A personal note: An album of songs I’ve written for February Album Writing Month (FAWM) is up on Bandcamp. It’s living room recordings, so payment is optional. All the money that I get on Bandcamp through the end of March 2023 will go to Doctors without Borders.
More bowdlerization — this time, in educational materials
The sanitized version of Roald Dahl’s books removed a reference to black tractors, apparently because it was deemed racially offensive. That’s problematic, but wiping relevant racial information out of factual material is much worse. An educational pamphlet produced by Studies Weekly was revised to omit any reference to racial issues in a capsule discussion of Rosa Parks.
The revised text says: “Rosa Parks showed courage. One day, she rode the bus. She was told to move to a different seat. She did not. She did what she believed was right.” There’s no mention of why she was told to move. A child reading that today might think she had sat in a seat reserved for handicapped passengers.
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