Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Gail Lowe

Removing César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall from social studies textbooks in Texas seems like a cruel joke to many Latinos and blacks who see such suggestions as a sign that the culture wars are sure to continue in Texas.

Gail Lowe was appointed a week ago by Gov. Rick Perry to chair the State Board of Education after the state Senate refused to confirm her predecessor, Don McLeroy, as chairman.

Lowe and McLeroy are both social conservatives and creationists who voted recently to approve new science standards that include creationist critiques in the state's textbooks – despite pleas from many scholars and business people not do so.

Now the conservative group appears to be turning its attention toward history. The founder of a conservative Christian advocacy group, whom Lowe appointed to a social studies curriculum panel, has suggested eliminating Marshall and Chávez from social studies books.

Lowe seemed to agree with her appointee during an interview last week on KERA-FM (90.1) when she said "there may be a different type of historical figure and leader that would be more appropriate" to include in textbooks as "an example of good civic involvement."

Good grief.

That's about all you can say if you know anything about the famed farm worker leader who struggled in the last century to ensure that agricultural workers weren't treated like slave labor. If you've ever eaten a grape, you should know about the famous grape boycotts of the 1960s, which many Americans supported.

Jesús Francisco de la Teja, Texas' former state historian, said Chávez is a historical figure whose inclusion in textbooks is "crucial to a full appreciation of how the country dealt with issues of labor, immigration and civil rights."

An untold number of people benefited from Chávez's work, he said. Many of their grandchildren and children are in schools across the country and should be aware of the conditions under which their parents and grandparents labored.

Latino legislators, especially, have become concerned about the direction of the State Board of Education, given that an ever-increasing number of the state's schoolchildren are Hispanic. The state's largest urban school districts now have Hispanic student populations at or above 60 percent.

State Sen. Letitia Van de Putte of Corpus Christi, who sits on the Senate's education committee, said the Legislature's patience with the board is wearing thin.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers have become frustrated with the board, and several Republicans introduced bills removing its authority to set curriculum standards and adopt textbooks during the last regular session.

"If this board continues on the same path of divisiveness, the Legislature will have no choice but to give those responsibilities to somebody else who's going to get the job done," Van de Putte said. "A generation of schoolchildren is at risk."