Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction graduated from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Harding is the largest private university in that state with an enrollment of a 3,687. The school is ranked the 263rd best college in the United States, meaning it isn't the academic powerhouse Carlow State University is, but it does beat the hell out of Our Lady of the Lake University down in San Antonio, Tx. At last look 5% of Harding's undergrads are African American.
The information provided isn't necessarily an attempt to disparage the Superintendent's education., but rather part of an inquiry into why the guy is so bat shit crazy.
On Thursday Mr. Walters, who bears a disturbing resemblance to former Oklahoma football coach, Lincoln Riley, spoke to a roomful of people in Norman. Someone asked him why shouldn't teaching a history of the Tulsa race massacre be considered a part of Critical Race Theory, a subject which drives Walters and other conservatives to the brink of apoplexy. The Superintendent answered by saying, in part, "So I would say to you be judgmental of the issue, of the action, of the content of the character of the individual, absolutely, But let's not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined it."
Now a reasonable person might interpret Mr. Walters' message as saying that while teachers can tell their students a lot of bad people did bad things in 1921Tulsa you shouldn't teach them race had anything to do with it. In some quarters this is known as erasing history. In others, rewriting it.
The reaction to the statement was swift, loud, and widespread. Our boy Ryan even managed to get condemned by at least one major cable news network analyst.
To his dubious credit, Ryan Walters appeared to realize he had gone a race war too far. Yesterday he began a series of song and dances that would have made Bob Fosse proud.
He had been misquoted he said. Then he was quoted by the OKC ABC TV outlet the media had twisted his words in order to manufacture a controversy. He told both KOCO TV and The Oklahoman newspaper the race massacre was an evil part of our history and race did play a part in it. He just didn't want kids now days to feel ashamed of the color of their skin because of it. Always the republican mouthpiece, The Oklahoman said he had clarified his remarks. Yes, yes you might have been on tape saying that stupid shit, but we understand what you really meant.
Brother Walters isn't a stranger when it comes to saying or doing strange things. A while back he claimed Oklahoma public schools were stocking hard core pornography in their libraries which could be accessed by students. When asked to prove it, he sent out emails and had staffers hand deliver sexually explicit material to state legislators. Unfortunately, he never said which schools had the questionable literature on hand, leaving everyone to wonder if it really came from a library, or it was porn he had picked up at a Quickie Mart in Arcadia, Oklahoma.
As of this date the question remains unanswered.
The Oklahoma Superintendent is also a big fan of an organization called, Moms for Liberty. So much so he was a speaker at their national "summit," last year. They cheered him wildly when he advocated for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. Moms for Liberty are so vociferously anti teacher, Critical Race, Theory and pro state/religion fusion the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified them as a hate group.
Well, you have to expect lunacy like this when the person you elect to oversee public education hates public education and the people who teach it.
Before Ryan Walters got into politics, he was a history teacher at the McAlester, Ok high school. He was a finalist for the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Award. After what we've learned about him the last few years it is now easy to believe that nomination says more about the academically corrupt leadership of Oklahoma's educational establishment than it does his ability.
But hey, he still has that Lincoln Riley thing going for him.
7-8-23
Can you hear my sigh in cyberspace?
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