“In August of 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near Point Comfort, a coastal port in the English colony of Virginia. It carried more than 20 enslaved Africans, who were sold to the colonists. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed. In the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to tell our story truthfully.”
– "The 1619 Project," Nikole Hannah-Jones, writers from The New York Times, and The New York Times Magazine (August 2019)
What's all the flap about teaching race theory in American schools? A national conscience is in the balance as schools and communities have, seemingly overnight, come to odds about public curriculum and its handling of America's original sins of slavery and White supremacy. Enter overreaction and major political exploitation.
At least 165 local and national groups aim to disrupt lessons on race and gender, according to an NBC News analysis of media reports and organizations’ promotional materials. Reinforced by conservative think tanks, law firms and activist parents, these groups have found allies in families frustrated over Covid-19 restrictions in schools and have weaponized the right’s opposition to critical race theory, turning it into a political rallying point.
These groups are swarming school board meetings, inundating districts with time-consuming public records requests and filing lawsuits and federal complaints alleging discrimination against white students.
(Tyler Kingkade, Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins. “Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups.” NBC News. June 16, 2021)
For example:
“The origin of one of the largest groups targeting school boards can be traced back to last June, when many educators began looking for ways to teach students about the protests following George Floyd’s murder, and reposition how American history is taught.
“When the Gladwyne Elementary School in the suburbs of Philadelphia decided to teach students about the concepts of racism, privilege and justice during the last week of classes, Elana Yaron Fishbein, a mother of two students in the school, sprang into action.
“Fishbein, a former social worker, sent a letter to the superintendent calling the lessons a “plan to indoctrinate the children into the 'woke’ culture.” She said the superintendent never responded, though the district later said that the lesson plans were age-appropriate and did not shame students and that parents were allowed to opt out. Fishbein said other white parents in the district attacked her on Facebook when she shared her letter.
“So Fishbein moved her children to private school and started a group to advocate against anti-racist teaching. She called it No Left Turn in Education.
“The schools have been hijacked,” she said in an interview. 'Our kids are captive audiences. And they think they can do whatever they want with our kids.'
“Fishbein’s endeavor received a significant boost in September, when she appeared on Tucker Carlson’s prime-time Fox News show. By the next day, No Left Turn’s Facebook page had shot up from fewer than 200 followers to over 30,000. The group now has 30 chapters in 23 states, a rapid expansion Fishbein credits to Carlson’s show.
(Tyler Kingkade, Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins. “Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups.” NBC News. June 16, 2021)
What Schools Say
Virtually all school districts insist they are not teaching critical race theory, but many activists and parents have begun using it as a catch-all term to refer to what schools often call equity programs, teaching about racism or LGBTQ-inclusive policies.
Educators say newly adopted and proposed laws are forcing teachers to second-guess whether they can lead students in conversations about race and structural racism that many feel are critical at a time the nation is navigating an important reckoning on those issues.
Many educators and education advocacy groups opposed a bill in Texas, which states that teachers cannot be compelled to discuss current events and if they do, they must "give deference to both sides." Opponents say it limits honest conversations about race and racism in American society and will force teachers to equivocate
Teachers like Telannia Norfar in Oklahoma City said she and her colleagues at Northwest Classen High School had planned to discuss a schoolwide approach to help students understand current events – including the murder of George Floyd, family separation at the Mexico border and the use of racist terms such as the "China virus."
Norfar explained …
"We need to do it, because our students desire it. But how do we do that without opening Oklahoma City public schools up to a lawsuit?"
She said how and whether they'll do that is now unclear. Paula Lewis, chair of the Oklahoma City School Board, said though the state's new law bans teachers from discussing concepts they weren't discussing anyway, and though its penalties are not yet clear, the danger is the fear it instills.
"What if they say the wrong thing?" Lewis said. "What if somebody in their class during the critical thinking brings up the word oppression or systemic racism? Are they in danger? Is their job in danger?"
(Adrian Florido. “Teachers Say Laws Banning Critical Race Theory Are Putting A Chill On Their Lessons.” NPR. May 28, 2021.)
Teachers worry about thought police condemning lessons on race, prejudice, and implicit bias. They are already considering the far-reaching effects of self-consoring.
Republican Lawmakers Seize Opportunity
Now, prominent Republican political figures are joining the fray and rushing in to support the parent activists, hoping that these local battles will mobilize conservative voters in next year’s midterms and beyond.
