Pedagogical Resource: The Empowered Social Justice Resources: A Classical Approach to Teaching and Learning about Social Justice Topics |
Supporting AB 715 (Educational Equity: Discrimination) in California
Mention in Jason Riley's New Book
May 11, 2025: I received a mention in Jason Riley’s book The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed. Here are a few gems from the text: “... the focus of most liberal elites has been on demanding preferential policies for lagging groups, which has reinforced negative stereotypes, retarded progress, and produced backlash.” (p. 21) “The focus of liberal intellectuals in journalism and the academy on what whites have done to blacks in the past can leave the impression that black history in the US is little more than a chronicle of oppression.” (p. 22) “Richard Vedder calculated that the “greatest twenty-five years of black progress after the Emancipation itself” came between 1948 and 1973, when the median income of the black population doubled.” (p. 116) “Racial preferences are credited with advancing blacks, but it would be more accurate to say that the implementation of affirmative action policies in the 1970s coincided with a period of black stagnation… Under policies promoting equal treatment, America’s black population rose significantly, both in absolute terms and relative to whites… On balance, blacks have fared better under color-blind policies than they have under policies that promoted racial discrimination or racial favoritism” (p. 117) “The reality is that black people essentially lifted themselves out of poverty in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century—before affirmative action. They owe their rise to hard work, not special treatment… blacks and whites alike have been led to believe that black people can’t advance without racial preferences, even though there is an long history in this country of them doing exactly that” (p. 118) “Today, the false assumptions and racial resentment that animate critical race theory can be found in K–12 classrooms via the New York Times 1619 Project, and they have entered the workplace through consultants hired to conduct diversity and racial sensitivity training” (pp. 119–120) “As the writings of DiAngelo, Kendi, and others suggest, critical race theory amounts to little more than a fancy justification for racial favoritism, and it always has.” (p. 121) “Like affirmative action, “antiracism,” and various “diversity, equity, and inclusion” schemes, reparations is another means of offering preferential treatment based on racial heritage.” (p. 126) “Coates, Hannah-Jones, and the 1619 Project attempt to “reframe” American history in a way that makes slave labor both its most salient characteristic and the main source of the country’s future prosperity.” (p. 137) “Yet the moral case for reparations ultimately rests on the notion that American slavery was uniquely evil, and that guilt is a heritable trait—like height or skin color—that can be passed down from one generation to the next.” (pp. 143–144) “... ‘There is nothing notably peculiar about the institution of slavery,’ Patterson wrote in the opening pages of his definitive comparative study. ‘It has existed from before the dawn of human history right down to the twentieth century, in the most primitive of human societies and in the most civilized. There is no region of the earth that has not at some time harbored the institution. Probably there is no group of people whose ancestors were not at one time slaves or slaveholders…’ ” (p. 147) “Blacks have progressed faster when the focus has been on equal treatment rather than special treatment, when intact black families were more common, when poor black neighborhoods had lower rates of violent crime, and when the welfare state was smaller.” (p. 178) “The desegregation of schools and institutions that began in the 1950s and continued in the ‘60s has been far more important to the creation and expansion of the black middle class than the racial preferences and anti-poverty programs of the 1970s and ‘80s. And the rate at which the black middle class grows has tended to coincide with the rate at which the overall economy was growing.” (p. 178) “The era of affirmative action didn’t occur in a vacuum. It overlapped with a tremendous expansion of the welfare state that began in the late-1960s. Ever-growing government assistance programs became a lure and multigenerational trap for the black poor; while preferential policies fed racial resentment in the workplace and on campus, stunted the growth of the black middle class, and left the most disadvantaged blacks behind.” (p. 229) “Government programs are no substitute for the development of human capital. If wealth-redistribution schemes lifted people out of poverty, these gaps would have shrunk a long time ago… Academics have also tended to shy away from acknowledging the strong links between family structure, child well-being, and outcomes later in life.” (p. 237) |
