Texas Board of Education considers calling slavery “involuntary relocation”

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The Texas Board of Education has fielded a proposal from a group of educators in Texas wanting to refer to slavery as “involuntary relocation.”

The group is made up of eight educators and one professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley who submitted a proposal to the Board of Education that would change the language describing the Transatlantic slave trade during second grade social studies.

The proposal was brought up during a June 15 school board meeting that lasted more than 12 hours, according to the Texas Tribune.

Part of the proposal reads that students should “compare journeys to America, including voluntary Irish immigration and involuntary relocation of African people during colonial times.”

In a statement issued yesterday, board members sent the draft back asking the group to reconsider the “involuntary relocation” phrasing.

“The board, with unanimous consent, directed the work group to revisit that specific language,” Keven Ellis, chair of the Texas State Board of Education said. “For K-2, carefully examine the language used to describe events, specifically the term ‘involuntary relocation’.”

Texas Board of Education considers revisionist history

The Black Wall Street Times reached out to board member Aicha Davis, who was present at the June 15 meeting, for the names of the nine group members but did not receive a response. Davis brought up concerts to the board saying the proposed terminology is not a fair representation of the slave trade.

“I can’t say what their intention was, but that’s not going to be acceptable,” Davis told The Texas Tribune.

Texas law states that slavery cannot be taught in relation with “the true founding of the United States” and that slavery is a “deviation from, betrayal of, or failure to live up to the authentic founding principals of the United States, which include liberty and equality.”

The Texas State Board of Education will take the summer to consider changes to the curriculum and will have a final vote in November.