As the war on Black history rages throughout America, the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus helped stave off a legislator’s effort to “dismantle the First Amendment,” state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, MLBC chair, said in a statement.
School districts that violate these provisions could face civil suits, including those brought by parents. If ruled noncompliant, districts could see state funding withheld until alleged violations were addressed.
State Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson proposed an amendment to House Bill 1858 that would restrict Missouri schools from teaching that “an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race or sex.”
While he withdrew the proposed amendment, Seitz vowed to return with another proposal.
“The MLBC proudly stood against legislation that dismantles the First Amendment rights of our state’s students and teachers by limiting their ability to discuss uncomfortable but necessary topics,” said Bland, a Democrat representing Kansas City.
“I take great pride in the way [our] members handled debate on an incredibly divisive amendment.”
Bland and the MLBC cited language in Seitz’ proposal that “would do little more than threaten to censor essential aspects of American history, literature and scholarship, especially works produced by Black authors and thinkers.”
“We do our children no favors when we coddle them away from controversies present in the real world and hide them from the truth of our nation’s past.”
Bland said Seitz promised to return with an even harsher bill during the 2023 legislative session.
“We promise to stand even more united in opposition to it,” she said
Bland added that Seitz “has a history of making comments considered offensive by the Asian-American community.”
In March, during debate about state revenues and a bill that would allow Missouri to collect sales taxes from online retailers that don’t have a physical presence in the state, Seitz repeatedly used the term “Chinese virus.”
“While the zombie apocalypse has seen a shortage of revenue for the state, I remind the body that the Chinese virus has not shut down one business,” Seitz said.
“The continued use of the term is at best willful blindness to the effect these words have, or at worst, deliberate use of racist rhetoric for political gain at the expense of Asian Americans,” the Asian American Bar Association of Kansas City, St. Louis Asian American Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Asian American Bar Association, and the Organization of Chinese Americans in St. Louis said in a joint statement.
St. Louis Public Radio reported on Tuesday the Missouri House a “Parents Bill of Rights” that the MLBC, Democrats opposed, and a few Republicans opposed.
The House bill outlines rights for parents including the ability to review instruction material (which is already available), visit the school during school hours and have “sufficient accountability and transparency regarding school boards.”
School districts that violate these provisions could face civil suits, including those brought by parents. If ruled noncompliant, districts could see state funding withheld until alleged violations were addressed.
Rep. Ingrid Burnett, D-Kansas City, a former teacher, school board member and principal, called the bill “a path that sets up an adversarial relationship between the parents and the school, and it creates a threat.”
Democrats contend enforcement would be difficult and that several of the rights listed in the bill are either already granted to parents or address situations that have not occurred in Missouri.
Rep. Mike Stephens, R-Bolivar, voted against the bill.
“We should have done a better job of finding words that open the door for more parent participation, where they know what’s going on at school, and they have a voice that is heard and recognized and has weight,” Stephens said.
“But this language can wreak havoc in the classroom.”