Testifying in Texas: Supporting the Texas Antidiscrimination Act SB 4552 (4-28-25)
April 28, 2025: At the Texas House of Representatives proudly supporting the Texas Antidiscrimination Act (HB 4552). My testimony: 🎤 “Greetings and salutations, I’m Tabia Lee proudly supporting the Texas Antidiscrimination Act (House Bill 4552). As a lifelong educator, Senior Fellow with Do No Harm, and a co-founder of Free Black Thought, I’ve witnessed and been directly impacted by the adoption of discriminatory ideologies nationwide. Critical Social Justice ideology seeks to socially engineer obsessions with race and gender identity, Anti-Zionism, and Jew Hatred into every aspect of American life and it has captured our educational systems at every level, our governmental agencies, and our judicial systems. Critical Social Justice ideology presents highly contested sociological constructs as unquestionable, dogmatic truths. It involves deceptive calls to implement discriminatory policies and practices as remedies for past discrimination. Such nation-breaking practices have ravaged unchecked for far too long. We have a duty to uphold the law of the land and to protect it from bastardization by any and all usurpers foreign and domestic that seek to undermine the equal rights, protections, dignity, and respect that is duly and rightfully afforded to all citizens in the State and US Constitutions; we don’t need to infuse Critical Social Justice Ideology into our governmental entities in order to manifest the noble goals and aspirations of this grand experiment. Thank you for acting to end the discriminatory practices and policies that sow division and wreak havoc in our communities. I pray that all members of this committee support the Texas Antidiscrimination Act to restore dignity and equality under the law, in alignment with the State and US Constitutions. Moving forward, I’m happy to elaborate and/or provide resources to the committee.” 💜 |
Testifying in Florida: Supporting SB 1710 (3-18-25)
Legal Support and Changing Landscapes (3-8-25)
Testifying in Texas: Supporting SB 689 (3-6-25)
Update About My Case Against De Anza College
Testifying in Arizona in Support of HB 2868 (2-20-25)
Testifying at the Ohio Senate in Support of SB1 (1-29-25)
“Critical Social Justice degrades the quality of life on higher education campuses. Too often, this toxic DEI results in regressive policies and practices under the guise of progressivism; it promotes things like: unproven constructs of race, antisemitism, Jew hatred, sexism, racism, discrimination, and resegregation.”
Great Work to Do in 2025!
What's Behind the Chaos on College Campuses?
Appearance on OAN's In Focus with Alison Steinberg April 25, 2024
Speaking Up: Concerns about the Default DEI Perspective
In Support of Rep. Greg Murphy for Advancing the EDUCATE ACT
Press Conference in Washington, DC March 19, 2024
Talking about DEI Insanity with OAN's Alison Steinberg
Appearance on 'In Focus' March 18, 2024
Conversation with Glenn Loury
Appearance on The Glenn Show - December 15, 2023
(Appearance on Wake up America Segment on Newsmax with host Sharla McBride - October 26, 2023)
(Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal October 22, 2023)
Read the letter to the editor
(Appearance on Fox News with Gillian Turner October 20, 2023)
(Appearance on Greg Kelly Reports with Newsmax October 19, 2023)
(Appearance on The Bottom Line with Dagen and Duffy on Fox Business October 18, 2023)
(Op-Ed for the New York Post October 18, 2023)
(Article for the Journal of Free Black Thought October 16, 2023)
(Appearance on Fox Business, The Bottom Line with Dagen & Duffy October 20, 2023)
(Comments to Melissa Langsam Braunstein for the Washington Examiner October 8, 2023)
Presentation at Rotary Club of San Mateo
If you would like me to present to or facilitate a workshop for your organization, contact me.
Appearance on American Thought Leaders with Jan Jekielek
Sign up for a free account to watch the full 1-hour interview.
Lawsuit Filed Against Foothill-De Anza Community College District
An article in Newsweek Magazine highlights the lawsuit filed on my behalf and other issues at hand. Thank you for your donations, letters of support, and for signing petitions on my behalf to the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees.
