Teachers sue Tennessee over its ban on teaching about racism & sexism

Tennessee’s largest teacher organization, along with five public school teachers, is suing the state’s education department over its policies on teaching about racism and sexism.

The Tennessee Education Association brought the lawsuit to target S.B. 0623, which became law in June 2021 and bans school curricula from teaching that “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously.”

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It also says educators cannot teach that “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex”; that “this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist”; or that “a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex.” It also puts forth the requirement to teach “controversial aspects of history” in an “impartial” way.

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The law is part of the right-wing movement to ban so-called critical race theory from schools to protect white children from feeling guilt or shame about the country’s racist past. The lawsuit reportedly argues that S.B. 0623 “deprives Tennessee’s public-school students of the information, ideas, and skills — analytical thinking, reasoned analysis, historical understanding, debate — that are central to any concept of civic education in a democratic system.”

“Tennessee educators have been faced with the threat that a student or parent will trigger an enforcement proceeding under the Ban’s ill-defined standards, resulting in termination, license revocation, and reputational damage, for teaching lessons they have taught for years,” the lawsuit also states.

The lawsuit also points out the vague nature of the law and the fact that teachers have not been given the proper guidance on what does and does not violate it.

“Teachers are in this gray area where we don’t know what we can and can’t do or say in our classrooms,” said plaintiff Kathryn Vaughn, according to KQED. “The rollout of the law — from guidance to training — has been almost nonexistent. That’s put educators in an impossible position.”

The lawsuit outlines some of the effects the law has had on students’ education.

“In Tipton County, for example, one school has replaced an annual field trip to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis with a trip to a baseball game. In Shelby County, a choir director fears that his decades-long practice of teaching his students to sing and understand the history behind spirituals sung by enslaved people will be perceived as ‘divisive’ or otherwise violative of the Ban.”

The president of the Tennessee Education Association, Tanya Coats, said in a statement that “there is no group of individuals more passionate and committed to ensuring Tennessee students receive a high-quality education than public school educators. This law interferes with Tennessee teachers’ job to provide a fact-based, well-rounded education to their students.”

Tennessee continues to make headlines for its laws targeting marginalized groups.

Most recently, a U.S. appeals court decided to allow the state’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors to go into effect. The law bans doctors from providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to anyone under the age of 18. It also forces young people who are already receiving gender-affirming care to end their treatment by March 31, 2024.

The state was also the first in the nation to pass a law restricting drag shows, though a judge ruled it unconstitutional.