It's begun..... Florida

[AntivaxHunters]

Fascism wrapped in white supremacy & Christian Nationalism, the literal ideology of the KKK, has officially begun to take hold in Florida.

Link to tweet

?t=5GrNAofNRfXDfz3QHYC48A&s=19

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. I would be attempting to find a lawyer.

I hope HE does.

[secondwind]

2. This is VERY disturbing.

[yardwork]

3. This is a nightmare.

[spanone]

4. ...K&R...

[RAB910]

5. I hate Florida Nazis

[Initech]

9. Yeah where are Jake and Elwood when you need them?

Fuck the Florida GOP!

[Scalded Nun]

16. Flazis?

[COL Mustard]

35. Back then that was funny

Today it ain’t so. We are living in dangerous times.

By the way, I still hate Illinois Nazis.

[Timeflyer]

6. It's a private Christian college, so--no constitutional rights for teachers.

And they wouldn't want to make richy-rich donors, who are so very righteous, feel uncomfortable. FL--where freedom goes to die.

[wnylib]

8. What irony. A "Christian" college opposes the teaching of racial equality.

[NullTuples]

29. The Bible was used for centuries to justify racism, including slavery

[wnylib]

32. Yes, it was, by some people.

But at the same time that it was used by slaveholders to justify slavery, it was also used by religious people like Quakers and northern Baptists to oppose slavery. My gggg-grandfather was a Baptist abolition activist in northwestern PA. Too old (70) to fight in the Civil War, but his son did.

My husband's gg-grandfather was the son of Baptist missionaries and fought, along with his brothers, for the Union Army in what they called a "righteous cause." My husband's aunt showed me letters that they wrote to family during the war. One included the comment, "Let's reelect old Abe and get this war over with."

Then there's the Battle Hymn of the Republic as evidence that some people believed that defeating slavery was a righteous cause.

But my post was referring to people in the present. Mainline Protestant churches are anti racist today. Racism is strongest today in RW white Evangelical, fundamentalist Churches. OTOH, many African American churches are also Evangelical or Pentecostal, but not racist.

[raging moderate]

38. Yes, and so did my Methodist Abolitionist ancestors.

Last edited Fri Mar 24, 2023, 04:47 PM - Edit history (4)

They lived in New York State, Vermont, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Some of them were Methodist ministers, and a few were Methodist circuit preachers. A few years ago, I was thrilled to learn that the Ku Klux Klan is still mad at my ancestors! Suddenly, there was a diatribe online against the "northern Methodist circuit preachers" who supposedly started the Civil War by opposing slavery.

My great-grandmother's older brother George joined the Union to go free the slaves when he was almost 16, as a drummer boy because he was not old enough to be a full soldier. At age 16, still a drummer boy, he was wounded and captured by the confederates, who spent the next 3 years slowly torturing him to death. He was a wonderful older brother, sweet and protective and considerate. His prison camp was liberated before he died, but the doctors told him it was too late and they could not save him. As he lay dying, this wonderful boy made a little tray for his little sister's birthday! I can still read the words: "To Nellie... from her brother. Prepared by G(eorge) S. Barnes. Remember me."

By the way, my great-grandparents sometimes had Black houseguests. And they never had servants; they did all their own hard, dirty labor themselves, so they did not identify with the white plantation-owner sissies. My great-grandparents waited on those Black people themselves, and they were proud and happy to do it! They knew what those slaveholders were like.

[Evolve Dammit]

39. Faux xtians are everywhere. They only believe the Orange Chosen One and RW sites.

It's one of our biggest problems IMHO.

[FM123]

7. In SOUTH Florida now....

While this kind of crazy toxic thinking has been around in upper parts of Florida we always felt a ( perhaps false) sense of security down here in South Florida. The tri-county part of the state with over 6 million residents in Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties has always been a bright blue safe haven for progressive thinkers, but it is changing. I really fear for our young folks that will have to grow up in this toxicity and somehow find a way to survive and thrive.

[appalachiablue]

17. That's correct about SoFl. Watching the fear, hate, bigotry & terror spread is sickening. Sad too.

[FM123]

22. Yes, sickening and sad.

Hard to keep chin up sometimes, but we keep on keepin on.....

