Some Schools In Texas May Start Referring To Slavery As “Involuntary Relocation”

Under the new social studies standards proposed to Texas’ education board, public schools would call slavery “involuntary relocation,” when teaching second-graders.

While creating a new social studies curriculum for Texas, nine educators submitted the concept to the State Board of Education. This process happens every 10 years and dictates what will be taught in about 8,900 public schools.

These curriculum modifications come one year following Texas passing a law to get rid of topics from schools that make students feel uncomfortable.

Aicha Davis, a board member, said that the phrase doesn’t fairly describe the slave trade. The draft was then revisited, calling for the educators to “carefully examine the language used to describe events.”

“I can’t say what their intention was, but that’s not going to be acceptable,” Davis stated.

As a part of the draft, some standards say that students “should compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times.”

In recent years, Texas’ public education system has been very politicized. Lawmakers have been deciding how race and slavery should be learned in schools. Conservatives have also been spending large amounts of money as they campaign in school board races.

In 2015, Texas received national attention after a student saw that slaves were called “workers” in a textbook. The publisher of the book apologized and “promised to increase the number of textbook reviewers it uses.”