There are people who say slavery, as an issue, is in this country’s distant past. As such kids in public schools should not be made to feel “uncomfortable” by study of slavery. We should put slavery in the context of a tumor holding that which should be released. 1/8

U.S. average adult weights today. Adult male: near 200 lbs, female 170. At the start of the Civil War, slaves were 17% of the total population and 32% population of the States that seceded. The tumor would be 34/28.9 lbs overall or 64/54.4 lbs in the body of southern States. 2/8

If a tumor, even benign, of that size is removed from a person, her/his metabolism is significantly altered. Convalescence is lengthy. The South was devastated. Slaves, in much of the south, had been forbidden from learning to read, write, subtract or add. They had few job skills. 3/8

After 1865 hate groups of white people arose to terrorize former slaves. Jim Crow laws shut out former slaves & their descendants from voting & from schools. When Black people succeeded, despite these barriers, they were attacked and killed, as in Tulsa in 1921. 4/8

Not until 1954 was segregation, in general, deemed a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Intermarriage wasn’t ruled unconstitutional until 1964. Disparities between Black & white underscore how convalescence from slavery continues today. 5/8

Tonight on Civil Discourse Now I’ll have two guests at 7 p.m. on the “Mouthwash” Facebook network. Kim Livorno is VP of Purple for Parents, a group that advocates against SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and CRT (Critical Race Theory) in public schools. 6/8

Ronald Cummingham, a K-12 educator for > 20 yrs, holds degrees fr Georgetown (BA), Howard (MA) & IUPUI (MSED + completing doctorate Urban Ed’l Studies) & IU-McKinney (law). He employs critical race theory as theoretical framework & methodology in his research. 7/8

We also will have a Special Guest call in so this should be a great Show. Full disclosure: I’m Mark Small, a pro-choice and, pro-environment GOP candidate for Indiana House District 86. I approve of this blog. Hell, I wrote it. 8/8