Critical Race Theory in schools

[Bay Kid]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.

[retiredguy123]

It sounds like you answered your own question.

[stadry]

possibly by design, yet nevertheless the final result will be devisive whether or not by design.

we can ignore reality but we cannot ignore the results of ignoring reality.

[spd2918]

Research "Cultural Marxism."

Keeping people divided is the goal. Angry people are easy to control.

[Toymeister]

It is forbidden from being taught in public schools in Florida.

[JerryLBell]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

[retiredguy123]

History should be based on factual information. Critical race theory is not history. Apples and oranges.

[stanley]

They don't call it a "theory" for nothing ya know

[manaboutown]

It is an asinine false premise, not actually a theory in the scientific sense. It is an attempt to brainwash young impressionable minds. Mao and other totalitarian dictators and governments have used this type tactic to control their citizens.

[Nanlob]

:clap2: Well put. From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

[Taltarzac725]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.

[manaboutown]

"Critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s and built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. Relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions over the past decade. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks and school curricula.

Its supporters deploy a series of euphemisms to describe critical race theory, including “equity,” “social justice,” “diversity and inclusion” and “culturally responsive teaching.”
Critical race theorists, masters of language construction, realize that “neo-Marxism” would be a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds nonthreatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality. But the distinction is vast and important. Indeed, critical race theorists explicitly reject equality — the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War and codified into law with the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To them, equality represents “mere nondiscrimination” and provides “camouflage” for white supremacy, patriarchy and oppression.

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.

Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government and would have the power to nullify, veto or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others deemed insufficiently “antiracist.”

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since, according to Kendi, “in order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anticapitalist.”

In other words, identity is the means; Marxism is the end."

From: What critical race theory is really about (https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/what-critical-race-theory-is-really-about/)

[Bucco]

History should be based on factual information. Critical race theory is not history. Apples and oranges.

Perhaps you could enlighten us on the NON factual information ?

[GrumpyOldMan]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

Very well put. Too many would like to sweep the uglier parts of American history under the rug. Understanding our past is important. It obviously should be as accurate as possible, but two quotes come to mind:

Those who do not learn about history are doomed to repeat it (paraphrased)
And History is written by the winners. (There is NO such thing as "accurate" history).

[Taltarzac725]

This looks like advanced college level stuff. Some high school students would get it. Others probably not. The quote is from an America Bar Association link. A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

CRT grew from Critical Legal Studies (CLS), which argued that the law was not objective or apolitical. CLS was a significant departure from earlier conceptions of the law (and other fields of scholarship) as objective, neutral, principled, and dissociated from social or political considerations. Like proponents of CLS, critical race theorists recognized that the law could be complicit in maintaining an unjust social order. Where critical race theorists departed from CLS was in the recognition of how race and racial inequality were reproduced through the law. Further, CRT scholars did not share the approach of destabilizing social injustice by destabilizing the law. Many CRT scholars had witnessed how the law could be used to help secure and protect civil rights. Therefore, critical race theorists recognized that, while the law could be used to deepen racial inequality, it also held potential as a tool for emancipation and for securing racial equality.

[Bucco]

"Critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s and built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. Relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions over the past decade. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks and school curricula.

Its supporters deploy a series of euphemisms to describe critical race theory, including “equity,” “social justice,” “diversity and inclusion” and “culturally responsive teaching.”
Critical race theorists, masters of language construction, realize that “neo-Marxism” would be a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds nonthreatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality. But the distinction is vast and important. Indeed, critical race theorists explicitly reject equality — the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War and codified into law with the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To them, equality represents “mere nondiscrimination” and provides “camouflage” for white supremacy, patriarchy and oppression.

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.

Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government and would have the power to nullify, veto or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others deemed insufficiently “antiracist.”

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since, according to Kendi, “in order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anticapitalist.”

In other words, identity is the means; Marxism is the end."

From: What critical race theory is really about (https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/what-critical-race-theory-is-really-about/)

About the author and his goals.....

"In March 2021, Rufo described his strategy to oppose critical race theory as intentionally using the term to describe various left-wing race-related ideas in order to create a negative association. Rufo said that "[w]e will eventually turn [critical race theory] toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.'"

Christopher Rufo - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rufo)

A well known POLITICAL ACTIVIST OF FAR RIGHT WING EXTREMISM....he also writes for the Federalist, Daily Signal, etc.

Point is, this is not a basis for any real adult conversation on an American problem.....it serves extremists well, but not the country.

[tvbound]

It's not a "theory," it's fact. Those who are most intimidated by it, are those who don't want our children to know that this country was first built on the backs of slaves (human beings owned like property) then continued through a systemic suppression of rights and equal justice through things like Jim Crow laws and more lately, by targeted voting laws. All too many either still harbor a false sense of superiority by the luck of the draw being born with white skin, or give their support to leaders who make it clear that is what they believe. Our children should be taught the truth, such as the fact that when our supposed infallible forefathers did not really mean "all men are created equal" - as they did not include blacks or women. Why are some people so scared about teaching our country's almost 250 years of unequal opportunity and the injustices of the law toward blacks in particular (and are trying to redefine the definition of CRT)? Never mind, that was a rhetorical question, as can easily be seen in so many aspects of our current lives.


critical race theory | Definition, Principles, & Facts | Britannica (/topic/critical-race-theory)

" 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 colour. 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."

[tvbound]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

"governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples."

Therein lies the facts and basis of this nation's history. A whole lot of white people either choose to ignore these facts, or have never really read our history, because they are just fine with the status quo. When most of the people say they want to make us great again, they're talking directly about going back to when there was never a question that they felt special or privileged - based purely on the color of their skin. As if they ever did anything, to earn that obvious head-start in life.

[Bucco]

It's not a "theory," it's fact. Those who are most intimidated by it, are those who don't want our children to know that this country was first built on the backs of slaves (human beings owned like property) then continued through a systemic suppression of rights and equal justice through things like Jim Crow laws and more lately, by targeted voting laws. All too many either still harbor a false sense of superiority by the luck of the draw being born with white skin, or give their support to leaders who make it clear that is what they believe. Our children should be taught the truth, such as the fact that when our supposed infallible forefathers did not really mean "all men are created equal" - as they did not include blacks or women. Why are some people so scared about teaching our country's almost 250 years of unequal opportunity and the injustices of the law toward blacks in particular (and are trying to redefine the definition of CRT)? Never mind, that was a rhetorical question, as can easily be seen in so many aspects of our current lives.


critical race theory | Definition, Principles, & Facts | Britannica (/topic/critical-race-theory)

" 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 colour. 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."

The basic tenets of Critical Race Theory are 100% correct. Any student of history, not politics, is certainly aware of that.

As with so much the last few years, it is being made a political football, and is terribly distorted as represented by a few posts on this forum. THIS is what makes this devisive, not the teaching itself

"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new rule in Florida that will place tougher guidelines on how teachers deliver U.S. history lessons was approved Thursday, which public officials have touted as a way to get critical race theory — a movement that examines the intersections of race, law and equity — out of the classroom.

The Florida Board of Education met Thursday in Jacksonville to discuss the topic that's been strong-arming education news and Gov. Ron DeSantis' talking points for weeks . The monthly meeting lasted four hours and featured a contentious debate with about 30 public speakers that was derailed when people began chanting "allow teachers to teach the truth."

Florida critical race theory ban: Board OKs US history restrictions (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/06/11/florida-education-board-strict-guidelines-us-history-critical-race-theory/7652613002/)

It is truly amazing, to me anyway, how we call other nations terrible names, and much of that over the years is how the government covers up truth...YET here we are in the good old USA....telling out schools to lie to our children,

What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack? (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05)

[tvbound]

For those who claim they really aren't racist, bigoted or prejudiced against blacks, I challenge you to study the Tulsa Race Riot (which almost no school has ever taught) and come to any other conclusion than the white people of Tulsa were ragingly jealous of Greenwood/Black Wall Street and made sure "they" (blacks) had no chance for the "right to pursue happiness." The same applies to the systemic effort nationwide, to put in new freeways/turnpikes/Etc. through the middle of predominately black neighborhoods - for the main purpose of ensuring that they wouldn't or couldn't prosper.

CNN Films' 'Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street' - CNN Video (https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/05/11/dreamland-cnn-films-tease.cnn)

[manaboutown]

It's not a "theory," it's fact.

The fact is that it is Marxist cretinous BS.

[drducat]

The fact is that it is Marxist cretinous BS.

Wrong...it is very Marxist and is now against the law to teach in the State of Florida.

[tvbound]

Wrong...it is very Marxist and is now against the law to teach in the State of Florida.

Not all that surprising that it's the law down there, given that like some other states, the high number of Florida monuments, plaques, markers on public property as well as schools named after traitorous confederates. Critical Race Theory would educate our children on these facts, which is another reason certain people are petrified of it. The truth and facts can be pretty ugly and eye-opening.

[SkBlogW]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

Ah yes, the ludicrous myth that native american and native african societies were peaceful and virtuous before those nasty white europeans came along. LOL

Native american tribes raped pillaged and enslaved their neighbors like gangbusters long before whitey came along. Same for native africans, where slavery has been going on long before most European countries existed.