[NullTuples]

10. Slow down, this is nothing new: It's a private, Christian college

https://www.pba.edu/campus-life/christian-community/values.html

Private Christian schools have done this sort of thing for as long as they've been in existence. And in America they're allowed to do so because they're not funded with public money.

[Emile]

11. Does the college pay taxes or is it tax exempt?

[NullTuples]

26. Not sure, but I could find no sign that it receives federal gov't funding.

(students do with their loans but that doesn't count)

[DENVERPOPS]

31. How about

being exempt from Federal Taxes, like churches and golf courses across the entire nation......???????

[Farmer-Rick]

12. You do not shed your freedom of speech

At the door of a religious school. This applies to students and teachers.

The instructor may have a case against the school no matter what the GOPers and christians say.

[NullTuples]

24. Freedom of speech prohibits government restriction, not private employers.

[Elessar Zappa]

25. Freedom of speech only applies in public institutions,

not private ones like this college. It’s like how DU can ban you for certain speech but you can’t be arrested for it.

[Farmer-Rick]

41. Right but......

It depends.

Generally this is true but if they violate your protected status you have a case. Such as firing you because you are not the race they want and you happen to teach civil rights. Maybe it was just a ruse to get rid of someone of a objectionable national origin?

If I walk into a restaurant and they refuse service because they don't like my national origins, then I have a good case against them.

I don't know what race, color, religion, or national origin this person is sooooo there maybe a case.

And the Supreme Court has ruled that free speech does not stop at the school house doors, in reference to public schools...so, it maybe something to consider before assuming the person does Not have a case.

Also there is the issue that if the school is a private facility. Religions get tax exemption and may still be required to meet legal requirements for an educational facility. You can't just open a restaurant kick out all people of color then claim you are a private club. There are specific requirements they have to meet to be considered private.

As in all legal issues, it depends.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

15. Really wish more Twitter Outrage! Memes would have better ratio of truth to deception.

Outrage! First, Facts Later! said no one sane.

[IronLionZion]

18. He's been teaching this content for the last 12 years

it was a spurious complaint and he can likely sue for wrongful termination.

[Freethinker65]

30. Yep. Palm Beach Atlantic University. 90% acceptance. 3000 students. Private Christian school.

It will be interesting to see if any other parents, if their kids are struggling in classes, threaten to lodge complaints against lecturers/professors. They obviously don't want their kids to learn.

[Captain Zero]

33. Freedom scares Republicans today.

It threatens their notions of their superiority and privilege. So they cherry pick a few freedoms to apply where it benefits them situationally. But other than that it's screw freedom for everyone else, if those freedoms threaten their personal comfort levels.

[ancianita]

13. FYI, the ACLU is ON this WOKE CRAP.

So, while a private Christian college can censor, the rest of the state's public colleges and universities cannot.

https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/lessons-learned-from-our-classroom-censorship-win-against-floridas-stop-w-o-k-e-act

On March 16, 2023, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals left in place the district court’s preliminary injunction, reaffirming the serious injury posed to educators and students by the Stop W.O.K.E. Act. The ruling will prevent the law from being enforced in institutions of higher education, pending appeal.

Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked Florida from enforcing the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop W.O.K.E. Act) in the state’s colleges and universities. Florida is just one of over a dozen states across the country that have passed laws censoring discussions around race and gender in the classroom, and this is the first time a court has ruled that this type of classroom censorship law is unconstitutional. This preliminary victory could present an opportunity to bolster similar challenges to classroom censorship efforts nationwide.

The order came in a lawsuit we filed on behalf of seven instructors and one student in colleges and universities across Florida to challenge the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which limits the ways concepts related to systemic racism and sex discrimination can be discussed in teaching or conducting training in workplaces or schools. The concepts were parroted from Executive Order 13950, issued by then President Trump and rescinded by President Biden, and have been incorporated in similar classroom censorship laws introduced and passed in other states.

