Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) sharply questioned Education Secretary Linda McMahon during a Wednesday House hearing about the department\u2019s actions against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), alleging the federal agency is \u201ctaking its lead from Jim Crow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, and to be very clear, I want to say that this administration has undoubtedly revived the culture of racism we haven’t seen since the Jim Crow era. They’ve made it clear that open attacks on Black and brown and other marginalized communities is not just tolerated, but it’s encouraged,\u201d Lee said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The calls to remove DEI measures, Lee said, \u201cin favor of \u2018traditional American values\u2019 is indistinguishable from\u00a0post Civil War South advocating to write history with the Lost Cause narrative.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a question, some questions, excuse me, about why this department is taking its leads from Jim Crow,\u201d she continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee specifically criticized the Department of Education\u2019s letter in April telling schools they needed to sign a certification saying they were DEI-free or risk losing federal funding. \u00a0<\/p>\n
McMahon dismissed the concern, saying no schools have lost funding, as Lee pointed out the directive was preliminarily blocked by multiple judges. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring your confirmation hearing, you were asked by Sen. Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] if an African American history class violated the administration’s position on diversity, equity and inclusion, you said you want to look into it. You’ve been on the job for a few … months now. Have you been able to look into it?\u201d Lee asked. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not think that African studies or Middle East studies or Chinese studies are part of DEI if they are taught as part of the total history package,\u201d McMahon responded. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After some back and forth, McMahon concluded, \u201cAfrican history can certainly be taught\u201d without concerns of DEI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, thank you,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The congresswoman asked McMahon if a lesson about the Tusla race massacre would be allowed in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d have to get back to you,\u201d McMahon responded, adding, \u201cI\u2019d like to look into it more and get back to you on it\u201d when Lee asked if she even knew what the Tusla race massacre was.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about the book from Ruby Bridges?\u201d Lee questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t read that,\u201d McMahon said.<\/p>\n
She also peppered McMahon with questions whether schools can have Pride celebrations or accurately teach that former President Biden won the 2020 election, growing frustrated and cutting off McMahon when she would not answer yes or no. \u00a0<\/p>\n
“I think our studies should all be taught accurately,” McMahon said. <\/p>\n
The exchange highlighted the frustration among Democrats during the hearing as they hammered McMahon over cuts to contracts and employees at the federal agency. \u00a0<\/p>\n
McMahon is sitting in front of the House committee to defend her department’s priorities while funding considerations are still on the table. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014Updated at 3:18 p.m. EDT<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) sharply questioned Education Secretary Linda McMahon during a Wednesday House hearing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thetoptenwebhosts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}