Let's face it, humans can be nasty to each other no matter their color, race, or religion.

White people did not invent slavery and conquest, CRT proponents have not studied history.

[Bucco]

The fact is that it is Marxist cretinous BS.

"At its root, therefore, CRT rejects Marxist instrumentalism, the “base”/“superstructure” paradigm, and not only rejects class essentialism, but seeks to be anti-essentialist in general. And, in reality, an anti-essentialist Marxism with no “base” or “superstructure” is not much of a Marxism at all, just a long tradition of critical social theory employed by theorists from many different socio-political perspectives."

Is Critical Race Theory Marxist? – Bradly Mason (https://alsoacarpenter.com/2021/03/23/is-critical-race-theory-marxist/)

It appears that many are simply mouthing what they have been told to mouth, and have not at all studied the subjects or the facts inherent.

[Bucco]

Ah yes, the ludicrous myth that native american and native african societies were peaceful and virtuous before those nasty white europeans came along. LOL

Native american tribes raped pillaged and enslaved their neighbors like gangbusters long before whitey came along. Same for native africans, where slavery has been going on long before most European countries existed.

Let's face it, humans can be nasty to each other no matter their color, race, or religion.

White people did not invent slavery and conquest, CRT proponents have not studied history.

Your premise is very flawed and I submit you are on the wrong side of history.

Your examples are so distorted and out of touch with reality, not truth, but reality.......imagining that white people were humble servants visiting a new land.

Even beginning a discussion on real present day discussion of CRT in that vein is a admission of not understanding history in any way.

Children should be taught the truth.....good, bad and indifferent.

[Taltarzac725]

Killers of the Flower Moon - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killers_of_the_Flower_Moon)

Check out this book which is being made into a movie.

I would think that Critical Race Theory applies to that set of facts.

[manaboutown]

Wrong...it is very Marxist and is now against the law to teach in the State of Florida.

And in Idaho where my grandchild live. I know people who have moved their families to Idaho from the Seattle area where the schools are a mess.

Idaho Becomes First State To Ban Public Schools From Compelling Students To Adopt Critical Race Theory Discrimination | The Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2021/04/29/idaho-governor-brad-little-ban-critical-race-theory-public-schools/)

Montana's AG has acted as well! Montana Becomes Latest State to Shoot Down Critical Race Theory in Classrooms (https://www.westernjournal.com/ap-montana-becomes-latest-state-shoot-critical-race-theory-classrooms/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=huckabee&fbclid=IwAR148FlkUkxHCaYJB9mbQFEYnEOzevs66c6Tnor_h XE_MaNYQ4Zl3wLxiC4)

[Two Bills]

What sucks to me with all this woke and cancel culture and what happened all those years ago, is history being judged by todays more enlightened standards.
I am extremely proud of the UK's history, that a little island like ours built the world biggest empire.
Of course we didn't do it by being nice to the lands that were overcome, but in the context of that time, it was the way it was.
Are we going back to the Mongols, Romans, Viking etc. and demand restitution, and apologies for the pillage, rape, enslavement committed then?
How far back is good enough for the hand wringers and apologists.

[Bucco]

What sucks to me with all this woke and cancel culture and what happened all those years ago, is history being judged by todays more enlightened standards.
I am extremely proud of the UK's history, that a little island like ours built the world biggest empire.
Of course we didn't do it by being nice to the lands that were overcome, but in the context of that time, it was the way it was.
Are we going back to the Mongols, Romans, Viking etc. and demand restitution, and apologies for the pillage, rape, enslavement committed then?
How far back is good enough for the hand wringers and apologists.

Actually, you are changing the subject as what you refer to has nothing to do with CRT. Not in the slightest.

I would hope that the same posters who warn us all about threads might alert how far off subject you are.

[SkBlogW]

Your premise is very flawed and I submit you are on the wrong side of history.

Your examples are so distorted and out of touch with reality, not truth, but reality.......imagining that white people were humble servants visiting a new land.

Even beginning a discussion on real present day discussion of CRT in that vein is a admission of not understanding history in any way.

Children should be taught the truth.....good, bad and indifferent.

Wrong side of history? Someone needs to study more. Humans have been conquering, enslaving, raping, and killing each other since history began. Please provide the quote where I said "white people were humble servants visiting a new land" I merely stated the truth that native americans and native africans practiced slavery and conquest long before whitey showed up. Who do you think gathered up the african slaves and sold them for money to the european slave traders? Hint: They were not light skinned people.

Like I said, all races, colors, religions etc have committed atrocities against their fellow humans.

[Bucco]

And in Idaho where my grandchild live. I know people who have moved their families to Idaho from the Seattle area where the schools are a mess.

Idaho Becomes First State To Ban Public Schools From Compelling Students To Adopt Critical Race Theory Discrimination | The Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2021/04/29/idaho-governor-brad-little-ban-critical-race-theory-public-schools/)

Wondering if you even read your link to your post.

Had you done so, you would have noticed, not only did they get the definition of CRT way way out of line, they also said this....

"While the Idaho bill does not prevent CRT from being taught, it prevents teachers or other facilitators of the instruction from forcing students or other school staff to adopt the ideas in CRT. "

Not sure how the "forcing" etc. takes place.

This entire issue, which we all knew was coming as a "P" issue for 2022, because it was announced as such, is such a shame.....that we are going to use our children and their education to facilitate an agenda.

I really suggest that you folks who insist that this is "marxist"....it is not and that association comes from sources other than those who actually know....or that our government should reverse something that is not taught (It is not anywhere tought as a subject) and is purely academic HOWEVER, this insistence bringing it to the forefront fulfills the intended agenda.

[Gulfcoast]

I think it's being used to encourage parents with means to pull their kids out of the public schools and either home school them or send them to private school. Parents don't want to see their kids marginalized and they also don't want to teach their kids to hate others based on race.

[Bucco]

I think it's being used to encourage parents with means to pull their kids out of the public schools and either home school them or send them to private school. Parents don't want to see their kids marginalized and they also don't want to teach their kids to hate others based on race.

My experience with kids is that they simply want the truth.

My experience with adults is that they simply want their children not to be lied to.

[Topspinmo]

My experience with kids is that they simply want the truth.

My experience with adults is that they simply want their children not to be lied to.

And who decides what truth is? Being nobody living now was there? O wait we reinvent the truth to suit our agenda.

[Gulfcoast]

My experience with kids is that they simply want the truth.

My experience with adults is that they simply want their children not to be lied to.

I agree with this.

I do not believe that CRT is the way to accomplish this which is why I see people of means, regardless of race, pulling their kids out of the public schools that teach CRT.

I've watched some of the school board meetings across the country that are taking place and the parents are raising very reasonable, well thought out concerns about CRT. If implemented, there is concern that CRT is going to distract from educating kids and could wind up dumbing down an already dumbed down curriculum.

[Bucco]

I agree with this.

I do not believe that CRT is the way to accomplish this which is why I see people of means, regardless of race, pulling their kids out of the public schools that teach CRT.

I've watched some of the school board meetings across the country that are taking place and the parents are raising very reasonable, well thought out concerns about CRT. If implemented, there is concern that CRT is going to distract from educating kids and could wind up dumbing down an already dumbed down curriculum.

Please, if you are serious, read this.
-----------------------------------

"Could a teacher who wants to talk about a factual instance of state-sponsored racism—like the establishment of Jim Crow, the series of laws that prevented Black Americans from voting or holding office and separated them from white people in public spaces—be considered in violation of these laws?

It’s also unclear whether these new bills are constitutional, or whether they impermissibly restrict free speech.

It would be extremely difficult, in any case, to police what goes on inside hundreds of thousands of classrooms. But social studies educators fear that such laws could have a chilling effect on teachers who might self-censor their own lessons out of concern for parent or administrator complaints."

As English teacher Mike Stein told Chalkbeat Tennessee about the new law: “History teachers can not adequately teach about the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement. English teachers will have to avoid teaching almost any text by an African American author because many of them mention racism to various extents.”

The laws could also become a tool to attack other pieces of the curriculum, including ethnic studies and “action civics”—an approach to civics education that asks students to research local civic problems and propose solutions."
---------------------------

The concerns are implanted by folks with an agenda. The parents are being told, on purpose about Marxism.....has zero...zero to do with anything. Changing history to be taught our children should not be constrained or held back because of adults need for P activism.

I cannot believe any parent would consider shutting out real history from kids because it interferes with their P leaning.


What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack? (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05)

[GrumpyOldMan]

And who decides what truth is? Being nobody living now was there? O wait we reinvent the truth to suit our agenda.

The study of history is a science, and there are methods of determining what likely happened and why. It will never be 100% guaranteed. With your statement, we might as well not teach anything period. Who knows, lots of people are saying...

[GrumpyOldMan]

There seems to be a theme here:

THEY are coming for our rights
THEY are coming for our money
THEY are coming for our guns
THEY are coming for our religion
THEY are coming for our kids


They are coming...

[Bucco]

There seems to be a theme here:

THEY are coming for our rights
THEY are coming for our money
THEY are coming for our guns
THEY are coming for our religion
THEY are coming for our kids


They are coming...

