Critics saw Georgia divisive concepts law as covert racism. They were right

The cause is a state law designed to sanitize American history by downplaying discomforting topics that would suggest racism is not a historical artifact, but a present-day malady. Gov. Brian Kemp and the Republican leadership endorsed House Bill 1084, which defined nine concepts regarding race and racism as “divisive” and banned them from Georgia classrooms.

Among the forbidden topics in HB 1084: One race is inherently superior to another race; the United States is fundamentally racist; an individual, by virtue of his or her race, is inherently or consciously racist or oppressive toward individuals of other races; an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race, should feel anguish, guilt or any other form of psychological distress; any other form of race scapegoating or race stereotyping.

In explaining his decision to not recommend AP African American Studies, state School Superintendent Richard Woods said, “After reviewing the content, it was clear that parts of the coursework did violate the law.”

AP African American Studies does not set out to make students uncomfortable about the history they inherited but to make them aware of that history. “Most people haven’t taken the opportunity to look inside the course and see what it actually entails,” said the College Board’s Brandi Waters, who oversaw the development and rollout of AP African American Studies.

In signing HB 1084, Kemp said, “It ensures all of our state and nation’s history is taught accurately — because here in Georgia, our classrooms will not be pawns of those who want to indoctrinate our kids with their partisan political agendas.”

Kemp’s comments remind me of what Gov. Herman Talmadge said in 1955 about stopping outsiders with beliefs counter to Georgia’s “traditional way of life” and “birthright.” At the time, Talmadge was decrying school integration and the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Woods singled out the AP framework’s discussion of intersectionality as “the most glaring violation” of state law. A section in the course is titled “The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality,” and it references the 1977 “Combahee River Collective Statement.”

That powerful statement explained that Black women face marginalization from race, gender, and sexual orientation. Among its declarations: “The fact that racial politics and indeed racism are pervasive factors in our lives did not allow us, and still does not allow most Black women, to look more deeply into our own experiences and, from that sharing and growing consciousness, to build a politics that will change our lives and inevitably end our oppression.”

That’s thought-provoking content. That high school students are eager to explore it reflects the careful crafting of AP African American Studies, which takes students back before slave ships arrived in Charleston to centuries of African culture, education and achievements.

And students appear to value the depth and expanse of the course. According to College Board surveys, 80% of students in the AP African American Studies pilot reported they are very or somewhat likely to continue exploring the field of African American Studies after completing the course. A similar percent were more confident afterward in evaluating written sources, analyzing visual artifacts, developing an argument and generally explaining course concepts.

Isn’t that what we want for students, that they can use the study of the past to better understand the present and that they’re motivated to learn more and work harder?

The sponsor of HB 1084, state Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, said in 2022 that his legislation would help Georgia “get past the past without forgetting the past.”

What we are seeing now is the real impact of the bill: Georgia will “get past the past” by simply refusing to teach it.