Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa of House District 72, is chairman of the Oklahoma Black Legislative Caucus. He speaks with Ginnie Graham about HB 1397, which would direct the Oklahoma State Department of Education to develop or make available a curriculum that reflects upon the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968 and includes the principles Martin Luther King Jr. taught concerning nonviolence, bigotry and Jim Crow laws. Rep. Nichols said the Oklahoma Black Legislative Caucus was not consulted about HB 1397, and critics said the measure goes against HB 1775, a law passed in 2021 that prohibits teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another and that anyone, by virtue of race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

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From September 2022: State pushes back in HB 1775 lawsuit over race, gender instruction

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