Who scrubbed ‘systemic’ from African American course plan?

A politically charged adjective popped up repeatedly in the evolving plans for a new Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American studies in the United States. It was “systemic”, writes Nick Anderson for The Washington Post.

The February 2022 version declared that students should learn how African American communities combat effects of “systemic marginalisation”. An April update paired “systemic” with discrimination, oppression, inequality, disempowerment and racism. A December version said it was essential to know links between Black Panther activism and “systemic inequality that disproportionately affected African Americans”. Then the word vanished. “Systemic”, a crucial term for many scholars and civil rights advocates, appears nowhere in the official version released on 1 February. This late deletion and others reflect the extraordinary political friction that often shadows efforts in the nation’s schools to teach about history, culture and race.

The College Board, which oversees the AP programme, denies that it diluted the African American studies course in response to complaints from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or his allies. But a senior College Board official now acknowledges the organisation was mindful of how “systemic” and certain other words in the modern lexicon of race in America would receive intense scrutiny in some places.
Full report on The Washington Post site