This is honestly some of the scariest shit yet to come from the right. Facts, are what you want them to be....
From the NYTimes:
Last month, the Florida Department of Education announced that grade-school teachers could use videos produced by Dennis Pragerâs PragerU Kids in their classrooms.
PragerU is no more a university than Trump University was. In fine type at the bottom of its webpage, it admits that âPragerU is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be. We donât offer degrees, but we do provide educational, entertaining, pro-American videos for every age.â
In reality, PragerU is little more than a propaganda media site. The Southern Poverty Law Center takes an even dimmer view of its credentials, saying, âPragerU seems to be yet another node on the internet connecting conservative media consumers to the dark corners of the extreme right.â
Soon, students could be watching videos like one produced by PragerU that features two children, Leo and Layla, who appear to be white, traveling back in time to talk to Christopher Columbus. In it, a cartoon Columbus says that the first Indigenous people he met when he landed in the Bahamas, the Taino, a subgroup of the Arawak, were âpeaceful, curious and really helpful.â Later, he says, âI ordered my men to treat them well.â
Howard Zinnâs âA Peopleâs History of the United Statesâ tells a different story, detailing how Columbus described the Arawak in his log at the time. âThey would make fine servants,â Columbus wrote. âWith 50 men, we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.â
I can't embed the video, but here's a link to the Colombus video at the point they start discussing Chris meeting the natives.
Interesting look at the Republican Party...and the MAGA base vs. the rest of the party. It reinforces the notion that Trump is nearly unbeatable in the primaries...and very unlikely to win anything in the general election.
Bloomberg reports that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), following up on the Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action in college admissions - or at least mandated that race could not be used by colleges as a factor in determining who to admit - "urged Target Corp. to end its efforts to racially diversify its workforce and vendor network.
"He called the Minneapolis-based companyâs programs 'discriminatory' and threatened 'significant and likely costly litigation' should Target fail to change its ways."
Bloomberg reports that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), following up on the Supreme Court ruling that banned affirmative action in college admissions - or at least mandated that race could not be used by colleges as a factor in determining who to admit - "urged Target Corp. to end its efforts to racially diversify its workforce and vendor network.
"He called the Minneapolis-based companyâs programs 'discriminatory' and threatened 'significant and likely costly litigation' should Target fail to change its ways."
In its analysis, Bloomberg suggests that "retail is one of the few sectors where those without higher education can earn a consistent income and access health benefits. Cutting back on diversity programs will make retail work even more challenging than it already is by further squeezing the thin representation of people of color in the upper echelons of management.
"Like many companies, including Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., Target announced ambitious goals to diversify its corporate and management teams in the wake of George Floydâs murder at the hands of police in 2020. Target promised at the time to increase its representation of Black team members by 20% over the following three years through improved hiring, mentorship and retention programs. But its most recent 2021 figures show itâs been a slow go, increasing only from 15% to 16%."
And, Bloomberg goes on:
"Diversity all along the corporate hierarchy is critical to worker retention and career advancement, especially among people of color. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Human Resources found that retail workers managed by someone of the same race are less likely to quit or be fired. And itâs much harder to stick with a job as a person of color when your manager may not be able to identify with your race-related issues or understand the specific challenges you may face in advancing. As it turns out, all retail workers want the opportunity to advance."
And, there's this final assessment from Bloomberg:
"Itâs not the responsibility of any one company to fix systematic discrimination against people of color in the workforce. But conservatives have focused their outrage on Target for its progressive policies, even as dozens of other companies have made similar diversity commitments. Target fumbled its response to the backlash against its Pride collection last month. It has an opportunity to correct those mistakes in defending its diversity programs. Hereâs hoping other retailers step up and defend their rival for the good of the industry."