Well, this thread is about manipulating history to suit an agenda. It is about lying in our schools.

And using words like “Marxist” makes it even more threatening.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Well, this thread is about manipulating history to suit an agenda. It is about lying in our schools.

And using words like “Marxist” makes it even more threatening.

To me, this thread is about one more in a long list of misinformation, all designed to promote FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

I am not speaking here as a liberal both parties are guilty.

[Mrprez]

Children should be taught the truth.....good, bad and indifferent.

Question is…whose truth?

[Number 10 GI]

"At its root, therefore, CRT rejects Marxist instrumentalism, the “base”/“superstructure” paradigm, and not only rejects class essentialism, but seeks to be anti-essentialist in general. And, in reality, an anti-essentialist Marxism with no “base” or “superstructure” is not much of a Marxism at all, just a long tradition of critical social theory employed by theorists from many different socio-political perspectives."

Is Critical Race Theory Marxist? – Bradly Mason (https://alsoacarpenter.com/2021/03/23/is-critical-race-theory-marxist/)

It appears that many are simply mouthing what they have been told to mouth, and have not at all studied the subjects or the facts inherent.

Is that not what you are doing Bucco? Sounds like it to me.

[Number 10 GI]

Your premise is very flawed and I submit you are on the wrong side of history.

Your examples are so distorted and out of touch with reality, not truth, but reality.......imagining that white people were humble servants visiting a new land.

Even beginning a discussion on real present day discussion of CRT in that vein is a admission of not understanding history in any way.

Children should be taught the truth.....good, bad and indifferent.

Bucco, you are the one that needs to get in touch with reality. The natives in America fought each other for land, took slaves and simply fought each other because it was the culture of the warrior that dictated it. The different tribes controlled the area they claimed as theirs and did not tolerate intrusion into their territory. Torture of captives was commonplace. Read up on Lewis and Clark and their experiences crossing the country. There were tribes that allowed them to pass through their territory and other tribes that would fight them. The premise that the American Indian lived in peace and harmony with each other is hog wash. White man just proved to be a bigger and more advanced tribe that fought all the natives and took the land just like the Indians did to each other.

[manaboutown]

Bucco, you are the one that needs to get in touch with reality. The natives in America fought each other for land, took slaves and simply fought each other because it was the culture of the warrior that dictated it. The different tribes controlled the area they claimed as theirs and did not tolerate intrusion into their territory. Torture of captives was commonplace. Read up on Lewis and Clark and their experiences crossing the country. There were tribes that allowed them to pass through their territory and other tribes that would fight them. The premise that the American Indian lived in peace and harmony with each other is hog wash. White man just proved to be a bigger and more advanced tribe that fought all the natives and took the land just like the Indians did to each other.

The aboriginal inhabitants of North America practiced cannibalism in addition to being very cruel. Anyone ever see a shrunken head from the Jivaro tribe in Peru and Ecuador? The genetic evidence for human origin of Jivaroan shrunken heads in collections from the Polish museums | SpringerLink (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00414-016-1448-7)

And the Aztecs and mayans? Ever been to Chichen-Itza?

David Scheimann (https://www.ohio.edu/orgs/glass/vol/1/14.htm)

Conclusive evidence of American Indian cannibalism found | The Seattle Times (https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20000907&slug=4041058)

New Data Suggests Some Cannibalism By Ancient Indians - The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/07/us/new-data-suggests-some-cannibalism-by-ancient-indians.html)

[Bucco]

The aboriginal inhabitants of North America practiced cannibalism in addition to being very cruel. Anyone ever see a shrunken head from the Jivaro tribe in Peru and Ecuador? The genetic evidence for human origin of Jivaroan shrunken heads in collections from the Polish museums | SpringerLink (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00414-016-1448-7)

David Scheimann (https://www.ohio.edu/orgs/glass/vol/1/14.htm)

Conclusive evidence of American Indian cannibalism found | The Seattle Times (https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20000907&slug=4041058)

New Data Suggests Some Cannibalism By Ancient Indians - The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/07/us/new-data-suggests-some-cannibalism-by-ancient-indians.html)


Interesting, but has what to do with the thread subject ??

[GrumpyOldMan]

Question is…whose truth?

See, there is only one truth, the question is what is the truth. Not whose truth.

[tvbound]

Question is…whose truth?

THE truth.

- The truth of the our early economy being based on free slave labor.
- The truth of segregation, with inferior or non-existent amenities for blacks.
- The truth of the Tulsa race riots.
- The truth of systemic racism that has existed in government and private enterprise.
- The truth of the rise of white supremacism and our own intelligence agencies saying that the biggest internal threat is white extremist groups.
- Etc., etc., etc.
- The truth that privileged whites are doing everything possible to ensure our children don't hear of any of this.

THOSE kind of truths.

Now it's time to hear from those who say slaves actually had it pretty good, who would also refuse to truthfully answer whether they would prefer to be enslaved and have 3 meals - or to be free and struggling.

[tvbound]

That's encouraging to hear, given woe is the day when good people stop actively fighting for equality and to stop racism, bigotry, hatred and discrimination. I also have to say that having supposedly just joined last month, your comment seems odd.

[KAM+6]

Florida has had its own "Tulsa Riot". Just Google "Rosewood Florida". Prosperous black town, northwest of TV, where killings and burning every house and buildings in 1923.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

THE truth.

- The truth of the our early economy being based on free slave labor.
- The truth of segregation, with inferior or non-existent amenities for blacks.
- The truth of the Tulsa race riots.
- The truth of systemic racism that has existed in government and private enterprise.
- The truth of the rise of white supremacism and our own intelligence agencies saying that the biggest internal threat is white extremist groups.
- Etc., etc., etc.
- The truth that privileged whites are doing everything possible to ensure our children don't hear of any of this.

THOSE kind of truths.

Now it's time to hear from those who say slaves actually had it pretty good, who would also refuse to truthfully answer whether they would prefer to be enslaved and have 3 meals - or to be free and struggling.

Although I don't recall ever being taught about the Tulsa massacre, I do remember being taught in school about the slave trade, the threat of white supremacists, the origins of the KKK AND the perceived origins of the KKK (the actual origins and the perceived origins aren't the same). I don't remember being specifically taught that everything we were learning about was called "systemic racism." That term itself does not spark any memory of high school education. However, we did learn about concepts like racial barriers to advancement, general prejudice and how it can affect culture, etc. etc. And this was back in the 1970's.

So I'm not understanding why all of a sudden this is some big deal that anyone is fighting against. If you didn't learn about this stuff when you were in school, then your school was keeping things from you that you now find uncomfortable.

And when I say "you" I'm referring to whoever it applies to. If it doesn't apply to you, then I'm not referring to you.

I just really hope you don't get upset when you learn that Columbus didn't actually discover America.

[Topspinmo]

The study of history is a science, and there are methods of determining what likely happened and why. It will never be 100% guaranteed. With your statement, we might as well not teach anything period. Who knows, lots of people are saying...

I agree, history in the pass and there NOTHING can be done about it except dwell on it and create separation. That is exactly what the agenda trying to do.

[Topspinmo]

I believe the teachers are pushing to be able to teach the truth. Let us hope they are allowed.

I also can find not one....NONE Marxist groups that embrace this...only reference to Marx is in extreme right wing publications.

And just how do they know the truth? They wasn’t there, O see someone wrote book about it that wasn’t alive even close to 100 years ago and no all sudden it the new truth. Cause some wrote or said it and some one else agreed.

[GrumpyOldMan]

I don't remember being specifically taught that everything we were learning about was called "systemic racism." That term itself does not spark any memory of high school education. However, we did learn about concepts like racial barriers to advancement, general prejudice and how it can affect culture, etc., etc. And this was back in the 1970's
.

So, to clarify because I don't understand, you don't accept any words applied to something that didn't exist in the 1970s? Seriously? So, the internet is just made up, smart phones or cell phones don't exist, personal computers, and on and on.

Words come into and go out of use.

Are you complaining about the use of the word or are you saying that systemic racism doesn't even exist?

[GrumpyOldMan]

And just how do they know the truth? They wasn’t there, O see someone wrote book about it that wasn’t alive even close to 100 years ago and no all sudden it the new truth. Cause some wrote or said it and some one else agreed.

Do you dismiss all science?

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

So, to clarify because I don't understand, you don't accept any words applied to something that didn't exist in the 1970s? Seriously? So, the internet is just made up, smart phones or cell phones don't exist, personal computers, and on and on.

Words come into and go out of use.

Are you complaining about the use of the word or are you saying that systemic racism doesn't even exist?

No I'm saying I remember learning about systemic racism in the 70's, however I don't remember that we were taught that particular phrase. We learned the subject. It isn't a new subject. It's an important subject to learn. I just don't recall that we called it "systemic racism" and I don't recall that our lessons in school were called "critical race theory."

Sort of like if you learn all about the color blue, but they never mention to you that this color is called blue. You still know all about the color. Just not its official name.

That's all I meant by that.

