The new Republican, MAGA, America First movement seems intent on making sure that no white person in this country feels threatened or discomforted by present happenings or history. Race relations are fine and always have been fine, at least since General Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Education, is Exhibit “A” in our presentation.

Walters says it is fine for Oklahoma school children to learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre, an event in which several blocks of what black businessmen called “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa were burned to the ground, so long as the teachers do not say that any part of it was due to anyone’s skin color.

Seriously.

Teaching innocent Oklahoma minds that people were murdered due to the color of their skin would violate the states ban on CRT (See how this comes together?).

Walters said, of teaching about the massacre:

“I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist. That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can. Absolutely, historically, you should. ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’ But to say it was inherent in that because of their skin is where I say that is Critical Race Theory. You’re saying that race defines a person.”

Okay. But in the Tulsa Race Massacre, whites killed black people precisely because they were black. The massacre didn’t spread two blocks over and kill several hundred white people, too.

Race didn’t “define” the people, it just “defined” the aggressors and the victims and the motivation. That’s all.

There is no other way to tell the story other than to not tell the story… which is the point.

“This was right, this was wrong, they did this for a reason.”

But to say it was inhere in that because of their skin… is where it becomes CRT?

I can go along with this:

Not ALL white people participated in the Tulsa Race Massacre, and not ALL white people approved of the massacre. But the massacre was carried out by people who were ALL white, and their victims were ALL black, and the victims were killed due to the color of their skin.

That would be historically accurate and yet I’ll bet it violates what Waters would allow taught.

Unbelievable, except totally believable. We don’t want to discomfort the white folk in Oklahoma, after all. Their comfort is their own primary concern.

Oh, also: When Oklahomans learn that some of today’s black residents were set back financially (Hugely, so), it might act as justification for affirmative action at the University of Oklahoma. “Many black families were robbed of the wealth and opportunity back then, and thus special consideration should be given to overcome that setback to a generation of wealth…

That is why CRT is dangerous to the ruling powers in Oklahoma.

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jasonmiciak@gmail.com, @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman