Tipsheet

Leftists Dishonestly Claim Youngkin Wants to Remove MLK Jr.

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 17, 2022 5:15 PM

Radical leftists are once more trying to go after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) for daring to prioritize high standards in education and empowering parents in all areas. It has been the governor's philosophy to teach all of history, both the good and the bad. This includes teaching Virginia students how to think, rather than what to think. Given that these opponents of the governor's agenda don't have a leg to stand on, they've taken to lying about the curriculum in Virginia.

The latest move involves a claim that Youngkin is trying to remove Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from lesson plans.

As Guy tweeted out, one such figure includes Brian Tyler Cohen, whose podcast is ironically titled "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen." The context that readers added to Cohen's tweet debunk the lie, as it points out the document of new standards that show where MLK Jr. is mentioned.

The article that Cohen tweeted, from Emily Harrison at 13 News Now quotes James Fedderman, President of the Virginia Education Association (VEA) entirely when it comes to these claims. 

"There is also a removal of content of Martin Luther King Jr from the K-5 standards, no mention of Juneteenth, removal of content of LGBTQ+ histories," he said. Fedderman is also quoted later in the piece complaining that the "resulting standards right now are racist. They are factually incorrect. They are not age-appropriate and they reflect explicit political bias."

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Despite the context message added, Cohen continued to tweet the false claim.

The claims appear to have been propagated at even greater length by Wesley Hedgepeth, the president-elect of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Hedgepeth's tweets as well as a column make the claim about MLK Jr.

He also wrote a column for Richmond.com published on Wednesday claiming "Revised history and social science SOLs raise serious concerns." 

In it, he writes that the most recent Standard of Learning (SOL) draft "has a number of problematic content changes that fail to reflect the concerns of our diverse communities." Towards his conclusion, he also calls it "unacceptable for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Superintendent Balow to use the state standards review process to score political points at the cost of Virginia students and educators alike."

Criticism also came from Del. Don Scott, a Democrat who it's worth reminding had accused Youngkin of not being sincere in his faith due to his executive orders on forced masks and education. 

Those claims were not only easily rebutted with the readers context, but a tweet from Macaulay Porter, the governor's press secretary. 

The lies are even worse given the full context provided by Porter in a statement for Townhall. She explained that the "August 2022 draft policies developed under the previous Administration had significant errors in their standards, including omitting key historical references to  hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and Sen. Hiram Revels of Mississippi, the first African American to serve in Congress, and more, which have now been incorporated into the new draft." 

"Despite various claims to the contrary, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is included in the revised standards and, in fact, they have expanded the depth of content required on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Through public comment, review, and input from Virginians, state and national historians, and various community organizations since January 2021, the draft standards are being molded to ensure our students learn all our history - the good and the bad," she added. 

On the standards, she also mentioned that the "draft history standards are in the initial stages of the State Board of Education's review process and will continue to undergo revisions informed by public engagement sessions and Board hearings. This process is focused on ensuring Virginia has the best history standards and curriculum for our students."

Porter also retweeted Ian Prior, executive director of Fight for Schools and local news reporter Nick Minock of 7 News DC. 

Documents obtained by Townhall also confirm and explain that MLK Jr. and other civil rights leaders are indeed included and even expanded in the standards, that the standards were not changed to exclude any historic or influential figures, and that this important coverage of such leaders is significant across multiple grade levels. 

The standards also include discussion of other historic topics, such as Women's Suffrage and those key figures involved. 

Showing how politically motivated these attacks are against the governor, the standards go even beyond the previous administration, under Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat. This includes a mention that "the Holocaust is an example of prejudice, discrimination, and genocide that targeted Jews and other groups" and also a section discussing "the Bill of Rights outline American Civil Liberties."

When it comes to claims about MLK Jr. Day being omitted, the documents make clear that not only has that omission been corrected, but that "it is important to note that MLK Jr Day related content would absolutely have been taught have been taught to students since it is a designated holiday."

Earlier on Thursday, the Board of Education met to look over the draft policy. They are open for public comment now and this is not the final review. 

It's hardly a shock that such standards would be Youngkin's priority, given that he not only campaigned on this issue, but won on it. Empowering parents and the importance of education was also a part of the day one executive orders from the governor, who signed them shortly after being inaugurated on January 15 of this year.