Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Republicans in the Iowa House of Representatives have sent a bill to the governor that would ban certain topics from government diversity training and school lessons.
The original bill referred to a list of divisive concepts that would be off-limits. The bill was adjusted to say teaching about slavery, sexism, segregation, and racial discrimination are fine, but teaching that the state and country are fundamentally or systemically racist is banned. Representative Steven Holt is a Republican from Denison.
Representative Mary Wolfe, a Democrat from Clinton, says Republicans made cosmetic, but not substantive changes to the bill.
Wolfe and other Democrats say the policy could prevent implicit bias training and limit discussions of systemic racism.
