Censorship in Texas

For decades, a handful of extreme conservative activists have dominated the process that determines what textbooks will be used in Texas schools.

Led historically by local East Texas activists Mel and Norma Gabler and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, these groups aim to re-shape books that will end up in classrooms across not only Texas but the country -- books they insist should teach more about Christianity and traditional gender roles, cut "unpatriotic" content about slavery and discrimination, and eliminate environmental issues that reflect poorly on the free enterprise system.

These activists have demanded alarming changes to textbooks over the years:

· Censoring a photo of a woman with a briefcase saying goodbye to her child
· Criticizing a text on slavery for "overkill of emphasis on cruelty to slaves"
· Insisting that the African-American family depicted in a section on 'The American Family' be replaced with Anglos.

Sadly, this year's review of Social Studies textbooks is shaping up to be no different.

In the first of three public hearings on proposed books, members of far-right organizations testified that:

· History books should teach our kids that America was founded on Biblical principals, teach them about the Christian belief in the resurrection of Christ, and that our rights come not from our Constitution, but from our Creator.
· The proposed textbooks overemphasize America's role in slavery.
· "The Koran in all of its teachings is violent and expansionistic."

The grave reality is that today, these organizations wield the power to block a textbook that doesn't align with their personal political and religious beliefs.

Just last fall, they actually banned an environmental science textbook because of its coverage of global warming, which they proclaimed to be "anti-Christian" and "anti-free enterprise."

Perhaps more disturbing is the fact that many of these groups are working directly with publishers behind the scenes and outside the public hearing process to change passages they don't like. Under pressure, schoolbook publishers often allow them to read and comment on proposed books before the books are even submitted to the State Board of Education.

They have already been successful this year at removing one book from consideration entirely -- before the public hearing process even began.

This is censorship.

We are accustomed to hearing reports of political censorship of textbooks in China, Afghanistan and Communist Russia. But most of us never thought this would happen in our country. In the land of the free, students should learn from textbooks that challenge them with information, not books that reflect only a narrow point of view.

How is such a small group of activists able to wield so much power in determining the content of school textbooks for Texas and the nation? Because they are organized and well-funded. Because they have represented themselves as the moral high ground. And because, until now, no one else has organized to challenge them.

The solution is simple: it's time that State Board of Education members and textbook publishers hear from parents and citizens representing mainstream values, instead of just from this small group of self-appointed censors.

Hearings on proposed textbooks will be held throughout the summer and fall, with the final adoption vote on November 14.

People interested in objective, non-ideological Social Studies education should get involved in the textbook review process now!