Texas Panel Denounced Over Attempt to Rebrand Slavery as ‘Involuntary Relocation’

Racial justice advocates on Thursday denounced a proposal by a panel of Texas educators to describe slavery as “involuntary relocation” in the state’s revised second-grade social studies curriculum as part of an effort to comply with a law restricting how the United States’ history of white supremacy is taught.

The Texas Tribune reports a working group of nine educators proposed the change as the Texas State Board of Education considers curriculum changes in the wake of the passage of what critics have called the “white discomfort” law.

Part of the proposed curriculum states that students should “compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times.”

According to the Tribune:

The suggested change surfaced late during its June 15 meeting that lasted more than 12 hours. Board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fort Worth, brought up concerns to the board saying that wording is not a “fair representation” of the slave trade. The board, upon reading the language in the suggested curriculum, sent the working draft back for revision.

“For K-2, carefully examine the language used to describe events, specifically the term ‘involuntary relocation,'” the state board wrote in its guidance to the work group.

Human rights attorney Qasim Rashid blasted the nine educators’ proposal as “unhinged white supremacy,” while an online progressive group said it’s “a blatant attempt to whitewash history to fit a racist worldview.”

Texas’ “white discomfort” law—which nominally applies to all races—was widely viewed as a rebuke of critical race theory (CRT) and the 1619 Project, which was developed by New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones that “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.”

The burgeoning reckoning with the nation’s racist foundation has fueled intense right-wing backlash, including Florida’s “white discomfort” law, a wave of state-level CRT bans, and former President Donald Trump’s ahistorical 1776 Project.

This isn’t the first time Texas educators have tried to redefine slavery. In 2015, a state-approved social studies textbook called African slaves “workers.” The book’s publisher, McGraw-Hill Education, subsequently revised the text.

Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Brett Wilkins.