A Texas state representative is compiling a list of books available at school libraries that cause students to “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex,” according to a report in The Texas Tribune.
State Rep. Matt Krause, who heads the legislature’s General Investigating committee, sent a letter to school superintendents earlier this week asking them to identify titles that “convey that a student, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.”
Krause also included a list of 850 books that apparently meet that qualification, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning William Styron classic “The Confessions of Nat Turner” and the National Book Award winner from Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Between Me and the World.”
The Tribune adds:
But race is not the only thing on the committee chair’s list. Other listed books Krause wants school districts to account for are about teen pregnancy, abortion and homosexuality, including “LGBT Families” by Leanne K. Currie-McGhee, “The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to their Younger Selves” edited by Sarah Moon, and Michael J. Basso’s “The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality: An Essential Handbook for Today’s Teens and Parents.”
Krause wants to know how many copies of the 850 books are available at schools and how much the school district has spent on them.
In the letter, he adds “Please identify any other books or content in your District, specifying the campus location and funds spent on acquisition, that address or contain the following topics: human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), sexually explicit images, [or] graphic presentations of sexual behavior that is in violation of the law.”
It’s unclear what Krause plans to do with the list he compiles. He asked schools to respond by November 12th.
“Nothing in state law … gives a legislator the authority to conduct this type of witch hunt,” Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said in a statement. She added, “This is an obvious attack on diversity and an attempt to score political points at the expense of our children’s education.”
Krause is running for Texas attorney general. “He’s not well known statewide, and so he needs to put down a pretty tall conservative flag to get notice,” Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, explained to The Tribune. “As a political statement, it certainly conveys the clear message that the Republicans are watching.”
Rep. Victoria Neave, the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee on General Investigating, said the letter was a “PR stunt” that was not disclosed to other lawmakers before being distributed.
“This is just another attempt by Republicans here in Texas to censor the voices of people of color,” Neave told The Washington Post. She added, “What we see Republicans trying to do here in Texas is really whitewash our history. In a time where Latinos, when communities of color in Texas fueled our explosive population growth as reflected in the census data, we need to be giving these kids historically accurate information.”
“He’s jumping on the ‘critical race theory’ bandwagon,” Jennifer Mitchell, the governmental relations director for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said to the Post. The outlet explains:
Critical race theory is an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and law perpetuate systemic racism that has recently caused controversy in conservative circles. Public school teachers at elementary and high schools around the country say they are not teaching critical race theory, a concept largely confined to some colleges and law schools, yet conservative state lawmakers are pushing to ban a nonexistent issue from K-12 schools. Fox News and other right-leaning news organizations have been heavily covering the critical race theory dispute.