Representative Summer Lee had plenty to say to James Comer after he announced a bill to end DEI Programs. Republicans vilified DEI just like they did with CRT. They fought against CRT (Critical Race Theory) by claiming it was hurting White children in elementary schools by making them feel guilty. They successfully convinced parents all over the country that teachers were indoctrinating their kids by teaching it (To reference a point I make later, it would have only taken people one minute. You’ll get it soon).
In reality, CRT is a framework and way of analyzing law through a perception that systemic racism exists in our country (it does). It’s taught in law school, not elementary schools. If people had the ability to think critically for one minute they would realize that a complex, nuanced concept like CRT is way too complex for a child to understand. Republicans were able to co-opt the term and change its meaning to include anything involving race. So teaching history that mentioned slavery was CRT. They’ve successfully done the same thing with the term “woke.”
Woke, Republicans claim, refers to anything having to do with race, sexuality, or gender. DEI would be considered a “woke” policy according to their definition. It’s frustrating to people who can see what they’re doing, but also depressing that so many people in this country have lost their ability to think for themselves. Rather than looking into what these concepts are, they just believe what Republican politicians tell them without questioning a thing.
An extreme example of this is the litter boxes in school bathrooms conspiracy theory. I hear that and it’s so ridiculous that I wouldn’t even bother to look into whether or not it’s true. Again, a minute of critical thinking would bring up questions like: so girls are squatting over a litter box to pee and boys are standing there urinating into the litter?
Kids are walking into the bathroom and seeing fellow students squatting and pooping into a litter box? Are they covering up the poop afterwards? One students litter box visit would fill up the entire thing! Who cleans it? Does the janitor go in with a specially made giant scooper and clean the litter box 50 times a day? Being able to ask those questions can illuminate the fact that it’s not true.
I don’t know this for certain, but I am willing to bet that I know how the litter box rumor started. When I was in elementary school, if a student vomited on the floor, the janitor would come in and pour kitty litter or a substance that looked like litter to soak it up. I bet a student threw up in a bathroom, the janitor covered it with litter, and a kid went home to tell their mom that there was “kitty litter in the bathroom.” The mom added the box as she pictured it in her mind. BAM! Birth of a conspiracy theory.
I wish we would have had Democrats like Representatives Summer Lee and Jasmine Crockett in Congress when I began to pay close attention to politics because I guarantee they both would have called out Republicans for their false claims about CRT and litter boxes. Democrats (minus the progressives ) have always been too elitist, “proper,” and weak to fight for the American people.
Imagine if Summer Lee and Jasmine Crocket were around when Dems were trying to pass the bill that included $15 minimum wage and other policy promises. Both Senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema ruined every opportunity they had to get it passed. If Summer Lee (or Crockett) had been around in 2021, she would have gone on TV, called them out by name, shamed them in front of the country, and we would have $15 minimum wage right now.
and Sinema knew that most people don’t pay attention to politics closely enough to know that it was them that tanked a bill that would have lifted Americans out of poverty. Being named on mainstream media would’ve resulted in their constituents blowing up their phones.
It sucks when you know what needs to be done in order to get positive change out of Congress, but you write blog posts and have exactly zero ability to affect anything.
Back to the purpose of this post—the anti-DEI bill introduced by James Comer. I do “the weave” far too much. I call the episodes “ADHD Moments,” but either way, I’m sure it’s pretty damn annoying. I could probably avoid it by creating outlines of posts before writing them. I don’t do that. I just start writing and whatever comes to mind ends up in the post. I’m now done talking and allow you to scroll back uo to watch the video of Summer Lee making point after point after point. Enjoy! (I know… you already watched it.)
Now tell me that my “weaves” aren’t that annoying in the comments, please. 😉
