I had planned to write about something else today, but just as I started to double-check something, I came across another story I’d missed from a few days ago that I love too much. And that took precedence.
Actually, it’s sort of an infuriating story, too. The foundation behind it all. But what transpired is superb. The background is that the Arkansas state Senate was holding a hearing on amendments to the education bill from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. A group of Little Rock Central High School students showed up at the to speak against the bill, which among other things would implement school vouchers that opponents believe open the door wide for segregation. (I should note that Arkansas student complaint about the bill was not limited to this hearing, but there was a big walkout at the same Little Rock high school last Friday.) However, whenever each student tried to speak at the hearing, the Republican committee chair State Sen. Jane English would shut them down, explaining that they were addressing the bill, but that had already had two hearings, so they would told that the only thing they could discuss were the amendments. “I’m sorry, you just don’t get to talk on the bill," Sen. English told one of the students. "If you want to talk on this amendment, specifically things that are in this amendment, you’re free to do that, but you cannot speak on the bill.” It was a refrain she kept repeating to student after student. The students hadn’t been able to attend those two earlier hearings on the overall bill because they were held (okay, make a wild guess – and yes, you’re right) during school hours. And because the bill had already passed both state house, the only comments allowed were on the amendments. It was an infuriating, thoughtless action by English. But being high school students, used to finding ways to sneak around stupid rules by adults, they eventually figured out a way to get their points in. It was seriously impressive, and in some cases, brilliant. And all the more so when you realize that how these high school students dealt with the road blocks put up to block them was not something planned, but that they improvised and came up with on the spur of the moment. One student, Ethan Walker, understanding that he was only allowed to talk about the amendments, not the horrible bill, said, ““I’d like to speak on the amendments, and how they do not go far enough to tear down and decimate this bill.” As Sen. English kept interrupting him, he added that, “These petty little wording rearrangements don’t do anything to address how bad this bill actually is." Other students did much of the same. But it was sophomore Rhone Kuta who took high school cleverness to another level, almost Shakespearean – finding a way to get past Sen. English continuing to interrupted him. What he did was find a specific line on one of the pages, and as Sen. English kept interrupting him. "Where it deletes ‘and’ and substitutes ‘or,'” sophomore Kuta said about the amendment, “the reasons I believe this amendment is bad is, this should actually say we are deleting the voucher program on section 63 because the voucher program absolutely reallocates resources from the working class Americans and Arkansans and reallocates it to the upper class.” As he went on, Kuta continued to use language in the amendment to criticize the overall bill, in particular one part on the ban teaching anti-racism content. Eventually, chair English cut off Kuta, said his two-minutes were up and had him leave. But other students picked up on what he had done and, as Sen. English kept trying to interrupt, called instead for even greater amendments Senior Gryffyn May, for example, used the same tactic and said, “The amendment that says page 90, line 3, delete ‘and’ and substitute ‘or,’ is insufficient because there’s nothing that amends the clause that is talking about having school choice policies that will make it so that students who are minority groups will be left in public schools while privileged students go to private schools.” In the end, the power of the committee won out, and the bill and amendments have officially passed. And Gov. Huckabee Sanders signed it yesterday. But I particularly like the words of one of the adults who showed up to speak. That was Little Rock School Board member Ali Noland. She told Sen. English that trying to silence the students backfired. “By talking to them and cutting them off in this way, believe me, you are giving them much more of a platform than you would have if you had just listened to their criticism of the amendment in the first place," Noland said. "They showed up after school on their own time to tell you these amendments do not satisfy their concerns.” In most states, educators and politicians like to say that "Children are our future." That doesn't appear as much a case in Arkansas. But then, this is the state where one of the first acts Gov. Huckabee Sanders did when sworn in was to eliminate the use of the word "LatinX" from state documents. So, in the end, this "education" bill and treatment of children isn't all that surprising. I did find a tweet that has a two-minute video with brief excerpts of the students trying to speak at the hearing, along with Board of Education member Noland, but unfortunately I can't embed it -- however, you can watch it here.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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