710
submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

A bizarre racist outburst at a Texas school board isn't an isolated event — it's part of a national pattern

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Lemmylefty@lemmy.world 225 points 11 months ago

When another trustee asked Dungan if she personally objected to an illustration of cross-racial friendship, she demurred, simply declaring that she was just trying to avoid "situations like that." Situations like what, exactly? She didn't say. Dungan's behavior is a perfect illustration of the "anti-woke" tap dance. The person alleging nefarious wokeness never admits to their own bigotry, instead pretending that they're reacting to "woke" people who are "pushing" an agenda, in this case through innocuous poster art. Of course, the entire premise of the argument is rooted in bigotry, as this example shows. It presumes that the feelings of real or imagined bigots who might take umbrage at such an image are of paramount importance, and that everyone else's freedoms must be curtailed to appease them.

Fucking thank you, Amanda Marcotte. Nail on the head.

And thank you for using the word “innocuous” because my god it’s a picture of people holding hands in a school. It probably had something like “teamwork makes the dream work” on it because holy fuck these people probably boil their eyeballs in piss before they stick them in their sockets.

[-] CoderKat@lemm.ee 36 points 11 months ago

Yeah, it's good to see reporters actually pressing back on these blatant trolls with their well understood tactics. It's a shame, however, that the more centrist media is rarely willing to do the same. It's a common trap that people think you must give equal time to both sides in order to be fair. Reality is that some sides are so dumb and inconsequential that they don't deserve any air time.

It's stupid that the school district even moved the kid to a different class. They never should have caved an inch. That just empowers these maniacs to keep doing this racist, time wasting drivel.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] InputZero@lemmy.ml 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It presumes that the feelings of real or imagined bigots who might take umbrage at such an image are of paramount importance, and that everyone else's freedoms must be curtailed to appease them.

I don't know why this made it click in my head but yeah, they think their imagined hurt feelings are more important than everyone else.

[-] MicroWave@lemmy.world 153 points 11 months ago

According to ABC 13 Eyewitness News in Houston, things started when school trustee Melissa Dungan declared that she had spoken to parents who were upset about "displays of personal ideologies in classrooms." When pressed for an example, according to the news report, "Dungan referred to a first grade student whose parent claimed they were so upset by a poster showing hands of people of different races, that they transferred classrooms." … Some other members of the school board did, in fact, argue that there was nothing objectionable about such a poster. But Dungan was backed up by another trustee, Misty Odenweller, who insisted that the depiction of uh, race-mixing was in some way a "violation of the law." The two women are part of "Mama Bears Rising," a secretive far-right group fueling the book-banning mania in Conroe and the surrounding area. At least 59 books have been banned due to their efforts.

WTF

[-] DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world 138 points 11 months ago

Oh shit, new Klanned Karenhood just dropped!

So I guess 'Mom's for Liberty' had to start the rebranding process after getting caught quoting Hitler?

Mama Bear Rising, fuck this Sarah Palin sounding bullshit.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 62 points 11 months ago

Humans are animals...

If we're not socialized with other races while young, then we grow up thinking of other races as "them" instead of "us". It's instincts from when we lived in tribes and anyone that you didn't grow up around was the enemy. But the same as a dog needing to be exposed to other animals while young so they're used to them as an adult.

Which is why adult racists have an issue with non-segregated schools.

They want kids to grow up and be racist like they are. They want the next generation to only look as deep as skin color to determine if someone is friend or foe.

Same reason Alabama banned Sesame Street long after PBS had it in every other state.

The individual racists probably don't understand it, but the ones leading the mobs understand the psychology behind this shit. Like how in American History X Ed Norton didn't understand what he was doing, but the old asshole in charge was playing chess. Dont discount racists as idiots that don't know any better. Some are actually smart and manipulating the mob of uneducated idiots.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Same reason Alabama banned Sesame Street long after PBS had it in every other state.

My mother would edit our episodes on VCR with all the spanish parts and visiting other countries out. So we could only watch that show on tape, never off the TV itself.

There is a reason why I have never felt the need to introduce her to her grandchildern.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] grysbok 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I firmly believe that lack of exposure to people of different cultures or races leads people to be racist and not necessarily realize it. If you're never around X, how can you know you have an inappropriate reaction to X?

To illustrate this, I didn't know about my escalator phobia until I moved away for college. I entered the mall, saw these moving stair-things, and felt a deep fear in the pit of my stomach. I hadn't seen an escalator since I was a toddler and, if you'd asked me on high school, I'd have denied having a phobia.

