Education Secretary Won't Say If She Knows What The Tulsa Race Massacre Is
McMahon's response comes as Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) pressed her about history lessons that would be considered 'illegal DEI' by the Trump administration. (DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion and has been used by Republicans as shorthand for initiatives addressing race and gender, among other topics.) The comments are also the latest to suggest that McMahon — a former pro wrestling executive who's had little education policy experience — could use a lesson or two herself.
'Would it be 'illegal DEI' for a lesson plan on the Tulsa Race Massacre?' Lee asked McMahon during the Wednesday panel.
'I'd have to get back to you on that,' McMahon said.
'Do you know what the Tulsa Race Massacre is?' Lee asked.
'I'd like to look into it more and get back to you on it,' McMahon replied.
McMahon was similarly evasive when asked if lessons involving civil rights trailblazer Ruby Bridges would be deemed 'illegal DEI.'
'How about the book 'Through My Eyes,' by Ruby Bridges, for instance?' Lee asked.
'I haven't read that,' McMahon responded.
'Have you learned about Ruby Bridges?' Lee said.
'If you have specific examples, you'd like to –' McMahon countered.
'That was a specific example... I named a specific book,' Lee emphasized.
McMahon's exchange with Lee stood out both for her refusal to acknowledge whether she knew about major historical events as well as her reluctance to answer if the White House would target lessons about them.
A January executive order from the Trump administration called for agencies to find ways to claw back resources from schools that advance 'gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology' in their curriculum. And in April, the White House required K-12 schools to certify that they were not engaging in 'illegal DEI practices' in order to receive federal funding, an act that's been blocked by a federal judge.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
Both of Lee's questions referred to significant events in U.S. history: The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in 1921 and was 'one of America's deadliest acts of domestic terrorism,' Taryn Finley previously wrote for HuffPost. During the attack, an armed white mob decimated a neighborhood in Tulsa known as Black Wall Street, killing as many as 300 people.
And in 1960, Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. Iconic images from that time captured Bridges, at age 6, flanked by U.S. Marshals and white crowds jeering as she entered the building.
Lee emphasized that such lessons are critical for students as the Trump administration has sought to hold federal funding captive if schools advance programs that it disagrees with.
'Their lack of knowledge, denial of history, and open racism doesn't mean students across America should be deprived of learning opportunities or access to a quality education,' she told HuffPost in a statement. 'Clearly they're still needed.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
14 minutes ago
- New York Post
House speaker says there will be no votes on releasing Epstein files before August recess
The House of Representatives will not move forward with any legislative efforts aimed at releasing files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein before its monthlong August recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Monday. 'No,' Johnson responded when asked by CNN reporter Manu Raju if lawmakers would vote on a resolution calling for the public disclosure of documents related to Epstein's case before the lower chamber takes its annual summer break. Johnson indicated that he and Trump are on the same page regarding the Epstein files. Getty Images The House speaker argued that Congress needs to give the Trump administration 'space' to handle the hot-button issue on its own for the time being. 'There is no daylight between the House Republicans, the House and the president on maximum transparency,' Johnson said. '[President Trump] has said that he wants all the credible files relating to Epstein to be released. He's asked the attorney general to request the grand jury files of the court. All of that is in process right now.' 'My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing.' Johnson indicated that 'if further congressional action is necessary or appropriate,' the House 'will look at that.' 'I don't think we're at that point right now, because we agree with the president,' he added. Last week, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee voted to advance a nonbinding resolution calling for the release of some information related to the Epstein case. Some MAGA supporters have expressed outrage with the president's handling of files related to Epstein. REUTERS The resolution, which carries no legal weight, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to publish 'all credible' documents, communications and metadata related to the federal government's investigation of Epstein and his convicted sex-trafficking accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The resolution cleared the rules committee as part of a deal with GOP lawmakers who initially opposed Trump's rescissions bill. On the same day the resolution was approved by the panel, Trump ordered Bondi to request that the grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case be unsealed. Bondi asked the federal court in the Southern District of New York the following day to unseal the grand jury testimony related to the 2019 federal sex trafficking case against Epstein and Maxwell.
