Why is it wrong to teach students about diversity, equity and inclusion?

  The college where I teach had always been very progressive. It encouraged faculty and staff to exercise freedom of speech and welcomed inclusive speakers, lessons and events.

  Texas Senate Bill 17 was passed in May 2023, and almost overnight things changed. This law, similar to ones in two of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s focus states of Florida and Alabama, bans diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in public colleges and universities. Colleges that do not comply can lose millions in state funding. Administrators explained to us what speech was prohibited, such as requiring attendance for certain speakers.

  I wondered how I could teach without violating the law and how it would affect events for students.

  Last June, I joined other faculty and staff on a civil rights tour. During the tour by the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group, we would learn about U.S. history on a deeper level and share what we learned with our students. I joined because I had recently learned that I have ancestors who were enslaved. I also enjoy learning history. This was an opportunity to visit places I have only read about in textbooks.

  Our first stop was the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, where the tour focused on life from the enslaved person’s perspective. I was moved by the plaques bearing the names of enslaved people and their country of origin. Through ancestry websites, I had traced my paternal grandfather to a New Orleans plantation, so I listened intently. The tour guide mentioned that in some schools, enslavement isn’t taught. The subject has become taboo. I left wishing my students could experience this tour.

  At the More Up Campus, a community activism hub in Montgomery, Alabama, artist Michelle Browder discussed her artwork. Montgomery was the home of Dr. J. Marion Sims, who pioneered gynecology. Browder discussed Sims’ many accomplishments, but also told us about his experiments on enslaved women who could not give their consent and were operated on without anesthesia. Three of these women were named Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey.

  Browder created three huge metal sculptures honoring these women. She purchased Sims’ home and plans to create a museum on the bottom floor and a gynecology clinic on the second. She has purchased trailers for physicians to visit impoverished areas where women can’t get prenatal care. Browder has a calling to make her community a better place. I thought about how much I would like to bring her to my campus for Women’s History Month, but then it occurred to me that my college might not allow her to speak because of SB 17.

History comes to life

  In Montgomery, we also saw the church where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor, the state Capitol, and the towering Confederate Memorial Monument beside it. We went inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham where four Black girls were murdered in a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963. We visited the park across the street where protesters were sprayed with firehoses and attacked by dogs. Today, those areas are marked with bronze statues depicting this terror. There was a Juneteenth celebration occurring that day in the park. I couldn’t help but think of the irony.

  The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery was a somber experience. An art installation with large metal panels displayed the names of thousands of “documented” lynched men, women, and children between 1870-1950. Although I knew about lynchings, I had no idea how many there were — some occurred only 74 years ago. I thought of my mixed-race ancestors and the fear they endured.

  We visited the Montgomery home of Martin Luther King Jr., where I wondered what kinds of terror he experienced from locals who wanted to quiet him. And in Selma, we walked together across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march began. I couldn’t help but wonder how this bridge in 2024 still carried the name of a Confederate general and former Ku Klux Klan leader.

  I was excited to return and share my experience with my students who are future educators. I wanted to share my photos and how they can create lessons and design field trips. Then I remembered SB 17. How can I incorporate what I learned into my curriculum without breaking the law?

  Why is it wrong to teach students about diversity, the fight for equity, and inclusion?

  About the author: Diana Bradford is a college professor in Texas.

  This article was published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights organization.