Republicans Ask Biden To Withdraw Divisive' Proposal To Teach More Black History - Reuters

4/30/2021 Republicans ask Biden to withdraw ‘divisive’ proposal to teach more Black history | Reuters
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April 30, 2021 2:31 PM EDT
United States
Republicans ask Biden to withdraw

‘divisive’ proposal to teach more Black
history
Merdie Nzanga, David Morgan, Merdie Nzanga
2 minute read
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-ask-biden-withdraw-divisive-proposal-teach-more-black-history-2021-04-30/ 1/9
A demonstrator raises a fist in front of Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during a protest to mark
Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in Texas, two years after the 1863 Emancipation
Proclamation freed slaves elsewhere in the United States, amid nationwide protests against racial
inequality, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 19, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo
Dozens of Senate Republicans called on the Biden administration on Friday to withdraw

what they say is a “divisive” education proposal that would place greater emphasis on
slavery and the contributions of Black Americans in history and civics lessons taught in
U.S. schools.
In the latest salvo of a burgeoning culture war over race in America, 39 Republican
lawmakers led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the proposed Education
Department policy would divert established school curricula toward a "politicized and
divisive agenda" fixated on the country's flaws.
"Young Americans deserve a rigorous understanding of civics and American history. They
need to understand both our successes and our failures," the Republican senators wrote in
a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona dated April 29. The letter was released on
Friday.
"Americans do not need or want their tax dollars diverted from promoting the principles
that unite our nation toward promoting radical ideologies meant to divide us."
A spokesman for the U.S. Education Department had no immediate comment.
The lawmakers zeroed in on the proposal's mention of the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-
winning 1619 Project. The initiative, which traces U.S. history from the arrival of the first
enslaved Africans in colonial Virginia, was a frequent target for former President Donald
Trump, who sought instead to promote "patriotic" education.
The letter came two days after Senator Tim Scott, the Senate’s sole Black Republican,
declared that “America is not a racist country” in the Republican response to President
Joe Biden’s address to Congress. Scott also defended a new Republican voting law in
Georgia that Democrats have denounced as a return to Jim Crow segregation.
The proposed policy would support teaching that "reflects the breadth and depth of our
nation's diverse history and the vital role of diversity in our nation's democracy," according
to a notice posted on a government regulation website.
It would encourage schools to adopt projects that incorporate "the systemic

marginalization, biases, inequities and discriminatory policy and practice in American
history."
The Republican Party, which remains fractured after Trump's false claim that the 2020
presidential election was stolen from him, has sought to brand Biden as a divisive leader
controlled by leftists.
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United States
United States · 2:31 PM EDT
Republicans ask Biden to withdraw ‘divisive’

proposal to teach more Black history
Dozens of Senate Republicans called on the Biden administration on Friday to withdraw
what they say is a "divisive" education proposal that would place greater emphasis on
slavery and the contributions of Black Americans in history and civics lessons taught in
U.S. schools.
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4/30/2021 Republicans ask Biden to withdraw ‘divisive’ proposal to teach more Black history | Reuters

April 30, 2021 2:31 PM EDT

Republicans ask Biden to withdraw

Dozens of Senate Republicans called on the Biden administration on Friday to withdraw

A spokesman for the U.S. Education Department had no immediate comment.

It would encourage schools to adopt projects that incorporate "the systemic

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United States · 2:31 PM EDT

Republicans ask Biden to withdraw ‘divisive’

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