School board members waging a culture war in a large suburban district are due for a lesson in the Streisand effect.
The phenomenon is named after the iconic actress, singer and director Barbra Streisand, one of the few entertainers who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. But one part of her legacy has nothing to do with her immense talent.
In 2003, Babs sued a photographer and website for violating her privacy by publishing an aerial photo that included an image of her mansion. The picture was one of 12,000 photographs publicly available as part of the California Coastal Records Project. Her lawsuit was eventually dismissed, and Streisand had to pay the photographer's legal fees. The upshot was that the photo in dispute had been downloaded only six times prior to the lawsuit's filing -- but after it made headlines, more than 420,000 people visited the website.
That backfiring -- drawing even more attention to whatever you are trying to hide or censor -- became known as the Streisand effect. And now, a St. Louis-area school board is getting a taste of it.
Last month, the conservative majority on the Francis Howell school board -- the governing body for one of the largest school districts in Missouri -- voted to eliminate the elective Black History and Black Literature courses from the district’s three high schools.
The move prompted national headlines, like this one from the Associated Press: "Missouri school board that previously rescinded anti-racism resolution drops Black history classes."
Not a great look for the district, where just 8% of the student body is Black.
Post-Dispatch reporter Blythe Bernhard wrote that, last semester, there were 60 students taking Black History and 42 taking Black Literature across the three high schools. After the board removed the classes, more than 3,350 people signed a student-led petition calling on the district to reinstate them. A large group of students and teachers also wore black in protest.
Students could drive home the Streisand effect by signing up en masse for these classes when they are offered again. They may want to see for themselves what the conservative members of the all-white board find so objectionable in the teaching of Black history and literature.
Those courses were developed in the 2020-2021 school year. Teachers, administrators, the curriculum advisory council and the academic strategic planning committee reviewed them before gaining board approval. That was before members like Randy Cook, who said he campaigned on eliminating the courses, won seats on the board. The political action committee that supported the conservative takeover of the board had targeted the Black history and literature classes partly because the curriculum standards were developed by the civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center. Board members Cook, Adam Bertrand, Jane Puszkar, Mark Ponder and Ron Harmon voted in favor of cutting the courses, and Janet Stiglich and Chad Lange were opposed.
Cook, the board’s vice president, said that he is opposed to teaching Black history and literature “through a social justice framework.”
The National Association of Social Workers defines social justice as the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. What’s so objectionable about equal rights and equitable opportunities for all -- especially for those who were denied such opportunities for much of our country’s history?
After facing backlash from students, teachers and the national press, the board backpedaled its decision. They are willing to reinstate the courses after approving a new curriculum “that is rigorous and largely politically neutral,” according to Bertrand, one of five conservatives who gained a majority on the board in the last two years.
Is it “politically neutral” to acknowledge that hundreds of years of slavery and segregation were a central part of American history and help explain why racial inequities persist to this day?
I guess that remains to be seen.
Keep in mind, this is the same school board that, last summer, rescinded the district’s 2020 anti-racism resolution -- a statement that “pledges to our learning community that we will speak firmly against any racism, discrimination, and senseless violence against people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ability.”
The AP reported that Cook defended rescinding the resolution, saying, “We just need to stick to the business of educating students here, and stay out of the national politics.”
In literature, that is called irony.