
Isaac has already hit the Associated Press for misrepresenting Florida’s anti-critical race theory bill. TV commentators are running with the AP’s spin, claiming that it outlaws “white discomfort,” a phrase nowhere found in the bill.
The actual bill text is here. It nowhere protects any particular racial or ethnic group, but extends its protections equally. It addresses “discomfort” in two places; I will emphasize the relevant sections in bold. One is in the section on prohibited forms of employment discrimination.
Now, the critics have one small point here: It probably would be better to bring the language in the curricular section in line with the language in the employment-training section, which specifically targets training that aims as a goal to induce discomfort on the basis of race or other prohibited categories. Which is something we should all be against, no? But the curricular section is written to offer general principles. It does not bar all things that make people (white or otherwise) uncomfortable, but only targets efforts to do so on the basis of race. Which is something we should all be against, no?