The point of my post was that these lessons aren't new, and that I'm confused as to why all of a sudden people are against it. Are they also against teaching that the south lost the Civil War? Are they against learning that George Washington was our first president? Are they against learning that blue is a primary color?

I mean - this stuff shouldn't be shocking to anyone. I do have to say that learning about the Tulsa massacre only in the past year or so was sad to me. I should have learned about that in the 1970's too when we were learning about race relations (I believe that was the term we used, as a catch-phrase for the overall topic). It's possible that we were taught about Tulsa and that I merely forgot about it. Our country has been through trauma every which way since its inception. We have been victimized, and we have victimized others. We have had horrific crimes committed against us, and we have committed horrific crimes against others.

How can we learn from our mistakes, if we are ordered not to learn what we did wrong? We MUST know what we've done that was horrible and traumatizing and cruel and unjust, if we are ever to evolve as a society. Those who cannot learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

[Bucco]

No I'm saying I remember learning about systemic racism in the 70's, however I don't remember that we were taught that particular phrase. We learned the subject. It isn't a new subject. It's an important subject to learn. I just don't recall that we called it "systemic racism" and I don't recall that our lessons in school were called "critical race theory."

Sort of like if you learn all about the color blue, but they never mention to you that this color is called blue. You still know all about the color. Just not its official name.

That's all I meant by that.

Please simply look at the source of this discourse....from where the “noise” is coming from....ignore the Marxist twist added to get your attention, and understand this 40 year old concept never said to directly teach anything. You will be hearing rpthat it does, but it is not true.

This will divide us, but again, it began this last year.....it is being wrapped and packaged. Teachers are anti this movement, because they do not wish to deny our kids the truth.....they are not suggesting a direct lesson plan, although that could be plausible. Our history is a living and wonderful thing.....this movement is a P movement and frankly lying to our kids does not seem appropriate

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Please simply look at the source of this discourse....from where the “noise” is coming from....ignore the Marxist twist added to get your attention, and understand this 40 year old concept never said to directly teach anything. You will be hearing rpthat it does, but it is not true.

This will divide us, but again, it began this last year.....it is being wrapped and packaged. Teachers are anti this movement, because they do not wish to deny our kids the truth.....they are not suggesting a direct lesson plan, although that could be plausible. Our history is a living and wonderful thing.....this movement is a P movement and frankly lying to our kids does not seem appropriate

We had actual segments in social sciences on the subject. It was an official part of our curriculum. I had no idea that it was being suppressed, and when I started seeing this "movement" to actually suppress it, I was surprised. I'm still a bit confounded by the whole thing. Why would anyone WANT to hide an important part of our history?

I honestly thought that went out with the whole "Columbus discovered America" nonsense (which we were finally told the truth about - in the 1970's, heh).

Seriously people. Suppressing history is SOOOOOO 1960's.

[Taltarzac725]

They could just Google it on their cell phones or go into a library and ask the reference librarian about sources on it.

Critical Race Theory // Purdue Writing Lab (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html)

Critical Race Theory | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1)

[GrumpyOldMan]

No I'm saying I remember learning about systemic racism in the 70's, however I don't remember that we were taught that particular phrase. We learned the subject. It isn't a new subject. It's an important subject to learn. I just don't recall that we called it "systemic racism" and I don't recall that our lessons in school were called "critical race theory."

Sort of like if you learn all about the color blue, but they never mention to you that this color is called blue. You still know all about the color. Just not its official name.

That's all I meant by that.

The point of my post was that these lessons aren't new, and that I'm confused as to why all of a sudden people are against it. Are they also against teaching that the south lost the Civil War? Are they against learning that George Washington was our first president? Are they against learning that blue is a primary color?

I mean - this stuff shouldn't be shocking to anyone. I do have to say that learning about the Tulsa massacre only in the past year or so was sad to me. I should have learned about that in the 1970's too when we were learning about race relations (I believe that was the term we used, as a catch-phrase for the overall topic). It's possible that we were taught about Tulsa and that I merely forgot about it. Our country has been through trauma every which way since its inception. We have been victimized, and we have victimized others. We have had horrific crimes committed against us, and we have committed horrific crimes against others.

How can we learn from our mistakes, if we are ordered not to learn what we did wrong? We MUST know what we've done that was horrible and traumatizing and cruel and unjust, if we are ever to evolve as a society. Those who cannot learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Thank you very much for your civil reply. I made a mistake and misinterpreted your post in a negative way.

I appologize.

[Nannyof3]

Excellent!!!

[Sabella]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.

This country better wake up and take a long and detailed look at the people who have been teaching our children.

[J1ceasar]

Schools should teach our children how to think for themselves but I doubt someone that's in fifth grade will understand what's propaganda and what's not. Critical race theory is pretty much like religion and should be left out of school if you want to teach your children that everyone hates you do it at home .

[Billy1]

Learn to love all people and this will go away. If your future depends on guns, remember the Alamo, where slave supporters lost or what about the confederacy attacking the United States of America.

[villageuser]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

But that's just my opinion.

That is not critical race theory.Critical race theory is an academic concept that believes it may be embedded in our legal system and government policies. It is actually way above academics for K - 10th grades. Like the original poster said, it is a concept being used to divide our country. One should read: What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack? (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05)

[jog222]

"Critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s and built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. Relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions over the past decade. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks and school curricula.

Its supporters deploy a series of euphemisms to describe critical race theory, including “equity,” “social justice,” “diversity and inclusion” and “culturally responsive teaching.”
Critical race theorists, masters of language construction, realize that “neo-Marxism” would be a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds nonthreatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality. But the distinction is vast and important. Indeed, critical race theorists explicitly reject equality — the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War and codified into law with the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To them, equality represents “mere nondiscrimination” and provides “camouflage” for white supremacy, patriarchy and oppression.

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.

Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government and would have the power to nullify, veto or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others deemed insufficiently “antiracist.”

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since, according to Kendi, “in order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anticapitalist.”

In other words, identity is the means; Marxism is the end."

From: What critical race theory is really about (https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/what-critical-race-theory-is-really-about/)
Exactly!

[Byte1]

IMO, our schools have set aside very little time for teaching the basics that these children need in everyday life, let alone have enough time for teaching liberal "theory" of casting blame on our past. Let's not mix up actual history with Social Studies or Civics. Even as old as we are, most of us were taught about the slavery and the Civil war. In Civics class we were taught about equal rights.
That said, this is not about teaching, it's about indoctrination. CRT is not about teaching history, but teaching these kids about what some believe is "systemic racism" which is not even accurate. It is teaching these children that if they are "white" then they come from a history of "white supremacists." It is teaching Equity instead of Equality. This is ALL wrong. Anyone believing the garbage that CRT is a good thing for children, must not have children or had children themselves. I am not suggesting that there is no longer racism in our country, but I am suggesting that we have come a very long way and now some folks are using politics AND racism to further an Anti-American ideology. Americans are good people. We have been the standard for ALL other countries. No one is suggesting that America never had it's blemishes or that Americans walk on water. BUT, we are the of the best in the world and anyone that refutes that has never lived and traveled outside of our country to see proof.
CRT is very dangerous to our children. Not what it is being said it is, but what it really is. A black child should not be told that it is a victim of today's white supremacy and can never expect to do better on their own. They should not be taught that this country owes them a debt, but an equal chance based on ability. A white child should not be told that they will always owe someone else a debt because history says they are always going to be racists because their ancestors were racists.
Teach history by time line and leave ideology and theory to higher institutions.
Anyone that is taught about the CIVIL war and events leading up to it, knows that there was a slavery problem. Want to talk about equal rights, then bring Civics back into the classroom and teach it along with other countries' constitutions. But also teach the kids about how our gov is run.
CRT is political, not science. If you can't see that, then it's too late for you because you have already been indoctrinated by a warped liberal/marxist agenda. Next thing you will be teaching the kids is that communism is the American way.

[jbrown132]

It’s all about power and how to achieve it.

[Bonnie and Dave]

Amen!

[Larchap49]

curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.

bingo!!!!!!!! Go to the head of the class

[noslices1]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.

Absolutely!

[Larchap49]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.

Wrong wrong wrong. The last people I want deciding what is taught to the youth is the liberal left teaching profession. I respect good teachers and what they do but for some reason it seems the majority are behind the liberal left Marxist platform, especially the college professors. If this wasn't the case States wouldn't have to outlaw CRT teaching, the teachers would stand up and refuse to teach it

[Pat2015]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.

I think teachers should stick to teaching the subjects that they were hired to teach and not be teaching political talking points.

[Tom2172]

Bingo! It’s designed to divide the country! That’s the purpose!

[Proveone]

Do some research on the concept. It is complicated and has been around since the 1970's. The only "people" trying to "divide" us are the Noise cable media networks who misrepresent it.

[christine J Toft]

Exactly.. thank you.

[LG999]

CRT - Critical RACE Theory - is racism against white people, particularly white men and white boys

[Number 10 GI]

Learn to love all people and this will go away. If your future depends on guns, remember the Alamo, where slave supporters lost or what about the confederacy attacking the United States of America.

I don't know what history books you read but the battle at the Alamo and the war between Mexico and Texas had nothing to do with slavery.

