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It's shocking how far a Texas school district trustee wants to go to eliminate racial inclusivity [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-08-12

If you spend time tracking the rise of public and proud bigotry in this country, it’s hard to be shocked. But Melissa Dungan, of the Conroe Independent School District Board of Trustees, has done it for me. At a meeting of the trustees in this suburban Houston district, Dungan brought forward a move to “ensure CISD has the best learning environments where personal ideologies were left at the door.” Since she quickly moved to talking about ensuring that only the U.S. flag and the Texas state flag (and school flags, and college pennants) would be displayed in schools, it was pretty obvious that she was talking about Pride flags. That part wouldn’t be shocking, although it would remain nauseating.

But Dungan really didn’t want to come out and say that. She hemmed and hawed as her fellow board members pressed her to get specific. Finally, she came out with a really startling example (this discussion begins around 3:25 in the video linked above):

So, like an example of a poster that shows ‘all belong here’ with racially colored hands. This is an example that was brought to me earlier this year. This is an example that was first brought to me early this year, where I think the intention of the poster was good and the parent thought that the intention of the poster was good. However, the unintended consequences of that poster made the first grader feel like ‘Wait, why wouldn’t I be safe, why wouldn’t I be accepted here.’ It had a reverse effect on the first grader, because it was in the classroom.

Yes, she really was objecting that a poster that shows different colored hands and a message of universal inclusion was an unacceptable display of personal ideology. Yes, she is claiming that a child was actively traumatized by that, to the point that they had to be switched to a different classroom.

Now, is there a child with this galactic level of racial fragility? I hope not. I hope this story is fictional. If that child exists, did a school really engage in the fairly drastic act of moving a child between classrooms because the child was made to feel unsafe by a statement of inclusion? Do the child’s parents really believe that inclusion was a good message if they were willing to push to have the kid moved to another classroom rather than having a talk with their kid about how this is actually not an upsetting message?

Dungan’s colleague Stacey Chase spoke for many of us when she responded, “Just so I understand, you are seriously suggesting that you find objectionable, a poster indicating that all are included?”

Here’s the thing: If Dungan had just said up front, “I’m talking about rainbow flags here, obviously, guys,” she would have gotten the answer she ultimately got from the school superintendent without exposing herself as someone who thinks that a poster with hands and some version of “all are welcome” is a symbol of personal ideology that should be banned.

“We already have a policy in place that says that if it’s political in nature and it doesn’t pertain to your curriculum, then you can’t have it,” the superintendent told her. He added, “I’ve never engaged in any conversation about a poster … but if we’re talking about an LGBTQ+ flag, any example of that that’s been brought to me has always been addressed.” And by “addressed,” he means taken down. That’s the thing about bigotry: If you can calibrate what you express to a level that’s repressive and harmful but not actually surprising to anyone, you just might find out that your preferences are written into policy. Melissa Dungan couldn’t manage that.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/12/2186659/-It-s-shocking-how-far-a-Texas-school-district-trustee-wants-to-go-to-eliminate-racial-inclusivity

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