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

[joe harcz Comcast]

Dear Chris, Fred, and All,

Personally I found the original post off topic, and I found this one off 
topic as well. It went into the content of text books, but not in to the 
seminal and on topic issue of our (blind and otherwise disabled) access to 
them as well as of course access to all instructional materials, such as 
testing, IEPs, report cards, etc., etc., etc. in the most effectiv formats 
for the individual and in a timely manner. The latter should be at the same 
time by law, equity and everything that is right  as non-disabled students 
get access to these instructional materials, including, of course basic text 
books no matter the content or debates over the content of them.

Daily in America our youth, and indeed college students who are blind for 
that matter, scramble to get this information so that they can do one thing: 
"Learn."

In addition restating prior comments on this thread I must say that blind 
folks are limited and thus held ignorant by design as much original 
historical source materials are inaccessible though google books, Gutenberg, 
and a swath of internet resources has made a number of historical and public 
domain texts accessible to all including us.

Regardless, I've got to get back to making MCB and other entities fully 
accessible to the blind on these accounts and I have to get back to ensuring 
that outfits like LIO have the resources both material and human to meet the 
instructional needs of our kids and not to have those limited resources 
ciphened off by hacks in the system and, outside of the system as one of the 
Planning and Quality Team objectives suggests and as all the state shuffling 
of blind trust monies has in fact done.

Sincerely,

Joe Harcz
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christine Boone" <christine_boone at comcast.net>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 9:40 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Disgusting and Scary: Blind and PWD Should Beware


> This is not an appropriate topic for this list.
>
> Did you know that northerners held slaves?
> Did you know that the War Between the States was not started because of 
> slavery?
> Did you know that plenty of southern land holders did not own slaves?
> There is lots more that you might not know too, including what those Texas 
> textbooks really  said.
> There are those in our Nation who actively  support and work toward the 
> wholesale reinvention of the history of the United States.
>
> Oh no I am not saying that our forefathers were perfect men, any more than 
> we are perfect today.  I am only saying that there is so much distortion 
> in these kinds of stories, on both sides, and I do not think we should 
> raise these off topic issues on the list.
>
> We have enough agendas already.
> Thank you for understanding.
>
> Christine
>
>
> On Jan 27, 2012, at 12:40 AM, Fred Wurtzel wrote:
>
>> 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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