Photo via Cajun Overcomer/YouTube
April 28, 2021, 1:52 pm
A hearing held by the Louisiana House Education Committee on Tuesday is getting attention for a moment in which Republican state Representative Ray Garofalo was trying to defend a bill he authored that would prohibit public schools from teaching kids about “divisive concepts,” whatever that means. What Rep. Garofalo clearly means by this language is concepts related to racism, sexism, and other bigotries that have long plagued the U.S. throughout its history.
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As he was being grilled by fellow Republican Rep. Stephanie Hilferty on the bill’s vague and confusing language, Garofalo did his best to dodge requests that he produce actual assignments that he claims say “the United States is a racist country” and that “corporations are inherently racist.”
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After refusing to produce real copies of these assignments, even with identifying information redacted, out of concern for “privacy,” Garofalo tried to give hypothetical examples on assignments about slavery and made a quite notable statement about the practice.
“If you’re teaching, if you’re having a discussion on, whatever the case may be, on slavery, and you can talk about everything dealing with slavery,” he says starting at about 5:18 in the YouTube video. “The good, the bad, the ugly, the whole-“
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At this point, Hilferty interrupts Garofalo to say what the motionless Black man sitting next to him may have been thinking.
“There’s no good to slavery, though,” she says.
At this, uproarious laughter and clapping erupt from the back of the room as Garofalo stumbles over his words to try and backpedal.
“Then whatever the case may be,” he says. “You’re right, you’re right, I didn’t mean to imply that. And I don’t believe that, and I know that that’s the case. But I’m using that good bad and ugly to, as a generic way of saying that you can teach any facts, factually based anything regardless.”
Too late, Garofalo. You’re now the guy who talked about “the good” of slavery.
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Regardless of how you spin it, Garofalo still seems to be arguing that if schools are going to teach kids about the history of slavery in the U.S., there needs to be some kind of “both sides” presentation to what is undeniably a purely ugly practice. In public schools in red states, this has historically resulted in history books and assignments denying or omitting the fact that the Confederate states fought to maintain the institution of slavery in the Civil War and even implying that African chattel slaves were happy to be slaves.
Garofalo continued to try and argue that history is a “fact” that can somehow be separated from politics despite being recorded, read, and interpreted by humans who all have political opinions.
“We can experience the same event and potentially have differing views,” Hilferty points out. “I mean, you know that, as an attorney, witness testimony can vary.”
The bill, HB 564, is unfortunately alive after a vote to kill it ended in a tie. Garofalo is reportedly expected to continue this debate, in which he will hopefully refrain from praising slavery again.
*First Published: April 28, 2021, 1:52 pm
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