EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Chip Roy Demands Answers From School District On ‘Radical’ Racial Segregation Lesson

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Chip Roy Demands Answers From School District On ‘Radical’ Racial Segregation Lesson

Kendall Tietz on March 17, 2022

• Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy is demanding answers from a San Antonio, Texas, superintendent over a lesson in an elementary school where students were allegedly segregated by the color of their hair. 
• As part of the experiment, dark-haired students were labeled more “privileged,” while light haired students were told they were “not as intelligent,” according to the letter. Then, teachers reportedly told the light-haired students to clean up after those who were deemed more “privileged.” 
• Roy said the lesson “appears to be a direct and deliberate violation of Texas law” and asserted that “students should never be taught to view each other through the lens of race.”
• “San Antonio parents are deeply disturbed not only by this blatant attempt to circumvent their authority, but also that this radical teaching was allowed to infiltrate their children’s schools,” the congressman said. 

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy is demanding answers from a San Antonio, Texas, superintendent over a lesson in an elementary school where students were allegedly segregated by the color of their hair.

In a Thursday letter to Northside Independent School District (NISD) Superintendent Brian Woods, Roy described an “equity” lesson at Leon Springs Elementary, where fifth-grade students were reportedly segregated by hair color.

As part of the experiment, dark-haired students were labeled more “privileged,” while light haired students were told they were “not as intelligent,” according to the letter. Then, teachers reportedly told the light-haired students to clean up after those who were deemed more “privileged.”

Roy said he was “alarmed by the recent reports” that the district’s “teachers conducted a radical social experiment on fifth grade students without parental consent or knowledge.”

“Any attempts by teachers to override parents authority to infuse radical critical race theory-based ideology into school curricula must be immediately addressed,” Roy said.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

He reminded Woods that last year Texas Gov. Greg Abbot signed legislation into law that “prohibits educators from teaching students that ‘one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,’ or that ‘individuals should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual’s race.’”

He said the lesson “appears to be a direct and deliberate violation of Texas law” and asserted that “students should never be taught to view each other through the lens of race.”

NISD parent Brandi Lininger told News 4 San Antonio about the social experiment, where some students were “treated not so nicely.”

“All of the dark-haired kids, the brown and black-haired kids, were treated as the privileged ones and the blonde-haired and redhead kids were the ones treated not so nicely” and deemed “not as intelligent,” she said to the local outlet. Then, lighter-haired students were reportedly given games with missing pieces, which prohibited them from playing it properly and were told to clean up after the dark-haired “privileged” children.

The exercise is similar to an experiment created by Jane Elliott in the 1970s that “labels participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the color of their eyes and exposes them to the experience of being a minority,” according to her website.

As part of the experiment, students were also shown a documentary called “4 Little Girls” “which depicts graphic images of dead black children,” from the 1963 Alabama church bombing which was perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, according to Lininger.

She said her ten-year-old daughter was “confused and hurt” by the lesson that left her and her friends crying. She and her husband, Mike Lininger, expressed their anger that they were not notified about the lesson, calling it a failure in transparency.

Another parent said her child was so upset by the graphic imagery from the documentary, she wasn’t able to sleep alone in her room the night of the lesson, according to Roy’s letter.

Chip Roy Letter by Kendall Tietz

“San Antonio parents are deeply disturbed not only by this blatant attempt to circumvent their authority, but also that this radical teaching was allowed to infiltrate their children’s schools,” Roy said.

Roy is requesting the district tell him whether or not federal funding was used in its the teaching, who approved it and when, whether or not the elementary school notified parents about the activity before it took place and an explanation if they were not notified, as well as the measures NISD plans to take to ensure similar exercises are not taught in the future.

The district told News 4 San Antonio that they “recognize the parent’s concerns” and stated the activity and video would not be used again.

“The activity and video in question were part of a larger fifth-grade project-based lesson around the inequity of segregation,” the district’s statement said, according to News 4. “While the campus did receive positive feedback from several parents … District and campus administration recognize the parent’s concerns and agree that the activity and video are not age-appropriate and will not be used again.”