Critical race theory has become a target of Republican legislators in states across the country. At least six other Republican-majority state legislatures have introduced bills that aim to place limitations on lessons about race and inequality being taught in American schools – Tennessee, Texas, Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
None of the bills directly mention critical race theory in their text, but the legislators pushing these bills forward have invoked the educational movement while advocating for the legislation.
In 2020, former President Donald Trump had banned federal employees from training that discusses "critical race theory" or "white privilege," calling it propaganda.
Just What Is Critical Race Theory?
Critical race theory (CRT), intellectual movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of color. Critical race theorists hold that the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.
Critical race theory (CRT) was officially organized in 1989, at the first annual Workshop on Critical Race Theory, though its intellectual origins go back much farther, to the 1960s and ’70s.
Its immediate precursor was the critical legal studies (CLS) movement, which dedicated itself to examining how the law and legal institutions serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the poor and marginalized. (CLS, an offshoot of Marxist-oriented critical theory, may also be viewed as a radicalization of early 20th-century legal realism, a school of legal philosophy according to which judicial decision making, especially at the appellate level, is influenced as much by nonlegal – political or ideological – factors as by precedent and principles of legal reasoning.)
(“Critical Race Theory” The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Primary Contributor – Tommy Curry, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University. 2009.)
To make things simple, here is a definition that serves this blog entry. Critical race theory is loosely unified by two common themes:
* First, that white supremacy, with its societal or structural racism, exists and maintains power through the law, and
* Second, that transforming the relationship between law and racial power, and also achieving racial emancipation and anti-subordination more broadly, is possible.
(Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Thomas, Kendall, eds. Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement. 1995.)
Critics of critical race theory argue that it relies on social constructionism, elevates storytelling over evidence and reason, rejects the concepts of truth and merit, and opposes liberalism.
(Daniel A. Farber, Suzanna Sherry. Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law. 1997.)
History of Argument Over CRT
Critical race theory began to draw backlash from conservatives on the national stage after the New York Times Magazine published a series about U.S. history called the “1619 Project” that puts the role of racism and slavery front and center in U.S. history.
The project includes resources so teachers can use the material in classrooms, which led to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced a bill last year that would slash federal funding to schools that teach the “1619 Project,” which was not passed. In December, former President Donald Trump launched a panel he called “the 1776 commission” that aimed to promote “patriotic education,” in response to the project.
Now, Florida has become the latest state to bar critical race theory. The Florida Board of Education voted 8-0 June 10, 2021, to direct Florida teachers to not “share their personal view” or “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view” in the classroom.
While the language does not specifically mention critical race theory by name, it will effectively ban the theory from being taught to the more than 2.8 million children enrolled in Florida public schools.
It has not been taught in Florida public schools, but the proposal was heavily pushed in recent weeks by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said critical race theory “encourages children to hate our country and to hate each other. ”Some educators criticized the proposal, saying it whitewashes U.S. history and calling it political in nature.
The Florida Education Association, the state teachers union, rallied against the rule and proposed an amendment to state guidelines that would “reflect a more diverse America than are represented in our founding documents,” which was shot down.
(Carlie Porterfield. “Florida Becomes Fifth State To Bar Schools From Teaching Critical Race Theory.” Forbes. June 10, 2021.)
What Is At Stake?
Some educators across the U.S. expanded their curriculums on racial inequality in response to the turbulent year of protests against police brutality and disproportionate police violence against Black people. Some curriculums now include more racialized historical events, such as the Tulsa race riot and the Rodney King case and the subsequent Los Angeles riots, that highlight the plight of Black and brown Americans in the United States.
But those educators say their efforts are in danger due to these potential new restrictions on education. They challenge those who want to ignore the systems of oppression that have harmed people of color in this nation.
(Brenda Alvarez. “We Need to Teach the Truth About Systemic Racism, Say Educators.” NEA Today. May 27, 2021.)
Larry Strauss – high school English teacher in Los Angeles and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors – says, “Teaching kids to think for themselves – which I proudly do – is a threat to those with political and economic power, albeit a very small one from my small corner of the universe.
Strauss, the author of more than a dozen books, says …
“Real education – authentic, legitimate and meaningful – means providing opportunities for students to wrestle with the ambiguities of the world they are supposed to inherit.