[Byte1]

About the author and his goals.....

"In March 2021, Rufo described his strategy to oppose critical race theory as intentionally using the term to describe various left-wing race-related ideas in order to create a negative association. Rufo said that "[w]e will eventually turn [critical race theory] toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.'"

Christopher Rufo - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rufo)

A well known POLITICAL ACTIVIST OF FAR RIGHT WING EXTREMISM....he also writes for the Federalist, Daily Signal, etc.

Point is, this is not a basis for any real adult conversation on an American problem.....it serves extremists well, but not the country.

It seems to be the theme today that anything written by a conservative(aka rightwing) is bad and should be discounted, and anything written by a liberal(aka socialist/marxist) is reasonable and good. Does that summarize it properly?
So CRT = Good because it tells a truth (but destroys and hurts both sides) so it MUST be demanded regardless of what parents want their children taught. Gov. indoctrination? In a Democracy (in our case a Democratic Republic) do the parents have any choice as to how our children are taught?

Some hard truths:
Slavery bad. The whole world had slavery for many centuries, a historical fact.
Equal rights good. America has been improving for decades and centuries.
Systemic racism, a false assumption. Unless you are including black on white, black on Asian, and black on black violence as racism. Ugly but truth.
Another truth: where would blacks be today if there was no slavery in America in our history? A harsh truth where the end does NOT justify the means, but where the means was a historical truth to the lifestyles today. I wonder how many in other countries would change places with the blacks in our country today. I know plenty of blacks (friends and my relatives) that have done very well for themselves and their families, based on the benefits of living in America. I am not discounting the hardships that our minorities have survived to get to this point, but I feel that the positive should be taught to young minds, not a negative connotation that they are inherently evil or a victim based on one color or another.

A question to be thought about:
Is CRT a constructive idea or a destructive idea? Should it be pushed on children in their early years or when they are old enough to know the difference between being a victim or just using such a "theory" to help them in their decision making?

Do not attempt to con me into thinking that we have always taught CRT in our schools, just by a different name. A pile of manure sprinkled with powdered sugar on top is still a pile of manure.

Teaching history is one thing, but teaching "theory" as a history or a form of biased history is just wrong. We have already gone over this where books teaching white supremacy have been removed from our school libraries. Those type of books were blatantly wrong and should be removed. I feel the same way about this. Schools should teach inclusion, not division by color, gender, or religious affiliation.

[Eg_cruz]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.
And there your answer…….to divide us even more

[Taltarzac725]

Critical race theory - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory)

This has been around since the 1970s. Noticed that my Con Law Professor Daniel Farber from the U of MN Law School got into the fray. He is no longer at the U of MN. He wrote some very interesting stuff though on this Critical Race Theory.

[kenoc7]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.
No, it is designed to encourage honest discussions about American histrory.

[Andyb]

Yes, it is about division and control. A huge threat to our freedom. A policy of progressive, Marxist Socialism.

[kenoc7]

It is about a more accurate understanding of America's history.

[Byte1]

Do you dismiss all science?

CRT a science? OK, then relegate the science of CRT to a Sociology course, not children's basic curriculum.
I do not totally agree with those that suggest that not knowing the past will cause one to repeat those mistakes again. History, maybe but theory makes many suppositions.

[Byte1]

It is about a more accurate understanding of America's history.

What's "accurate" about "theory?" How about we leave "accuracy" up to the historians, not philosophers?

[Taltarzac725]

Yes, it is about division and control. A huge threat to our freedom. A policy of progressive, Marxist Socialism.

There is NOTHING Marxist about it.

What critical race theory is -- and isn't - CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/01/us/critical-race-theory-explainer-trnd/index.html)

[GrumpyOldMan]

It seems to be the theme today that anything written by a conservative(aka rightwing) is bad and should be discounted, and anything written by a liberal(aka socialist/marxist) is reasonable and good. Does that summarize it properly?


From my perspective, MOST of the posts here are the opposite of this. There seem to be maybe 2 or 3 posts supporting the conservative view to every post supporting the liberal view. Many of the conservative posts are short and just toss out a one-liner dog whistle.

And should we are a right-wing label like fascist? Since conservatives like to add socialist or Marxist to the liberal label - I mean, fair is fair after all.

Other than that, I agree with everything else in your post.

[irishwonone]

Not all that surprising that it's the law down there, given that like some other states, the high number of Florida monuments, plaques, markers on public property as well as schools named after traitorous confederates. Critical Race Theory would educate our children on these facts, which is another reason certain people are petrified of it. The truth and facts can be pretty ugly and eye-opening.
Actually Florida started renaming schools several years ago that didn’t fit the mojo. Too, civil war status started being painted, damaged, and, finally moved. Of course it’s quite expensive to rename schools which school boards found out after their decision. Recently the Jacksonville Jaguars football team donated money so one particular school could have team football equipment with their new school name. Personally I preferred keeping both the old statues and school names. Keeping the old names is a reminder what actually happened long before many of us were born. Both good and bad. History is always both good and bad. However, to revise history by painting over schools, statues, and now books is clearly how Marx operated. This isn’t about just revising history it’s about eventually taking control of our country.

[Byte1]

No, it is designed to encourage honest discussions about American histrory.

I have no problem with "honest discussions" but I do have a problem with little children bringing homework home that indicates an inherent victim or racist "theory" taught to indoctrinate them. Leave "honest discussion" to more mature students, not little minds that have no experience or foundation for this propaganda. Do not presume to indoctrinate children using the guise of diversity or equality, when the whole premise is to push ideology.

[GrumpyOldMan]

CRT a science? OK, then relegate the science of CRT to a Sociology course, not children's basic curriculum.
I do not totally agree with those that suggest that not knowing the past will cause one to repeat those mistakes again. History, maybe but theory makes many suppositions.

You took my quote out of context. The post I was referring to, and my post were talking about history and the study of documents to try to determine what happened centuries ago. I was referring to a person who denigrated the study of history and lumped it together with CRT.

I did NOT say or mean that CRT is a science.

I agree with you, that knowing the past doesn't encourage one to repeat it, in fact, I believe that studying the past - history - truth (as close as we can determine) will help us not repeat the past mistakes and atrocities.

A theory is a tool used by science that by definition accepts that it may not be perfect or "truth". However, a theory is useful because it makes predictions and explanations of phenomena. The better the theory the more accurate the predictions or conclusions. It is used by science but is not necessarily true or facts. Very little in science is actually truth or facts, most of science is theory. (some like believe it is all theory.)

For example, our use of electricity is based on a theory, and it is useful in our daily lives. But there is little doubt that it is just a theory and actually not how electricity actually works.

[GrumpyOldMan]

I have no problem with "honest discussions" but I do have a problem with little children bringing homework home that indicates an inherent victim or racist "theory" taught to indoctrinate them. Leave "honest discussion" to more mature students, not little minds that have no experience or foundation for this propaganda. Do not presume to indoctrinate children using the guise of diversity or equality, when the whole premise is to push ideology.

This is a very interesting post, and I would completely agree if you had left out two words - indoctrinate and premise.

You are making an assumption of negative intent on the part of educators. My daughter is a teacher and I can assure you she has NO negative intent and simply does her best to help children.

The rest of your post I find a much more useful discussion - at what age should things be taught to children. Is knowledge age appropriate? I tend to agree with your position that some things are better taught when a child is better able to use critical thinking to evaluate the information being taught.

[Swoop]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.
I’m curious, how do you feel black voters are “suppressed” today?

[rlcooper70]

If you simplify CRT you get to your conclusions. IF you look more closely you will that those pushing it are trying to bring a conversation into society ... a conversation about how we look at people of a different race. Have they pushed it too far ... perhaps. Yet the conversation has to happen one way or another.

Perhaps we can ignore the concept of white privilege ... meaning that perhaps we can put it off further .... yet even the tax laws were designed for our benefit ... take capital gains ... in 1921 Southern Democrats got together with that one and reduced taxes for people with money ... the privilege of already having money allows us to pay lower taxes .... creates more of an advantage for the divide of wealth .... transfers economic growth upward to the most wealthy. Too complicated? Sorry.

Point = CRT as a concept ... trying to bring racism into a conversation .... perhaps its gone too far .... but the conversation taking place has to be embraced. Our history is our history and rewriting it makes no sense.

[rlcooper70]

You ask if the black vote is being suppressed today?

Take a look at the restrictions in the Georgia law .... they closed two out of three polling places in the black areas of the inner city. Duh. "Restrict" is a word with a meaning. Closing polling stations is a "restriction". Pretty simple.

[DAVES]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.

Surprised this thread has been allowed this long. Sadly, there is no question our country is perhaps more divided than since the civil war.

My view a major problem is what we allow. The teacher's union as a group is far left.
Any opposing view will be snuffed out. Charter schools has been proposed. We have one in the Villages and it is one of the top schools. For some a solution. My view I try to see pluses and minuses of every issue. Charter schools would mean that the best students would leave the public school system. The public school system would be left with the worst student population.