08/18/2022 Pernell v. Florida Board of Governors Complaint
08/24/2022 Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction
08/24/2022 Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction
08/24/2022 Exhibit 1 - Pernell Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 2 - Thompson Dorsey Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 3 - Austin Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 4 - Park Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 5 - Sandoval Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 6 - Almond Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 7 - Dunn Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 8 - Dauphin Declaration
08/24/2022 Exhibit 9 - Smith Declaration

09/22/2022 Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
09/22/2022 Defendants’ Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction

10/04/2022 Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of their Motion for Preliminary Injunction
10/04/2022 Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
10/11/2022 Defendants’ Reply in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss

11/17/2022 Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motions for Preliminary Injunction
11/22/2022 Order on Motion to Dismiss

12/09/2022 Amended Complaint

11/17/2022 Pernell v Florida Board of Governors PI Order

12/30/2022 Defendants’ Answer to Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint

01/11/2023 Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Compliance with Preliminary Injunction
01/11/2023 Exhibit 1 - Hinger Declaration, Executive Order & Emails
01/12/2023 Defendants’ Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel
01/12/2023 Order Denying Motion to Compel Compliance with Preliminary Injunction

[Initech]

19. I seriously sometimes wonder if the parents complaining are actually parents at all.

I've found people on Twitter who say that they complain and harass school boards despite not having any kids in those districts they are targeting. One even admitted they didn't have kids. God I wonder what these idiots' lives would be like without social media?

[allegorical oracle]

20. Agree totally. Talk is big, but can spur consequences. Seems to be a form of RW protest. nt

[Initech]

21. Yeah there's nutjobs traveling all over the country and harassing boards.

And also getting elected to places where they don't have kids, or any educational experience for that matter. This shit is dangerous and we need to start combatting it at every single opportunity.

[Hortensis]

23. If only it was FL. This has been building nationally. Check a national map link here.

Here's FIRE's Scholars Under Fire interactive national map, unfortunately only through 2021, but as we know incidence of incidents has been accelerating both in individual institutions AND in red states. Tenured professors being fired, tenure itself eliminated, is a national trend, including in more liberal states.

https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/mapping-scholars-under-fire

Also from FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)

WORST COLLEGES FOR FREE SPEECH IN 2023

Since our first list in 2011, FIRE has named and shamed 80 institutions in 33 states for actively working to shut down student and faculty speech rights. It’s not easy to make this list. ...

Hamline University (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pennsylvania)
Collin College (McKinney, Texas)
Texas A&M (College Station, Texas)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Emerson (Boston, Massachusetts)
Emporia State (Emporia, Kansas)
Tennessee Tech (Cookeville, Tennessee)
University of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon)
Loyola University New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Lifetime Censorship Award: Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)

[GenThePerservering]

27. Getting tired of these uninformative thread titles

it's hard if one doesn't have a lot of reading time or are followoing a particular subject.

[ALBliberal]

28. Lots of teaching positions here in NM for FL teachers

[onetexan]

34. hope the professor sues the pants off DeSatan & his FL criminal lot

[Horse with no Name]

36. I was offered a free trip to Florida

As part of something from work. I refuse to spend one cent in that godforsaken hellhole. I feel bad for the progressive folk that live there because I am stuck in Texas as well until I retire.l

[Kid Berwyn]

37. DeathSentence Youth

From The Holocaust Explained:

Another way in which the Nazis aimed to indoctrinate the younger population was through reforming the education system.

They aimed to de-intellectualise education: they did not want education to provoke people to ask questions or think for themselves. They believed this approach would instill obedience and belief in the Nazi worldview, creating the ideal future generation.

The Nazis first focused on changing what students learned. They changed the core curriculum to emphasise sports, history and racial science as the most important subjects. In 1936, sport was taught for a minimum of two to three hours every school day. By 1938, this had been increased to five hours every day. Subjects such as religion became less important, and were eventually removed from the curriculum altogether.

The Nazis also adapted where the students learned from. They introduced new textbooks which were often racist, and promoted ideas such the need for Lebensraum . Any textbooks used to educate students had to be approved by the party.

The Nazis also placed great emphasis on who the teachers were. Under the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service Act of 7 April 1933, just three months after Hitler became chancellor, all Jewish teachers, and teachers with undesirable political beliefs (such as communists), were dismissed.

Source: https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/life-in-nazi-occupied-europe/controlling-everyday-life/controlling-education/

[Timeflyer]

40. This is great--thank you.The Christofascist conservatives in FL are letting this happen

with HB1/Senate Bill 202 right now, using public tax dollars to pay tuition at private conservative religious schools, and bills like Don't Say Gay.