Bud Kennedy posted a picture of Judge Dean posing with a bunch of Neo-Confederates in Parker County. Racism in America, and in some places more than others, is a systemic issue. A few months ago, I read the TEA essential skills for history, and the things that they are teaching our kids are mind-blowing for the 21st Century.
The way that Southlake and the State Legislature are fighting against Critical Race Theory, not actual Critical Race Theory, but their perception of what Critical Race Theory is. And then the hate crimes committed against the young boy in Plano.
In Texas, we are taught white supremacy and it's reinforced in our schools and in many white homes. It's seeped into every element of our society. County judges are posing with Neo-Confederates. Law enforcement target, harass, and kill minorities. We keep fighting and nothing seems to change.
Strom Thurmond called it gradualism, he said in an interview once that he was a gradualist. Meaning, let's not eradicate white supremacy and make everything equal all at once, let's do it gradually. We've been doing it gradually for 150 years and just yesterday police killed another unarmed Black man in Minneapolis. No matter what Strom Thurmond did in his life or any progressive legislation he pushed, he will always be remembered as the white supremacist who led the Dixiecrats. Which is why he was wrong.
In the case particularly of Parker County, they are a deep red county and are still in love with the Confederacy. What these kids were doing in school is disgusting, but also unsurprising. It's all connected.
I know. It's heavy.