Our constitution is a miracle. Imagine written by humans, no internet, no cell phones, heck a pen was a sharpened feather. Law is being tied into knots. Freedom of speech,
right to gather, no state religion all in the First Amendment. Many on both sides of the divide need to read it. It does not say freedom to agree with me, right to gather only if you agree with me, or the right to have a faith so long as it is mine.

[Byte1]

From my perspective, MOST of the posts here are the opposite of this. There seem to be maybe 2 or 3 posts supporting the conservative view to every post supporting the liberal view. Many of the conservative posts are short and just toss out a one-liner dog whistle.

And should we are a right-wing label like fascist? Since conservatives like to add socialist or Marxist to the liberal label - I mean, fair is fair after all.

Other than that, I agree with everything else in your post.

I cannot respond to your post without making this political, so I will merely suggest that you look up the definition of "fascist." You will see that there is no identifiable correlation between the conservative ideology and fascism.

CRT is political and probably violates the theme of this forum. I wish there was some way that this could be discussed without politics, but since CRT is purely political, it is impossible.

[Joe C.]

Divide and conquer. That's the goal.

We are not responsible for the acts of those who were here before us.
When someone's parents die, they are not responsible to pay their debts.

Slavery was acceptable in the past around most of the world.

The only reason people decided that slavery wasn't needed was because of the industrial revolution.

Slavery still exists in other countries.....China for example. So if anything you have has a label that says "Made in China", then it is quite possible that by your actions, you are approving and causing the continuance of slavery there.

So if some of us would get off our "high horse", and some of us would quit whining about how bad we have it because of our color, and all of us put on our "big boy shoes" and accept that all have made mistakes in the past, we wouldn't have a problem.

[Bucco]

An awful lot of posters evidently never even heard about CRT until it was made a target of a certain faction. It is a selected agenda item for 2022, and is being wrapped in such different wrappings that are not real.

It has been around for 40 years....not new, and it appears from some of the comments on here, the hard right extremists have made it into something it's not, nor never been.

It is no wonder that almost all the top threats to our country are labeled as coming from the same direction.

To attack teachers, and suggest subject matter should be in the control of elected officials is inexcusable, offensive and with zero credibility. To utter a word like Marxism in the same breath shows the impact of certain cable networks, and social media.

Teach the truth about history. Not teaching feelings, but facts that did happen. What civilization restricts accounts of their history to its young people ?

But begin by studying what CRT means, academically, not defined by elected officials, stop attacking something you obviously don't understand

[Bucco]

Divide and conquer. That's the goal.

We are not responsible for the acts of those who were here before us.
When someone's parents die, they are not responsible to pay their debts.

Slavery was acceptable in the past around most of the world.

The only reason people decided that slavery wasn't needed was because of the industrial revolution.

Slavery still exists in other countries.....China for example. So if anything you have has a label that says "Made in China", then it is quite possible that by your actions, you are approving and causing the continuance of slavery there.

So if some of us would get off our "high horse", and some of us would quit whining about how bad we have it because of our color, and all of us put on our "big boy shoes" and accept that all have made mistakes in the past, we wouldn't have a problem.

But the question here is ...Do we tell the truth or simply ignore mistakes ?

[GOLFER54]

What happen to Teaching our youth Math, Science, Geography and English? Putting political teachings should not be allowed.

[Jokomo]

Sounds like some think Manifest Destiny is a good thing and not the genocide of entire nations.

[Bucco]

I cannot respond to your post without making this political, so I will merely suggest that you look up the definition of "fascist." You will see that there is no identifiable correlation between the conservative ideology and fascism.

CRT is political and probably violates the theme of this forum. I wish there was some way that this could be discussed without politics, but since CRT is purely political, it is impossible.

Never ever was political until about 6 months ago when it was decided, and very openly by the way, that this was an issue to attach a few phrases like "Marxist" and use in 2022.

So we agree this is being made into something it's not, or shouldn't be.

[DAVES]

You ask if the black vote is being suppressed today?

Take a look at the restrictions in the Georgia law .... they closed two out of three polling places in the black areas of the inner city. Duh. "Restrict" is a word with a meaning. Closing polling stations is a "restriction". Pretty simple.

Sadly, hate is a powerful yet mindless emotion. Far to many parrot what they are fed.

As far as suppressed vote. The effort to vote is minimal. Nothing is can or will be perfect
and yet we spin reality to support what we want.

The reality, is shockingly interesting. I am very much against reality suppression and am regularly shocked to discover the difference between what people scream and reality.
We tend to divide our people into groups. Sadly no other way to speak but not all Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Orientals, I do not mean to not list all but I hope it makes the point, think or vote the same. To my surprise blacks have among the highest percentage of voters compared to the other groups.

[Byte1]

Surprised this thread has been allowed this long. Sadly, there is no question our country is perhaps more divided than since the civil war.

My view a major problem is what we allow. The teacher's union as a group is far left.
Any opposing view will be snuffed out. Charter schools has been proposed. We have one in the Villages and it is one of the top schools. For some a solution. My view I try to see pluses and minuses of every issue. Charter schools would mean that the best students would leave the public school system. The public school system would be left with the worst student population.

Our constitution is a miracle. Imagine written by humans, no internet, no cell phones, heck a pen was a sharpened feather. Law is being tied into knots. Freedom of speech,
right to gather, no state religion all in the First Amendment. Many on both sides of the divide need to read it. It does not say freedom to agree with me, right to gather only if you agree with me, or the right to have a faith so long as it is mine.

If you are saying that the pubic school system would be left with those that are of lower education, or have more difficulty in school, then that would also be a plus. Good students SHOULD progress to higher grade levels or learning pressures. We have a grade levels for a reason. We usually base them mostly upon age, but learning ability and knowledge is also a possibility. More attention should be put on those that have difficulty in learning and more devices and mechanism utilized for those that need special attention. That way, those that have more ability can progress at their own speed without becoming bored while waiting for others to catch up. Diversification should not be qualified by learning ability. Putting fast learners with slow learners only makes the fast learners stagnant, due to being forced to governor their learning speed. It is not the fast learners charter to teach the slow learners, it's the teacher's mandate to teach. Having levels of learning in school is a good thing or we would be back to one room schools again. This is a case where segregation (of ability) is a good thing.
I am totally FOR charter schools, as well as private schools.

[lkagele]

Just like Marxism, CRT divides populations. Marxism did it by class. CRT does it by race. Both are used as tools to make ruling the overall populace easier. I'm certainly not a great historian but I doubt very much Martin Luther King would have been an advocate of CRT.

IMO, the US is the least racist country in the world. Have we been perfect? Certainly not. Have we learned from our mistakes and tried to improve our society based on those mistakes? Absolutely. Opportunities for everyone in the country are abundant. The inability of being able to take advantage of those opportunities are primarily the fault of local leadership including the failure of the education system.

Riddle me this batman. If the US is such a racist and oppressed society, why is it that immigrants from all over the world want to come here yet only a microscopic number of people want to leave?

[positiveinlife]

"Critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s and built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. Relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions over the past decade. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks and school curricula.

Its supporters deploy a series of euphemisms to describe critical race theory, including “equity,” “social justice,” “diversity and inclusion” and “culturally responsive teaching.”
Critical race theorists, masters of language construction, realize that “neo-Marxism” would be a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds nonthreatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality. But the distinction is vast and important. Indeed, critical race theorists explicitly reject equality — the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War and codified into law with the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. To them, equality represents “mere nondiscrimination” and provides “camouflage” for white supremacy, patriarchy and oppression.

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.

Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government and would have the power to nullify, veto or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others deemed insufficiently “antiracist.”

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since, according to Kendi, “in order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anticapitalist.”

In other words, identity is the means; Marxism is the end."

From: What critical race theory is really about (https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/what-critical-race-theory-is-really-about/)

I totally agree you are right on the point! The more we refere to each other as belonging to one type of group or another the more we play into the hands of the Marxis. We should we call ourselves Americans first and stop this attempt to divide us.

[Byte1]

If you simplify CRT you get to your conclusions. IF you look more closely you will that those pushing it are trying to bring a conversation into society ... a conversation about how we look at people of a different race. Have they pushed it too far ... perhaps. Yet the conversation has to happen one way or another.

Perhaps we can ignore the concept of white privilege ... meaning that perhaps we can put it off further .... yet even the tax laws were designed for our benefit ... take capital gains ... in 1921 Southern Democrats got together with that one and reduced taxes for people with money ... the privilege of already having money allows us to pay lower taxes .... creates more of an advantage for the divide of wealth .... transfers economic growth upward to the most wealthy. Too complicated? Sorry.

Point = CRT as a concept ... trying to bring racism into a conversation .... perhaps its gone too far .... but the conversation taking place has to be embraced. Our history is our history and rewriting it makes no sense.

How do you figure that the rich pay less taxes? Any taxes paid is more than half the country is paying and that is a fact. To be fair, we would either have to initiate a flat tax where EVERYONE (including the low earners) pays a percentage of earnings, OR we would have to have a federal sales tax. Then I wonder how some would feel about the rich paying sales taxes. A person wishing to save their money would not purchase. A rich person not wishing to pay taxes on a Rolls would purchase a Ford.
Time to quit making excuses and face reality. The rich are paying for the running of this country and should not be penalized to the point of leaving it. The rich are patriots. Yep, I said it because I am not biased against those that are my betters in wealth. It is the rich that employ. The gov cannot spend it's own money because it makes no money. It is the rich that pay the most taxes that finance the gov employees. If you want equity, then EVERYONE should pay the same. Is that what you really want?

