Wyoming state representative Andy Schwartz explained to his colleague in the Wyoming legislature that presenting neutral both-side-ism around astoundingly important events in history is worthless. To truly understand the horrific nature of these actions one must find them uncomfortable.
Schwartz's speech broke the Republican supermajority and they could not achieve a 2/3rds vote to pass their ban on Critical Race Theory. 60 of the 67 members of the legislature are Republicans.
JTA:
"In this bill, page 9, line 19 states, 'The teaching of history must be neutral, without judgment,'" state Rep. Andy Schwartz said during debate. "Now, how can that be possible? If I were a Native American, I doubt I could accept the neutral, judgment-free approach about the relocation, the decimation of the Indigenous population. If I were a Black American, I doubt I could accept a neutral, judgment-free approach on the enslavement of millions of Americans.
"But I'm Jewish, and I cannot accept a neutral judgment-free approach on the murder of 6 million Jews in World War Two."
Schwartz, whose Teton County district includes the city of Jackson, said that, to understand the depth of depraved actions, one must be discomfited by them.
"Going to page 8, lines 19 and 20, it says 'no one should feel discomfort or distress,'" he said. "But in learning about the Holocaust, I have suffered a lifetime of discomfort and distress, and it's essential that as students learn about this dark time in our history, they to feel discomfort in distress."
