifetime of discomfort and distress, and it’s essential that as students learn about this dark time in our history, they to feel discomfort in distress.”

And the aftermath:

The bill garnered a majority of the chamber’s votes, 35, but not the two-thirds needed to advance the bill. The 24 lawmakers who voted against advancing the bill included a significant number of the chamber’s 51 Republicans.

Reminds me of this quote:

"Needless aggression, unscrupulous greed, unchecked hate. To have the images, the headlines, incessantly thrust at you, hour after hour, years at a time, you normalize to it. They want you to go numb, become indifferent, or lose your self in distractions, for it to feel like the evil in this world and all its machinations are too big to challenge. That loss of control leads to despair. To re-engage, to claw back even the tiniest sense of control... you don't have to save the world, you just have to make a difference where you can, with the opportunities you are given. That's all I'm asking."

Thank you Rep. Andy Schwartz -- not for saving the world, but for making a difference where you could.

I hope his effort inspires others.