Democrats in Virginia’s House of Delegates advanced a measure Tuesday morning that puts so-called guardrails around when and if a local school system wants to teach about the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capital.
There were two sides to the debate the legislation. One, pushed by bill author Delegate Dan Helmer:
“During the ceremonial counting of electoral college votes by a joint session of the U.S. Congress on January 6, 2021, law enforcement officers at the capital estimate 75,000 attendees of the Stop the Steal gathering surrounded the building and, as the count continued, participants turned violent, broke through barricades, with hundreds of insurrectionists ultimately breaching doors and windows to enter the capital and storm congressional offices and chambers,” Helmer told the committee before referencing then-Governor Ralph Northam's use of the Virginia National Guard and Virginia State Police to help the beleaguered capital.
And another by Michael Huffman with the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists:
“Framing it as solely as an unprecedented and violent attack to overturn the election offers no educational value 6 years later," Huffman told the committee. "Regardless of blame, the bill pushes a one-sided, left-wing narrative that risks indoctrinating students into woke, progressive ideologies rather than fostering critical thinking.”
No committee member Republicans spoke against the bill, but it still advanced on a party-line vote. But as the bill's patron, Helmer got the last word:
“I think the testimony we just saw demonstrates the need for this bill,” he said.