“I have never explicitly advocated any political or economic ideology, but I certainly have not tried to hide from students any injustices, past or present, nor discouraged them from their own radical thinking. My job is to challenge everything they say. To show them multiple perspectives to anything and everything and demand evidence for any and all claims they make. If they are skeptical of popular or traditional beliefs and anyone in positions of power – including me – then I have done my job.
“I do not 'teach critical race theory' and I never will. I will teach them about it and help them understand its assertions and the evidence appropriate to support those assertions – but it must always be up to students to arrive at their own conclusions.
An educator’s job is to present ways of thinking. Not – ever – to 'teach' children what to think or how to see the world or the history of it. If any teacher’s objective is to convince students of the validity of critical race theory or any other theory on race or anything else, they are not teaching; and those concerned parents are right. That is indoctrination.
“Any educator anywhere teaching anything must not only accept but also cultivate dissent from students – or they are not really educators.
“Our objective should be to open their eyes and trust that they will open their hearts. One of our most effective tools to that end is to listen, to show that we care about our students and respect them as individuals with minds of their own.
“I wish someone would explain this to the politicians who believe it's their obligation to narrow the scope of reality we may present to children, who believe that learning can occur without some discomfort, and who seem not to understand that any idea they seek to ban from our curricular discourse is easily accessed on the internet.”
(Larry Strauss. “Bad teaching: Bans on critical race theory in schools narrow reality and sell out kids.” Censoring what schools teach on race shortchanges kids; it's futile. (usatoday.com) USA TODAY. May 17, 2021.)
The Biden administration entered the fray in April, citing the “landmark '1619 Project'” and the work of anti-racist scholar Ibram X. Kendi in a notice proposing that the chief federal grant program for history and civics education give priority to projects that incorporate diverse perspectives into teaching. The president’s apparent endorsement of the Times’ project and critical race theory, an academic framework that maintains that racism is embedded in American institutions, elicited a swift rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who warned the move would politicize a historically bipartisan grant program.
So Far, In Ohio …
Here in Ohio House Bill 322 has gotten some attention for banning critical race theory in public schools in Ohio.
And tacked on at the bottom of the bill is language some advocates say would be detrimental to transgender students.
House Bill 322 says in part that “no teacher shall be required by a policy… to affirm a belief… in the multiplicity or fluidity of gender identities, or like ideas, against the teacher’s sincerely held religious or philosophical convictions.”
“I think it’s designed to create fear. That’s exactly what it’s designed to do,” Columbus City Schoolboard President Jennifer Adair said.
In a joint statement, district leaders, the schoolboard and employee unions argued regardless of how lawmakers describe their intent, the effect of their proposals will be harmful.
“They aim to suppress dialogue and perpetuate an inaccurate understanding of our history. In doing so, they threaten to exacerbate the current national divide,” the statement reads.
Adair said much of the legislative language is too subjective, creating a potential minefield for teachers.
“We don’t believe anything that any teacher is doing could be considered divisive,” Adair said. “However, because it’s a subjective standard anyone could allege that. So we will stand and we will fight and we will ensure that our students receive the education that we believe that they deserve.”
Both measures have been referred to the House State and Local Government Committee. There’s no companion bill in the Senate, but each proposal has dozens of co-sponsors in the House.
(Nick Evans. “'Critical Race Theory' Bills In Ohio House Spark Resistance Among Columbus Educators.” WOSU. June 14, 2021.)
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, does anyone really understand what a “patriotic” education looks like and whose stories should be told? I would certainly question office holders and the views that they support to remain darlings of their constituents. As Strauss says, politicians should not “narrow the scope of reality” we teach children. Critical thinking involves investigating all sides of any issue so relevant to the soul of America.
James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, believes the fights over critical race theory aren’t necessarily bad.
“If people are fighting about history, that shows that it’s important,” he said. “It’s what historians want them to do.”
(Kelly Field. “Can critical race theory and patriotism coexist in classrooms?” NBC News. May 28, 2021.)
As for me, this old teacher knows one thing for certain: acknowledging and even studying a theory – “a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something” – is not actively advocating that position. To defend by argument before the public or to support publicly while educating is to instruct or train. It seems those who intend to disrupt lessons on race and gender cannot distinguish between teaching and training. A child who is taught to seek the truth in any discipline will better serve his/her community, state, and country.
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