The Hill
44 minutes ago
- The Hill
Tennessee republican resigns from House
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) has resigned from the House amid a tight margin between parties in the lower chamber. 'It's with a heavy heart that I say farewell. To my constituents across Tennessee's 7th District—thank you. The trust you put in me is humbling. I will look back fondly on my years of serving as your voice in Washington,' Green, who started in the House in 2019, said in a post on the social platform X earlier this month. There are now 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats in the lower chamber, only a seven-seat difference amid already high tensions between the two parties and the 2026 midterm races in which Democrats seek to take back the House, beginning to heat up. President Trump's base has also recently been rattled by controversy over files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, creating some strain between Republican lawmakers and the president. Close to three-quarters of Democratic voters were feeling motivated to vote in the next election cycle in a recent CNN poll. Seventy-two percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters in the poll were 'extremely motivated' to vote before next year's midterms, with 50 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters saying the same.
an hour ago
School districts sue Trump administration over $6 billion funding freeze
A coalition of school districts -- including Alaska's largest school district -- and advocacy groups has sued President Donald Trump's administration over the $6 billion funding freeze to congressionally appropriated education programs. The news comes just days after nine Republican senators and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski conducted a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump's education policies, urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought to reverse the decision to withhold aid for key programs, such as English language acquisition, teacher development and student support. OMB told ABC News in a statement that many of the programs "grossly misused" government funds to promote a "radical leftwing agenda." However, the GOP senators' letter said the decision to pause this funding was "contrary to President Trump's goal of returning K-12 education to the states," and they didn't believe any leftwing agenda programs were being administered in their states. Within 48 hours, the Trump administration had unfrozen more than a billion dollars for critical after-school and summer education programming nationwide, a senior administration official told ABC News. Murkowski celebrated the initial funding release but noted it doesn't go far enough. "The pause of these funds caused great concern for families across the nation, and I am relieved to know that our young people will have enriching opportunities to stay engaged outside of the classroom," Murkowski wrote in a statement to ABC News. "While this news is welcome, it is frustrating that many additional funds Alaska school districts are relying on from the Department of Education remain in limbo," she said. ABC News has reached out to the Trump administration for additional comment. A pause on the total $6 billion funding happened on July 1, when federal aid for schools is typically allocated each year. However, states were notified on June 30 that an ongoing programmatic review of education funding would occur, according to a Department of Education memo sent to Congress, obtained by ABC News. School districts and programs have been concerned that programs and staff could be eliminated if funding isn't restored. The case, Anchorage School District et al. v. Department of Education et al., is led by multiple Alaska school districts and affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers. In it, the plaintiffs argue that the administration's recent actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Impoundment Control Act, and the constitutional separation of powers. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 says Congress must consider and review executive branch withholdings of budget authority, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The GAO website says the Administrative Procedure Act prescribes the minimum procedural steps an agency must follow in its administrative proceedings. The school districts' suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island. It comes in the wake of two dozen state attorneys general and Democratic governors suing the administration for withholding education funding using the same claims. "It's against the Constitution," North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, one of the AGs involved in the suit, told ABC News. "It's against the Impoundment Act. From a legal standpoint, this is not a hard case," he added. AFT President Randi Weingarten called the freeze an attempt to "lawlessly" defund education through rampant government overreach. "It's not only morally repugnant: the administration lacks the legal right to sacrifice kids' futures at the altar of ideology," Weingarten wrote in a statement to ABC News. "The Department of Education is holding hostage billions of dollars from American communities," according to Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward -- a public education advocacy nonprofit representing the plaintiffs. "This is an unconstitutional and unlawful power grab that puts extreme agendas over the well-being of students and denies communities the educational resources that Congress intended them to have," Perryman added in a statement to ABC News. Earlier this month, the Anchorage School District announced in a letter to the community that the district had already begun laying off some staff members after $46 million was impacted by the pause. The district receives about a third of the state's federal education funds, according to Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt. Several state education leaders who've spoken to ABC News say that they're scrambling to prevent immediate harm to students as the school year approaches. OMB has not given a timeline for when the programmatic review for the other education programs will be completed. Meanwhile, Rhode Island Department of Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green applauded the Republican efforts to reverse the funding pause, stressing this is not a political issue. "We are one United States of America," Infante-Green told ABC News. "These dollars are important to every single student in every single state. This is what we need," she said.
