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Oklahoma teachers don't know if it's legal to teach "Killers of the Flower Moon"
(www.motherjones.com)
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this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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Well all I can say is they need to first teach the meaning of the words inherently and should in that state.
Teaching people about historical injustice (let alone about a movie) in itself doesn't normally involve either promulgating essentialism (that people are inherently this or that) or telling people how to feel.
It's bizarre that the law as worded here is used to stop people from teaching about facts or art.
@hiddengoat sorry, to be more specific I don't mean I'm surprised that the establishment in a society built on settler colonialism wants to suppress the past (and present).
What surprises me is that they can do so with legislation that simply says you can't pretend DNA causes racism etc and you can't order people to feel guilty. No teacher worth their salt would be doing either of those things.
Surely this law is ripe for being tested by limit cases?
You would think the law wouldn't apply to this, as the story features virtuous white people too, but I think the issue is that getting sued is bad enough, and Oklahoma is conservative enough that a judge might go along with a prosecution despite what the first amendment says. The supreme Court might even let it stand, like they do with anti-BDS laws.
@jonne I don't get how the law would apply to it even if all the white people in it were totally evil.
No history teacher is ever going to claim that the reason historical figures were racist was because it's inherent in their biology.
But yeah I can see how it might have a chilling effect on ordinary people who don't want to be sued. Is there any kind of organization over there that helps to test the meaning and limits of laws like these? Is it something the Civil Liberties Association would be interested in?
All it takes is for one parent to complain- even if the complaint isn't justified- and the teacher's job is on the line, if they aren't in legal hot water.
@FlyingSquid that's so terrible. It's a wonder any science or history even gets taught.
The ACLU would definitely love to be involved to test a case like this, but if you're a regular teacher, are you prepared to lose your job and then be involved in a years long court case?
@jonne good point, thanks for explaining. I always forget how easy it apparently is to fire people in some parts of the US.
In many parts of the US, lunch and breaks are not guaranteed. Companies can also fire someone for any or no reason as long as it's not a very narrow and specific set of reasons without any legal repercussions. They can fire a person for those reasons as well and, if the person fired can't find a lawyer or afford a lengthy case, get away with it.
The US is very much pro-employer.