Censorship

Texas Governor Says Teacher Who Showed Cartoon Comparing Police to KKK Should Be Fired

Published: Aug. 25, 2020.

Student
A student participates in a free-speech rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington March 19, 2007. The U.S. Supreme Court considers on Monday its first major dispute on student free-speech rights in nearly 20 years, a case about the power of school authorities to censor what they viewed as a pro-drug message at a school-sponsored event. REUTERS/Molly Riley (UNITED STATES)

Texas Governor Greg Abbot is calling on a public school to fire a teacher for showing students a cartoon comparing police officers to slave owners and the Ku Klux Klan. 

According to The Star Telegram, eighth-grade students at Cooper Junior High School in Dallas, were assigned the cartoon as part of a lesson on the Bill of Rights. The cartoon is made up of five panels with men from different periods of U.S. history kneeling on a Black man’s neck. The first image depicts a slave owner with his knee on an enslaved man, followed by a bounty hunter, Ku Klux Klan member, Jim Crow officer, and ending in a modern policeman. Over the course of the five frames, the Black figure manages to convey the phrase, “I can’t breathe.” 

 The assignment was intended to give students the opportunity to explore whether the right to protest and the right to free speech are as important today as they were in the past. 

On August 23rd, Abbot shared the image on his Twitter, asking the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to “investigate and take action”. TEA oversees primary and secondary public education in the state of Texas. 

“It’s the opposite of what must be taught. The teacher should be fired,” Abbott tweeted. 

According to The Star Telegram, more than one teacher was involved, but none have been publicly named. The school district is continuing to investigate. 

The Star Telegram

Tags

Censorship Greg Abbot Ku Klux Klan Political Satire Protest Student Speech Texas
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