[nfbmi-talk] Disgusting and Scary: Blind and PWD Should Beware

[joe harcz Comcast]

Hi Fred,

I don't consider this off topic if one looks deeply in to it. One reason I 
and, of course others, fight for the full range of all information access to 
the blind and other PWD is so we are not held ignorant by design and 
limitation of sources for learning.

While I find this particular limitation disturbing there are now on the 
internet and in all sorts of manners ways to garner information directly and 
to go to the core of issues. History was my minor and one of my first loves 
even during grade school. I learned early on even in what some called a 
limited educational environment to go to original sources to broaden my 
understanding. Not only should one read the Constitution, but one should 
read about the Constitutional convention for example. And one should read 
the original writings of the Founders. One should read The Federalist 
Papers. One should read the plethora of information that one can get his or 
her hands on.

Of course for our kids who are blind it is a struggle to get them the 
required skills in reading and then making these materials accessible to 
them.

But, in spite of my innate cynicism the world of technology including the 
use of refreshable Braille makes this increasingly possible.

So while again I think this is an abhorrent practice in Texas unless they 
ban and burn all other books there are options out of the box, or rather, 
ways to get oneself and our children out of the box.

But for our kids it does also take having the expanded education in the 
alternative tools of Braille, and adaptive technologies which is, of course 
an additional, but vital step for them to take.

Also if we look at the functioning of government which this is all about at 
its core this is why I fight for so much transparency in accessible format 
of course here on the state and local level about programs that effect us 
all.

Finally, one thing is correct in this article. Strictly speaking we are a 
Republic. That simply means a government without an hereditary monarchy. But 
we also are a Republic developed through elected representatives and thus 
technically a Representative Democratic-Republic.

All forms of government however can be tyrannies if the people are ignorant. 
For it is ignorance that truly makes the slave.

The power of the people derives through knowledge. That goes collectively 
and individually.

A roundly educated and informed human being will never be a true slave.

Frederick Douglass' example in the historical record stands testament to 
that literally and should be required reading in my mind not just for his 
personal contributions to the Second American Revolution that some call our 
civil war, but to these principles I put forth here. He is illustrative of 
the power of education and its role in obtaining real freedom.


By the way learning and understanding that many of our founders had both 
great gifts as well as great flaws does not diminish their contributions 
including those of Jefferson who did hold slaves and who did foster 
generations surviving to this day of offspring's of him and his slave 
concubine Sally Hemmings.

Still bottom line is we who are blind read and must learn in order to be 
truly liberated by any means necessary and by any means that effectively 
imparts knowledge.

When that is accomplished then folks will be able to recognize the texts you 
refer to here for what they are. And that is hard bound toilet paper.

Warmly and Thanks for the Contribution,

Joe








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at att.net>
To: "'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 12:40 AM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Disgusting and Scary: Blind and PWD Should Beware


> hello,
>
>
>
> Sorry for the off topic post.  This is a civil rights matter and could
> affect us, too.  Those old tin cups weren't so bad and what's wrong with
> begging, anyway, at least it's a job.  I can hear it now.
>
>
>
> mary and I just came back from Colonial Williamsburg.  jefferson, 
> Washington
> and the gang were great thinkers, but remember only white, male, 
> landowners
> could vote  So the whole liberty thing was fine for some, but had its
> limits.  Judging from the article, below, which I googled from Google news
> with the search terms "tennessee Textbook Slavery," was just 1 of several
> newspaper and TV articles.
>
>
>
> Warm Regards,
>
>
>
> Fred
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A little more than a year
>
> after the conservative-led state board of education in Texas approved
> massive changes
>
> to its school textbooks to put slavery in a more positive light, a group 
> of
> Tea
>
> Party activists in Tennessee has renewed its push to whitewash school
> textbooks.
>
> The group is seeking to remove references to slavery and mentions of the
> country's
>
> founders being slave owners.
>
> According to reports
>
> , Hal Rounds, the Fayette County attorney and spokesman for the group, 
> said
> during
>
> a recent news conference that there has been "an awful lot of made-up
> criticism about,
>
> for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or
> being hypocrites
>
> in one way or another."
>
> "The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the 
> social
> structure
>
> of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world
> where it
>
> hadn't existed, to everybody -- not all equally instantly -- and it was
> their progress
>
> that we need to look at," Rounds said,
>
> according to The  Commercial Appeal.
>
> During the news conference more than two dozen Tea Party activists handed
> out material
>
> that said, "Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of 
> the
> history
>
> and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of
> students in
>
> Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of
> its government."
>
> And that further teaching would also include that "the Constitution 
> created
> a Republic,
>
> not a Democracy."
>
> The group demanded, as they had in January of last year, that Tennessee
> lawmakers
>
> change state laws governing school curricula. The group called for 
> textbook
> selection
>
> criteria to include: "No portrayal of minority experience in the history
> which actually
>
> occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding
> Fathers, or
>
> the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of
> leadership."
>
> The latest push comes a year after the Texas Board of Education approved
> revisions
>
> to its social studies curriculum that would put a conservative twist on
> history through
>
> revised textbooks and teaching standards.
>
> The Texas revisions include the exploration of the positive aspects of
> American slavery,
>
> lifting the stature of Jefferson S. Davis to that of Abraham Lincoln, and
> amendments
>
> to teach the
>
> value of the separation of church and state
>
> were
>
> voted down
>
> by the conservative cadre. Among other controversial amendments that have
> been approved
>
> is the study of the "unintended consequences" of affirmative action.
>
> The board approved more than 100 amendments affecting social studies,
> economics and
>
> history classes for Texas's 4.8 million students.
>
> The influence of the amended textbooks will likely reach far beyond the
> state of
>
> Texas. The state is one of the largest purchasers of textbooks, and many
> other states
>
> adopt Texas's books and standards.
>
> The curriculum changes were pushed through by a majority bloc of
> conservative Republicans
>
> on the Texas school board, who have said the changes were made to add
> balance to
>
> what they believe was a left-leaning and already-skewed reflection of
> American history.
>
> "There is some method to the madness besides vindicating white privilege 
> and
> making
>
> white students feel as though they are superior and privileged and that 
> that
> it is
>
> the natural order of things," Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas State
> NAACP, told
>
> The Crisis magazine last year about this time. "The agenda being pushed 
> and
> the ultimate
>
> impact intended is to make young people automatically identify with one
> political
>
> party."
>
> A number of groups, including the NAACP, the Texas League of United Latin
> American Citizens and the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher
> Education have joined forces
>
> to beat back the measures, which they said would have a negative impact on
> minority
>
> children.
>
> The groups sought a federal review of the state's public education and 
> have
> raised
>
> claims that the Texas State Board of Education has violated federal civil
> rights
>
> laws. In a formal complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education, 
> the
> groups
>
> charge that the new curriculum was devised to "discriminate."
>
> The measures went as far as to replace instances of the trans-Atlantic 
> slave
> trade
>
> with
>
> "Atlantic triangular trade."
>
> "It is going to be extremely psychologically harmful to African-American
> young people
>
> because they are marginalized in the curriculum," Bledsoe said. "It will
> require
>
> them to be taught things such as the benevolence of slavery and the 
> problems
> with
>
> affirmative action rather than the good and the bad."
>
> "They voted down a motion that requires students to be taught about the
> terrorism
>
> brought about by the Ku Klux Klan and what they did to ethnic and racial
> minorities,
>
> but they turn around and pass a provision that requires the teaching of 
> the
> violence
>
> of the Black Panther Party."
>
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