Wait, is the offense they’re threatening people’s jobs over just... the inclusion of this cartoon? A satirical published commentary on a currently contentious issue? What pathetic, mewling little snowflakes. https://twitter.com/joegamaldi/status/1296464206158536706

I’d be interested to hear @DWFitzsimmons weigh in here. He’s staff cartoonist for the Arizona Star, and @GregAbbott_TX is threatening to fire a teacher for the sin of showing students one of his satirical editorial cartoons.

The argument of that cartoon—that there’s a thread of continuity between historical oppression of black & brown people in America and contemporary racial disparities in policing—is not exactly novel or shocking. It’s made in newspapers, online, and on television every day.

Abbot is essentially saying any classroom discussion of a common political argument—that modern state violence is continuous with historical white supremacy—is off limits, on pain of termination, because it might hurt cops’ feelings.

How about if you take out the last panel? If the argument stops with the idea that cops who beat civil rights marchers in the 50 were part of a legacy of racial oppression? Is that an idea too offensive for students to think about?

Can Texas students read MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”? Is that, too, off limits for being too mean about police? Or perhaps that’s safe as long as we assure the kids it has no relevance today.