[ithos]

Nikki Haley: America isn’t perfect. But the principles at the heart of America are.

Recorded history goes back more than 10 thousand years and the vast majority of civilizations could be characterized as the few exploiting the many. Often times it would involved great suffering and even torture. But the only history that the neo Marxists are obsessed about is ours. That is because they despise our Constitution which puts severe limits on government power and enshrines individual liberties. So they have concocted this Orwellian theory in attempt to radically transform our nation to the detriment of all with the exception of the few at the top.

And truth be told they don't care any more about the suffering of the poor than did Stalin or Mao. That is why you will never see them advocate for real reforms that provide school choice and incentivize businesses to relocate to depressed inner cities. You can not exploit people who have an optimistic outlook for the future.

[Ele201]

People should understand their history, then conquer it by moving forward. Clinging to past mistakes our ancestors made is futile. The best time of your life—- is now. So get on with it.

[Swoop]

You ask if the black vote is being suppressed today?

Take a look at the restrictions in the Georgia law .... they closed two out of three polling places in the black areas of the inner city. Duh. "Restrict" is a word with a meaning. Closing polling stations is a "restriction". Pretty simple.
In Georgia, like Florida you have weeks of early voting opportunities. I came from Pennsylvania where you voted on Election Day. I often waited in line for over an hour to vote…

[Bucco]

Obviously so many got a definition of CRT from elected officials and they wrapped it with words like Marxist, which should not be used because their is no application.


I suggest, if you really care about truth, that you peruse this from the American Bar.

Not only a great learning tool, but actually dates the beginning of this attack on a 40 year old concept that has no reason to be attacked.

Turn off YouTube, certain cable channels and find out how this attack is contrary to what you want.


Folks who call this P are correct.....been made that way since just recently. Never was, until this brand new spin looked like a great issue for 2022. Not an overstated fact.....it's true.

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

[nhtexasrn]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.

Interesting view. I think everyone knows that our country is not perfect and never has been. I was taught in school about America's history, being raised in Texas it was mandatory to study Texas history along with American and world history. I learned about the good and the bad. We are all aware that the Europeans took land from the American Indians and we were taught back then not to hate our country but to acknowledge it's history, the good with the bad and to try to change the bad and work for the good. We were taught to be patriotic and to pray. The problem now is our kids aren't being taught the good, just the bad. They are not being told the truth about communism, marxism or socialism or that since the beginning of time there have been people who were enslaved and mistreated. America didn't invent slavery. They aren't being taught about the world wars or the holocaust because it "upsets" them. They are being indoctrinated to despise their country. If a student is white, they are taught to be ashamed of their race and white children are being traumatized by this! Suddenly if you are white, you are inherently racist and should be ashamed of your family and your ancestors. It's just wrong. Nothing will change the fact that there are people of different races, people who come from different parts of the world and who have different cultures and different appearances. Everyone knows the difference when they see an Asian, a white person or a black person. I think that every adult realizes we are all the same on the inside, so this anatomy and physiology lesson you have given is like preaching to the choir. Just my opinion

[Bucco]

In Georgia, like Florida you have weeks of early voting opportunities. I came from Pennsylvania where you voted on Election Day. I often waited in line for over an hour to vote…

I did the same because they did not have the ability to do it any other way. BUT, today, safe, secure methods exist and are use

[Lindab674]

Divide and conquer-pure and simple. White supremacists vs. the oppressed. Kids don’t judge other kids by the color of their skin unless they’re taught that. Marxism in the making.

[lpkruege1]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.


Todays Woke teachers Should NOT be allowed to make that decision. Leave that decision to the parents. It seems to me the people pushing the CRT are the real racists. When your teachings degrade a person by their color is in fact racist.

[jimbomaybe]

Perhaps you could enlighten us on the NON factual information ? non factual information as well as deceit = propaganda

[yanksansky]

It is forbidden from being taught in public schools in Florida.
Thank goodness. Love our Gov Ron

[Byte1]

Obviously so many got a definition of CRT from elected officials and they wrapped it with words like Marxist, which should not be used because their is no application.


I suggest, if you really care about truth, that you peruse this from the American Bar.

Not only a great learning tool, but actually dates the beginning of this attack on a 40 year old concept that has no reason to be attacked.

Turn off YouTube, certain cable channels and find out how this attack is contrary to what you want.


Folks who call this P are correct.....been made that way since just recently. Never was, until this brand new spin looked like a great issue for 2022. Not an overstated fact.....it's true.

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Who cares? Seriously, other than politics what good does it do to dwell on this ridiculous CRT? I say again, what GOOD does it do? I can tell you how much damage it will do. Our country is progressing very well without trying to relive the past. Look forward and realize that we have the best country in the world, IMO. Perfect? No. Great? YES!

[LG999]

CRT - Critical RACE Theory - is racism against white people, particularly white men and white boys

[Byte1]

Just like Marxism, CRT divides populations. Marxism did it by class. CRT does it by race. Both are used as tools to make ruling the overall populace easier. I'm certainly not a great historian but I doubt very much Martin Luther King would have been an advocate of CRT.

IMO, the US is the least racist country in the world. Have we been perfect? Certainly not. Have we learned from our mistakes and tried to improve our society based on those mistakes? Absolutely. Opportunities for everyone in the country are abundant. The inability of being able to take advantage of those opportunities are primarily the fault of local leadership including the failure of the education system.

Riddle me this batman. If the US is such a racist and oppressed society, why is it that immigrants from all over the world want to come here yet only a microscopic number of people want to leave?

Of course, ONLY white immigrants from all over the world WANT to come here, right? Hmm, the media must be making a mistake because they are showing minorities swimming the Rio to get here. You have to be mistaken, because everyone knows how racist this country really is and would not dare cross our borders to get here. Picture tongue in cheek.
Hey, maybe CRT is just what we need to curb some of this illegal invasions of our border. Make out how "racist" this country is so that nobody would dare be associated with the evil White Supremacist Americans. That's me being facetious again.

[bobdeb]

Ah yes, the ludicrous myth that native american and native african societies were peaceful and virtuous before those nasty white europeans came along. LOL

Native american tribes raped pillaged and enslaved their neighbors like gangbusters long before whitey came along. Same for native africans, where slavery has been going on long before most European countries existed.

Let's face it, humans can be nasty to each other no matter their color, race, or religion.

White people did not invent slavery and conquest, CRT proponents have not studied history.

Sadly true. He nailed it here.

Many folks truly do not wish to be treated equally. They wish to be treated specially.

Not to get into line, but to get to the head of the line.

[Topspinmo]

You ask if the black vote is being suppressed today?

Take a look at the restrictions in the Georgia law .... they closed two out of three polling places in the black areas of the inner city. Duh. "Restrict" is a word with a meaning. Closing polling stations is a "restriction". Pretty simple.

Funny how had months to mail in votes and truck loads showed up after the closing poles. And why all the cardboard over the windows?

[Topspinmo]

Do you dismiss all science?

Science has nothing to do with propaganda.

[Topspinmo]

:clap2: Well put.

It’s an opinion, one sided one. And that’s my opinion.

[Topspinmo]

Please, if you are serious, read this.
-----------------------------------

"Could a teacher who wants to talk about a factual instance of state-sponsored racism—like the establishment of Jim Crow, the series of laws that prevented Black Americans from voting or holding office and separated them from white people in public spaces—be considered in violation of these laws?

It’s also unclear whether these new bills are constitutional, or whether they impermissibly restrict free speech.

It would be extremely difficult, in any case, to police what goes on inside hundreds of thousands of classrooms. But social studies educators fear that such laws could have a chilling effect on teachers who might self-censor their own lessons out of concern for parent or administrator complaints."

As English teacher Mike Stein told Chalkbeat Tennessee about the new law: “History teachers can not adequately teach about the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement. English teachers will have to avoid teaching almost any text by an African American author because many of them mention racism to various extents.”

The laws could also become a tool to attack other pieces of the curriculum, including ethnic studies and “action civics”—an approach to civics education that asks students to research local civic problems and propose solutions."
---------------------------

The concerns are implanted by folks with an agenda. The parents are being told, on purpose about Marxism.....has zero...zero to do with anything. Changing history to be taught our children should not be constrained or held back because of adults need for P activism.

I cannot believe any parent would consider shutting out real history from kids because it interferes with their P leaning.


What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack? (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05)

Teacher gets paid to teach state approved curriculum, they don’t get to teach off the cuff. It they can’t teach what state has approved, then they need to find another job. They don’t get to change history or state approved curriculum.

[NancyLee]

[QUOTE=JerryLBell;1958374]From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas... During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not...

Germans were imprisoned also. Having escaped from Nazi Germany, my German father in law, who was an engineer, was taken away with no warning and imprisoned. He had a pregnant wife at the time and she did not know where he was or if he was even alive. Fortunately, she had friends in the Cincinnati area who took care of her.

