Episodes
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In an exclusive audio excerpt from Chapter 1 of âThey Came for the Schools: One Town's Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America's Classrooms,â author Mike Hixenbaugh uncovers Southlakeâs history, demonstrating how policies meant to protect the town from outside development a half-century ago helped plant the seeds for conflicts over diversity, equity and inclusionâconflicts that are now tearing apart suburbs across the nation.
For more details and to purchase the book, on sale May 14, 2024, follow this link: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/they-came-for-the-schools-mike-hixenbaugh?variant=41284682088482
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Grapevine goes to the polls in a contentious school board election driven by the fight over the role of religion and LGBTQ inclusion in public schools. As the dust settles, Ren reflects on the impact of her motherâs allegations. And, after months of feeling as if sheâs had to erase herself, Em Ramser reclaims her voice.
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Episodes manquant?
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Evangelical activists open a new front in their campaign to impose their version of biblical morality in public schools â at the Texas statehouse. While legislators debate bills requiring the Ten Commandments and banning mention of gender identity in classrooms, three nonbinary students share the trauma theyâve endured at Grapevine High. Meanwhile, a coalition of progressive parents and disillusioned conservatives pledge to retake control of their school system.
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Weston Brown, 28, sees a video of his homeschooling mother calling for dozens of books on sexuality and gender to be banned from public schools in another Texas school district. To counter her political activism, Weston publicly shares his story of growing up gay in a fundamentalist Christian family. Feeling pressured by parents and school officials, Em Ramser removes LGBTQ symbols from her classroom and no longer recognizes the teacher sheâs become.
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Amid a growing anti-trans backlash, Ren devises a plan to get out of Texas â and away from her mother. In Grapevine, Sharlaâs claim that teacher Em Ramser âinfectedâ her child with lies about gender triggers online attacks, leading Ramser to consider leaving the profession.
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Conservatives are gaining power in Grapevine, fueled by a once-fringe movement that calls on evangelicals to control the seven key âmountainsâ of American society â including education. A cellphone company with a Christian nationalist agenda heeds that call and sets its sights on winning school board seats in Grapevine, following an example set a year earlier in the neighboring city of Southlake.
CORRECTION (Oct. 4, 2023, 08:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this episode misstated the amount of money Patriot Mobile Action spent in school board elections in North Texas in spring 2022. It was nearly $500,000, not $600,000.
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A mother named Sharla publicly accuses a high school teacher in Grapevine, Texas, of using a graphic novel called âThe Prince and the Dressmakerâ to convince her child to change genders. Reporters Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton set out to investigate the allegation. Sharlaâs child, Ren, and Renâs English teacher, Em Ramser, tell them a different story.
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Two years after conservative activists turned critical race theory into a right-wing rallying cry, the political fight has shifted. The team behind the Peabody Award-winning podcast Southlake tells the story of one family broken apart in the midst of a new anti-LGBTQ culture war, and the high school English teacher caught in the middle.