(I've successfully worked on my phobia over the last decade, showing that changing inappropriate reactions is possible)

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 11 months ago

So it wasn't the student, it was the kids PARENT that was offended

These people are mentally disturbed and they probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 97 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Dungan's behavior is a perfect illustration of the "anti-woke" tap dance. The person alleging nefarious wokeness never admits to their own bigotry, instead pretending that they're reacting to "woke" people who are "pushing" an agenda, in this case through innocuous poster art.

That is a very good take.

Also: it's always projection. Conservatives push an agenda, so they assume everyone else does too.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] octavio_dingus@lemmy.world 89 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This sure sounds like their next step will be insisting on segregation.

[-] pingveno@kbin.social 80 points 11 months ago

We all know what "Make America Great Again" means.

[-] Buffaloaf@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago

Same thing as when Reagan used it for his campaign.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Next step? They're already doing it. You don't need to be overtly racist to segregate communities fyi, income brackets and gerrymandering do a wonderful job at promoting racial segregation without the need to be outwardly bigoted

[-] akai@kbin.social 61 points 11 months ago

Fuck these racist bigots

[-] uxia@midwest.social 56 points 11 months ago

this is how it is for some people when there are non-white characters in movies, they consider it "pushing an agenda" when there's nothing like that happening. it's like they think people of other races just.. don't exist? therefore they should not be in movies? i don't really get it

[-] uniqueid198x@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 11 months ago

Replace "do not exist" with "should not exist" and you are right on

[-] agoseris@lemm.ee 20 points 11 months ago

There are only two races, white and political

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] GreenMario@lemm.ee 52 points 11 months ago

It is now woke to be in the same room as another race.

Add it to the list.

Hey, can we start calling things they like woke? Like Jesus Trump and church and flags n stuff? I bet we can destroy this word by just stealing it back.

[-] StarServal@kbin.social 46 points 11 months ago

Jesus was woke AF by their own loose definition of the word.

[-] teft@startrek.website 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Radical compassionate homeless asexual socialist. He's woke af. I'm not a 100% sure on what woke is yet but I'm certain Jesus is woke.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 11 months ago

Trump voters would've been the Romans crucifying Jesus because he was "disrespecting Roman authority" at the time and being a nuisance.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 52 points 11 months ago

It's almost like conservatives are racist and want to indoctinate kids into their conservative ideology of hate.

[-] AnonStoleMyPants@sopuli.xyz 39 points 11 months ago

Even disregarding all bigotry and racism that this screams of, it's dumb af because kids can be friends with FUCKING rocks. It's pretty much their superpower.

[-] LetterboxPancake@sh.itjust.works 9 points 11 months ago

Rocks, butterflies, smear on the window or imaginary. But a different skin colour? Oh my gosh, never!

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] mojo@lemm.ee 36 points 11 months ago

Wow what a shocker. Just saying the quiet part out loud. At least they're consistent in their racism.

[-] _sideffect@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

Tell me again why they aren't nazis

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Ubermeisters@lemmy.zip 26 points 11 months ago

thats not new at all, I remember there being traces of that still in everyday interactions as a kid. Theres nothing new about the hate they are spewing, thats what makes it extra vile to me.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Riyria@sopuli.xyz 25 points 11 months ago

My wife tells me she thinks that I am being over dramatic when I say we need to start thinking about exit strategies for fleeing the US, and then stuff like this pops up.

[-] some_guy 14 points 11 months ago

You’re not being overdramatic. I’ve been thinking about an exit since 2020. I plan to have it figured out in advance of the next election so that I can flip a switch and go. Don’t wait for disaster. Have an exit decided and hope you don’t need it.

[-] Sabin10@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago

We need to stop diminishing racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry by calling them anti-woke.

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago

Lol! I was born in Ukraine, my best friend was born in Venezuela.

What a bunch of crap.

[-] Sunroc@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

I'm mixed and I get along pretty well with myself. Suck it Texas.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] QHC@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

That's just straight up racism.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

We wouldn't want kids' eyes opened by spending time with people different from them. We must keep them ignorant and hateful.

[-] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 16 points 11 months ago

Bears deserve better than to be associated with these freaks.

[-] pingveno@kbin.social 12 points 11 months ago

Freaks deserve better than to be associated with these... entities.

[-] Idubz@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

Thats not "anti woke" thats just racism dumb ass

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
710 points (95.2% liked)

News

21850 readers
5111 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS