A Virginia-based textbook company headed by a former far-right Republican member of the board published the controversial reader; Momentum Instruction CEO Cynthia Dunbar, who served on the board from 2007 to 2010, has blasted the widespread criticisms as “slanderous, libelous and defamatory statements that do not represent the content that's in the book."
But several education board members expressed concerns about the text Tuesday, including at least two Republicans and all four of its Hispanic members, who are Democrats. Critics point to passages that say Chicano activists "adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society" and that "Stereotypically, Mexicans were viewed as lazy compared to European or American workers." (Dunbar, who did not address the board Tuesday, says her company has clarified at least some of the passages.)
Ruben Cortez Jr., D-Brownsville, who was so concerned about the text that he convened an ad-hoc committee of scholars and educators to review it, said he believes a supermajority of his colleagues will vote to reject it. (A report his committee unveiled last week found that the text is littered with errors.) Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Thomas Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, described the text Tuesday as “dead on arrival” and board member Marty Rowley, R-Amarillo, said he has “real concerns” about it.
Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that she's behind this one.