Participation in the New Alliances Delegation to Israel
New Essay: Race Ideology-in-Practice: Racial Equity in American Learning Environments
Op-Ed in the Daily Mail: Woke Extremists are Taking Over America's Colleges
Interview with Megyn Kelly about the Situation at De Anza College
Interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News about the Situation at De Anza College
Centering Love and Inclusion in DEI Work
- Check out some of the work Lee is doing to center and support diverse ways of being and knowing in an increasingly complex social world:
- Pedagogical Resource: Explore the Race Ideologies Interactive Activity to learn more about the race ideologies that influence educational policy, curriculum, and society-at-large
- Mentoring Resource: Dr. Lee's Letter to Future School Board Members
- Race Ideologies Resources: Interactive Activities for faculty, students, and community members to unpack the hidden, unspoken, and unexamined ideologies of race, racism, and racial equity that inform and influence educational practice and policy
- Jewish Inclusion and Anti-Semitism Community Education Summit: Centering Jewish inclusion at a time when Anti-Semitism is on the rise
- Raceless Antiracist Learning Community: Building faculty, staff, and student capacity to engage in antiracist work from a raceless perspective
- Heritage Month Workgroup at De Anza College: Expanding the understanding of inclusion and its aligned practices to increase more authentic welcomingness and belonging
- If you want to take a deep dive into "what happened" to me at De Anza College when I was bullied and forced out by Critical Social Justice ideologues, I encourage you to review the Communications Log that I kept as the Faculty Director of the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education.
De Anza College Communications Log
De Anza College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, 428 J Street, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95814, 415.506.0234, an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education.
Members of the college community or public may submit comments directly to the commission by completing the commission’s online comment form. Institutions will be provided an opportunity to review applicable third-party comments.
Complete a form to express your concerns about De Anza College to the ACCJC
Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education 2021 Workshop
Check out the Digital Cookie for Dr. Lee's Session at Site 2021!
At the Crossroads: A Qualitative Interpretive Metastudy of Teacher Ideology-in-Practice
Invited Speaker: Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education 2016 Webinar
View the video below.
Click play on the navigation menu below to hear a sample of a recent presentation.
Description:
Audio and slides are a post-narrated performance of Dr. Lee’s American Evaluation Association 2015 Conference panel contribution entitled “Outcome Mapping for Planning Evaluations in American K–12 Urban Education: Potent Possibilities.” Moderated by Simon Hearn from the Overseas Development Institute, November 14, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Note: Slides contain additional commentary that was clipped due to panel format time constraints.
Select Presentations and Workshops
Workshop conducted at the annual meeting of National Council of Teachers of English, Atlanta, GA.
Lee, T. (2016, October 28). Participatory curriculum evaluation design with outcome mapping: Potent possibilities.
Expert Lecture conducted at the annual meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Atlanta, GA.
Lee, T. (2016, July 9). Professional literacy circles: Transformative conversations for 21st-century teaching.
Workshop conducted at the annual meeting of the International Literacy Association, Boston, MA.
Lee, T. (with C. Forasiepi). (2016, March 25). Cubing the curriculum for critically humanistic and technologically sound literacy pedagogy.
Presentation conducted at the 27th meeting of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Savannah, GA.
Lee, T. (with C. Forasiepi). (2016, February 27). Pedagogical and ideological intentions for 21st century critical literacy. Presentation
conducted at the 22nd Multicultural Education Conference, California State University, Sacramento.
Lee, T. (with C. Forasiepi). (2016, February 17). 21st century critical literacy: Pedagogical and ideological intersections. Invited webinar presentation
conducted at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) 2016 Webinar Series.
Lee, T. (2016, January 23). Using social media to accelerate the formula. Mini-workshop conducted at the Kiwanis International Region 16 Training
Conference, Sacramento, CA.
Lee, T. (2015, November 14). Outcome mapping for planning innovations in American K-12 urban education: Potent possibilities.
In S. Hearn, Overseas Development Institute (Moderator),
Applying Outcome Mapping to the evaluation of socially transformative projects,
programs, and policies - Experiences with
empowerment in American K-12 urban schools, and in African and Asian rural development and
gender relations. Panel presentation conducted at the meeting of American Evaluation Association, Chicago, IL.
Lee, T. (with C. Forasiepi). (2015, October 2). Professional literacy circles for teacher self-study and renewal. Presentation conducted at
the meeting of National Network for Educational Renewal, Chico, CA.
Lee, T., Forasiepi, C., & Graziano, K. J. (2015, March 3). Dialogic and reflective learning in online teacher education programs:
Constructivist and critical approaches. Presentation conducted at the 26th meeting of Society for Information Technology and
Teacher Education, Las Vegas, NV.