As a child, I used to be frustrated that my favorite American series were telecast two, three, even four seasons later, in their dubbed version, compared to their original version. It gave me the impression of living out of step, and made me look forward to understanding English enough to “go into the future”. Of course, the “delay” would not exist if we only consumed local creations. This feeling that we absorb elements of American culture, as Francophones, with a few seasons of delay still often persists with me — and I’m not talking here only about television.
At least, that’s how I explain to myself the fashion of the words ” woke ” and ” wokism in Quebec for about a year. Fox News and the Republican Party put forward this rhetorical device a few years ago to counter the growing sympathy of the American public for the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement. It has also been used to discredit any measure aimed at rectifying the historic exclusion of women and minorities from American university life. At least, it’s a synopsis that we could offer to present a first season of “Les woke attack”. A Rupert Murdoch production, of course.
While we savor here the first moments of this great television spectacle, you will allow me to divulge the rest to you flatly. A few seasons later, the series introduces a new keyword: the critical race theory, or Critical Race Theory (CRT). In June and July 2021 alone, Fox News mentioned the phrase 1914 times on the air, according to the washington post. A total of 1914 times in two months. What exactly is critical race theory? Literally, it is a field of social science research that studies the history of racism and its contemporary effects. In the sense of Fox News, it is, as with the word ” woke », an indefinable catch-all expression. We don’t know exactly what that means anymore, but we know it’s hateful.
In general, we understand that the TCR is the opposite of patriotism, even a weapon of guilt and massive devaluation of American pride (conservative). The 1619 Project of New York TimesMagazine, which recounts the origins of slavery in the territory? It’s TCR. Continuing education activities on equity and inclusion in companies? More TCR. A teacher who speaks in class about social privilege? Still TCR. From its thousands of on-air mentions stems a mobilization of parents across the country, who implore school boards to ban TCR from elementary and secondary education (even though the pre-Fox News definition of the term refers to a branch of social science research that has never touched children). Any teacher who mentions an aspect of history in class that does not glorify conservative white America risks being accused of “committing” TCR. Teachers who are not conservative white themselves are particularly at risk, of course.
In the latest episodes of “Les woke attack”, however, we got tired of the rhetoric and moved on to action. While Fox News has gradually diminished the use of the term critical race theory by late summer, nine US states had passed “anti-TCR” laws by the end of 2021: Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Carolina South, Arizona and North Dakota. By studying the inventory that the Brookings Institute has made of its various pieces of legislation, we see that the anti-TCR movement has also been taken advantage of to complicate the teaching of notions related to sex and gender. Some of these laws place limits on what can be taught in elementary, secondary, and state universities. Others prohibit equity, diversity and inclusion training for public service employees.
Their vocabulary has been carefully chosen. In Texas, for example, a teacher causing “discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” to students in connection with their racial or sexual identities by broaching sensitive subjects violates the law. It is also forbidden to question the idea of meritocracy, to argue that slavery was central to the founding of the United States or to teach that racism is “anything other than a deviation, a betrayal or a failure to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include freedom and equality”. We also outright prohibit the use in class of the famous 1619 Project of the New York TimesMagazine. There is no lack of precision.
Elected officials from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming have introduced similar bills. Six similar legislative initiatives have also been proposed to the US Congress. Here we talk about prohibiting the teaching of “divisive” concepts related to race and gender, there about firing teachers or reducing public funds to the “promoters” of TCR. Decidedly, the 2022 season of “Les woke attack” promises to be action-packed. Shouldn’t we rename the series “Les réacs attackent”, by the way?
Many fans of the show hooked on Season 1 because of the strength of the free speech theme in the storyline. As we have just seen, the narrative evolves rather towards a campaign of state censorship in good and due form targeting the educational milieu. If what I divulged interests us less, there is still time to change positions.