Earlier this year, State Rep. Tommy Hanes (R-Bryant) unveiled his effort to bar Confucius Institutes from operating on publicly funded college campuses in Alabama. However, according to Hanes, the reach of these Chinese government-funded “institutes” goes beyond institutions of higher learning and has made its way into the K-12 classrooms of public schools.
Their purpose, according to the Jackson County Republican lawmaker, is to promote Chinese-style communism in public.
Monday, Hanes appeared on Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5 to explain what he viewed to be “an extension of the Chinese Communist Party” within America’s public schools.
“What they’re doing is they’re setting up in some of our universities, and they’re also in our K-12 schools,” he said. “They have classrooms in some of those and what they’re all about is they’re running under the guise of teaching Chinese culture and language. But in reality, they are just an extension of the Chinese Communist Party, and they’re trying to teach our young people to get them to believe Chinese communism is a different form of communism, and it’s not bad.”
According to a National Association of Scholars article, two Confucius Institutes operate at Alabama publicly funded colleges — Troy University in Troy and Alabama A&M University in Huntsville. Hanes’ legislation would ban their presence on those campuses and other public schools.
“I have a bill drafted,” he said. “It’s probably a page-and-a-half long. It’s pretty simple. And if we can pass it here in Alabama, we’ll be the first state to ban these Confucius Institutes in our state, and we can get them out of our schools. That’s the only way to approach it, I think — just go head-long at it and just get them out.”
Hanes reiterated his belief Confucius Institutes had a presence in K-12 schools throughout the country, adding the aim was to differentiate Chinese communism from other failed efforts to implement communism throughout world history.
“They’re in our K-12 schools,” Hanes said. “From what I can tell, they’re in 67 universities nationwide and over 500 classrooms or schools nationwide — in our K-12, over 500 of them. So they’re spread out. And they’re teaching these children, teaching our young people that Chinese communism is different, and it is good. And we just don’t need that. I feel like we don’t need communism in the United States — socialism or communism. And that’s what they’re doing. And what they’re doing is they’re trying to teach our young people that the communist regime in China is totally different, and it’s a good type of communism. We just don’t need that.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
