Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the complex study of the US race history. The war over its ligitimacy persists. More than twenty states have banned it from schools or are still trying to. One TV channel replays the same attack on CRT every day. Ohio’s School Board is attacking CRT—and that threatens our public schools and our democracy.
What is CRT? It originated in the mid 1970s in the writings of several American legal scholars. CRT is designed for Law School and not K-12; nevertheless, it travels into our schools. While critical race theorists do not all share the same beliefs, the basic tenets of CRT include that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing and often subtle social and institutional dynamics rather than explicit and intentional prejudices on the part of individuals. (Wikipedia) Most of us are not racist or sexist. But laws and institutional norms can and will shape values and behaviors. I’m old enough to recall that ACT and SAT tests were rewritten when observers saw that Blacks, Latinx and female students were scoring badly and the fault was in the testing.
The Ohio Statehouse recently held hearings that would prohibit CRT, and therefore US racial history, in Ohio’s K-12 curriculum. The bill would ban teaching CRT, i.e. that “One race or sex is inherently superior to another; an individual is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive; individuals should be discriminated against because of their race; a person’s moral standing should be is determined by race or sex.” All of those claims are of course erroneous and could be projections of conservative fears. None of them are real and they don’t describe the great majority of our classrooms.
In Florida, Governor DeSantis reports that the “woke class wants to teach kids to hate each other but we will not let them bring nonsense into our schools. We…should not teach kids to hate our country.” Gov, have you visited any actual classrooms? What evidence is there that CRT is actually being taught? Should our teachers present the truth about our history and advocate that everyone is responsible and that we’re all forced to accept the facts of history? Any teachers worth their salt have been presenting opposing sides (racism is or isn’t still alive) for a long time and has anyone sought to see if the children have experienced ill effects from such teaching? Even our best schools have ignored important parts of our own history. Consider how many people were taught about the Tulsa massacres or even the meaning of Juneteenth?
Some complain that systemic racism is still present. It is: Black persons make up 13% of the US population but account for twice the Covid deaths of Whites. Latinx persons are 2.3 times more vulnerable to Covid death. (CRC) Less abstract: In the 1970s cities deliberately drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks often due to racial composition. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people. Many states are now rolling back voting rights and resisting police reform as Blacks are more likely to be stopped or killed by police. Laws forbidding teachers from mentioning racism, sexism put a chilling effect on teachers and students. Laws outlawing CRT ironically confirm the fact that racism is imbedded in our laws.
Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist Eduardo Galeano: “No history is mute. No matter how much they own it, break it, and lie about it, human history refuses to shut its mouth. Despite deafness and ignorance, the time that was continues to tick inside the time that is.”
Tom Klein
Bowling Green
