F ³: State Governments and School Boards

You may have seen the Sunday Doonesbury strip that was withheld from all Gamnett newspapers last week. 

Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau/Universal Press Syndicate/Andrews McMeel Syndication

The strip takes an irreverent look at the perils of teaching the truth about history in the state of Florida. . No matter that the cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, the first comic strip artist to ever win* a Pulitzer, is considered the finest editorial cartoonist of his generation. Gannett decided that this topic was too risky to poke fun at in any of the newspapers it operates.

You can’t teach the truth in Florida and you can’t tell the truth about it in a Gannett newspaper.

In Oklahoma a sixteen year old nonbinary high school student was beaten in a bathroom and died the next day. Anti-trans policies passed at the state level have made life more difficult for LGBTQ+ students and hateful sentiment stirred up by online trolls such as Libs of TikTok have caused strife and discord in schools and the surrounding communities.

You can’t be safe as an LGBTQ+ student in Oklahoma and you can’t be a teacher who supports those students, either. 

How on earth did we get here?

In both cases state legislatures and local school boards have been weaponized by the ignorant and intolerant. Teaching the truth about history and fostering the development of higher order critical thinking skills so that students can weigh evidence and make up their own minds is labeled as “indoctrination” or “CRT”. Of course it is neither. The role of education is to open up worlds, to give students the tools to make their worlds bigger. 

In the same way, making school safe and accepting for LGBTQ+ students, teachers, and families is not “grooming” or an attack on “Christian values.” At the risk of repeating myself: it is neither. The role of education is to open up worlds, to give students the tools to make their worlds bigger. 

What is happening in these state governments and school boards makes students’ worlds smaller, their lives and learning circumscribed and limited. The end result of these laws and rules to exert control has been harassment and abuse of those the rule-makers perceive to be different or threatening. 

In every election we are seeing more and more of this condemning and controlling language, even in Maryland,which is often described as “reliably Blue.” That is why it is so important to treat those down-ballot races as life or death decisions. Those are the places where tremendous harm can percolate and overflow into our communities. 

Those who would impose one ideology to the exclusion of all else are damaging the essence of what our Democracy needs to survive and to flourish. We must educate ourselves about State and School Board candidates or we shall surely find ourselves in the grips of these folks and their attacks on education. They are highly motivated and they plan ahead. 

Perhaps you feel secure and think this couldn’t happen here. We can’t be complacent. Learn everything you can about local candidates and vote with the intent to keep Democracy alive.

Village Green/Town² Comments

* In 1975, Trudeau became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer, traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990, 2004, and 2005. Other awards include the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1994, and the Reuben Award in 1995. In 1993, Trudeau was made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.- - Wikipedia