This debate has a lot of people talking past each other. Yes, there are conservatives who object to the very idea of teaching students the facts about American racism. But there are also people on all parts of the political spectrum who think the subject should be covered, but object to the some of the ways these ideas are taught. These people think the historical facts of racism must be taught, but object to critical race theory because they see it as a dogma that cherry-picks certain facts and ignores others. This article by a Black Medium author lists a variety of highly questionable teaching methods allegedly identified with Critical Race Theory. https://thomasstthomas.medium.com/?p=f32cb8a7233d
I don’t know if these stories are true, or if they accurately describe programs affiliated in some way with CRT. But I do know you are not going to answer these objections by singing the praises of race education in general. You are uniquely qualified to answer these kinds of questions. You would be performing a great public service if you critically evaluated stories like the ones I copied from this article: The links are in the article itself.
• Buffalo public schools claim ‘all white people’ perpetuate systemic racism and force kindergarteners to watch videos of dead black children to warn them about ‘racist police and state-sanctioned violence.’
• “Multicultural” graduation ceremonies where students of different races, economic classes, and sexual identity or orientation are provided segregated ceremonies.
• Teacher bullies student for taking colorblind approach to classroom assignment.
• Boston Public Schools suspend advanced placement courses for their students as the classes do not accurately represent the ethnic distribution of their citizens. Namely, they are heavily occupied by Asian and white students with low representation of students “of color.”
• In Cupertino, CA, instructors forced a class of third-graders to deconstruct their racial identities then rank themselves according to their “power and privilege.”
• A student of mixed ethnicities receives failing grade at prep school for refusing to confess his “white dominance.”
• North Carolina’s largest school district launches a campaign against “whiteness in educational spaces.”
• The Arizona Department of Education has created an “equity” toolkit claiming that babies show the first signs of racism at 3 months old and that white children “remain strongly biased in favor of whiteness” by age 5.
• New York’s East Side Community School recently sent a letter encouraging white parents to become “white traitors” and advocate for “white abolition.”
• A Philadelphia elementary school recently forced fifth-grade students to celebrate “black communism” and simulate a Black Power rally in honor of Angela Davis.
• Treasury Department tells employees all white people are racist.
My guess is that some of the stories are outright lies, some of them are misleadingly taken out of context, and some describe misguided and badly designed programs that the majority of anti-racist educators would not endorse. But if someone doesn’t clearly explain how Anti-Racist education is actually going to work, and distance it from programs that don’t work, most people will identify Anti-Racist education with programs like these. Praising the idea of anti-racist education will not satisfy people who endorse that idea, but object to ways it is allegedly being taught.
