Mississippi Senators Walk Out in Protest Over Critical Race Theory Ban

During a vote that would ban schools from teaching critical race theory on Friday, several Black lawmakers walked out in protest, withholding their votes for the bill. Democratic Senator Barbara Blackmon of Canton stated: “This bill is not morally right.” Unfortunately so, the bill passed in Mississippi with 32-2, with the only votes against the bill coming from Democrats.

Democratic Sen. John Horhn of Jackson is one of the handful that walked out of the vote. Horhn fears whether the bill could prevent schools from teaching about the late U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland of Mississippi, who led an effort to block anti-lynching legislation in 1948, or other critical histories. Horhn stated: “The whole situation of it is based on the founding of this country and some of the precepts that we, as a country, implicitly or explicitly accepted — chief among which we justified slavery because powers that be judged Black people to be racially inferior. And a lot of our laws, a lot of our systems, a lot of our customs, a lot of our practices have been impacted by that.″

Source: NPR