[Bucco]

Funny how had months to mail in votes and truck loads showed up after the closing poles. And why all the cardboard over the windows?

Were you aware at all of what was going on with the pandemic ?

Were you aware of legislatures mandated how votes are counted ?

Any of this sounds familiar at all ?

Your premise, direct from the bastion of truth was dispelled and threw from our courts with extreme prejudice.

[Bucco]

Teacher gets paid to teach state approved curriculum, they don’t get to teach off the cuff. It they can’t teach what state has approved, then they need to find another job. They don’t get to change history or state approved curriculum.

Then allow them.

You are speaking and endorsing an elected officials idea of changing history, and telling them to teach it tge way that or those elected officials want it taught.

Nobody has been teaching "off the cuff" for the last 40 years, but you are endorsing that exact thing.

[Phantomf8]

Very well put. Too many would like to sweep the uglier parts of American history under the rug. Understanding our past is important. It obviously should be as accurate as possible, but two quotes come to mind:

Those who do not learn about history are doomed to repeat it (paraphrased)
And History is written by the winners. (There is NO such thing as "accurate" history).
Well written - EVERYONE should read this and LEARN!!!! Why did so many people die for this beautiful country with all of its faults? Were they "suckers" or were they fighting for what is described above - to preserve what we have built - not to have it torn down!!! We trust they did NOT die in vein!!!!! I've lost five members of my family in the last four wars - WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Was it all for nought? Democracy is at best "messy" but its alternative "authoritarianism" [a rule of one] is worse! America resulted from a rebellion against the king [a rule of one] and now it is at risk of slipping back into those destructive chains of authoritarianism. Why? Because of the deep divisions and resultant anger [as so accurately described above] being played upon by political malfeasance.

The definitions of "equality" and "equity" are twisted around to define the moment which can result in a hazardous, slippery slope as defined in another response above - annihilation of capitalism is an extreme as is Marxism resulting in the eradication of the rule of law replaced by temporary "people power" which is self destructive and, in the long run, ends in authoritaranism such as exists in Russia. China's evolution of family dynasties till they were overthrown in the guise of "people power" again resulted in authoritarianism as we witness today.

Are we next? Are we going to tear each other apart until the rule of law is no longer? That gangsters - in the guise of preserving our country - will run rampant, as did the brown shirts before Hitler took control, suppressing and killing all those deemed in opposition to the new rule? Or ruler?

I for one, hope not! I pray that my, and everyone else's, ancestors did not die in vein defending this democracy. I pray that we ALL wake up in America, put down our frenzied differences, stop yelling at each other and LISTEN! There's the good, the bad and the ugly on all sides that need to be addressed so that we and democracy [no matter how messy] can survive!

[Neils]

Who the lizard people? You are in America's whitest home town. You'll be ok.

And Detroit or Birmingham might be the blackest home town. So what is your point???
Who cares

Go count skin colors and try to feed division someplace else

All races live and are welcome in TV and never have riots in the streets

Lets keep it a great place

[Bucco]

Well written - EVERYONE should read this and LEARN!!!! Why did so many people die for this beautiful country with all of its faults? Were they "suckers" or were they fighting for what is described above - to preserve what we have built - not to have it torn down!!! We trust they did NOT die in vein!!!!! I've lost five members of my family in the last four wars - WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Was it all for nought? Democracy is at best "messy" but its alternative "authoritarianism" [a rule of one] is worse! America resulted from a rebellion against the king [a rule of one] and now it is at risk of slipping back into those destructive chains of authoritarianism. Why? Because of the deep divisions and resultant anger [as so accurately described above] being played upon by political malfeasance.

The definitions of "equality" and "equity" are twisted around to define the moment which can result in a hazardous, slippery slope as defined in another response above - annihilation of capitalism is an extreme as is Marxism resulting in the eradication of the rule of law replaced by temporary "people power" which is self destructive and, in the long run, ends in authoritaranism such as exists in Russia. China's evolution of family dynasties till they were overthrown in the guise of "people power" again resulted in authoritarianism as we witness today.

Are we next? Are we going to tear each other apart until the rule of law is no longer? That gangsters - in the guise of preserving our country - will run rampant, as did the brown shirts before Hitler took control, suppressing and killing all those deemed in opposition to the new rule? Or ruler?

I for one, hope not! I pray that my, and everyone else's, ancestors did not die in vein defending this democracy. I pray that we ALL wake up in America, put down our frenzied differences, stop yelling at each other and LISTEN! There's the good, the bad and the ugly on all sides that need to be addressed so that we and democracy [no matter how messy] can survive!

Well said..teach the truth and do not allow elected officials to run the curriculum

[Bucco]

Who the lizard people? You are in America's whitest home town. You'll be ok.

I think, but he can speak for himself, that Grumpy was being sarcastic at the yelling and screaming about those who wish to protect our history and allow our children to learn truth.

[ithos]

Can someone show me where teaching people to judge others by the color of their skin, disparage our founding principals and waging a campaign to demonize police has improved the conditions of the inner city?

How did it work out in Minneapolis, Baltimore or Ferguson?

How about we try some other ideas like pressuring Nike and the like to build their factories in cities with chronic unemployment where kids are spending everything they have for their shoes.

Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region (https://enduyghurforcedlabour.org/)

[stadry]

assuming educators have no agendas

[Bucco]

Who cares? Seriously, other than politics what good does it do to dwell on this ridiculous CRT? I say again, what GOOD does it do? I can tell you how much damage it will do. Our country is progressing very well without trying to relive the past. Look forward and realize that we have the best country in the world, IMO. Perfect? No. Great? YES!

"Who cares" pretty much says it all.

I care that elected officials do not determine our teaching of history.

I care that one group can decide on a whim, because it fits their message, to try and hi jack the schools with such odd lies.

I care that for P reasons, the word Marxist is now added to the discussion to totally and completely mislead.

I care that kids know truth and respect it.

[Joe C.]

CRT and WOKE are working hand in hand.
They teach "white privilege" and also teach that if you are white, that you automatically are racist because of your birth.

Those idiots should be eliminated.

[Byte1]

Can someone show me where teaching people to judge others by the color of their skin, disparage our founding principals and waging a campaign to demonize police has improved the conditions of the inner city?

How did it work out in Minneapolis, Baltimore or Ferguson?

How about we try some other ideas like pressuring Nike and the like to build their factories in cities with chronic unemployment where kids are spending everything they have for their shoes.

Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region (https://enduyghurforcedlabour.org/)

Inadvertently or not, you have made an excellent point. What are the values of those kids that spend everything they have for a pair of "special" shoes? And maybe(?) the reason that Nike and the "like" do not build in those "cities" as well as other businesses not opening in those "cities" is because they fear being burnt down, broken into and vandalized, etc. Do you know of any of those inner cities that have had businesses with success in the inner cities? Does that sound racist on the surface? Notice that I did not mention any race. And I am just using your supposition, when using Nike ( a favorite of those kids in the inner city) when I figure you are speaking of predominately cities with a black majority in the inner city. Maybe Detroit should reopen their auto plants? Doubt if that will ever happen. Perhaps some excuse this as part of CRT? I just call it cause and effect.

[rfc171]

You are as learned man Jerry!

[Bucco]

To be clear...relative to Florida....

CRT IS NOT....REPEAT NOT TAUGHT IN THE SCHOOLS.

Read the law it is specific and pretty much says....

Instruction must be factual and also false

[jimjamuser]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.
The country IS ALREADY divided as most people are aware. And it is NOT being "PUSHED"! It is an attempt at TRUTHTELLING to correctly and objectively present an unvarnished version of History to the young, next generation. Why are SO MANY states such COWARDS that a little truthtelling makes them anxious to pass laws quickly before the TRUTH leaks out. Early European settlers accepted gifts of NEEDED food and called it Thanksgiving and then proceeded to extinguish NATIVE American civilization. That was whitewashed from History - and the Tulsa massacre - and who knows what more History is committed and LIED about? When you PREVENT the truth from being told - you replace it with PROPAGANDA - and enough propaganda and America WILL find itself in a DICTATORSHIP. I would believe that those living in states that have passed laws against CRT (or suppress the TRUTH laws) are NOW as we speak REALLY in said dictatorship.

[Marykschulz]

Critical Race Theory is designed to teach students that not all of America’s past is “pretty”. Germany mandates that their students learn about the Holocaust, ugly parts and all. Why do Americans want to hide the ugly parts of our past?

[rfc171]

You are a learned man Jerry!

[Topspinmo]

Were you aware at all of what was going on with the pandemic ?

Were you aware of legislatures mandated how votes are counted ?

Any of this sounds familiar at all ?

Your premise, direct from the bastion of truth was dispelled and threw from our courts with extreme prejudice.


No, the didn’t want to hear it, they got what they intended and that was end of it. There has to be cutoff for mailing voting when you have months to vote. You can’t be bring in truck loads of votes during Election Day especially after poles close and the count known. But it’s ok as long as 99% voted with you’re party right.

[Topspinmo]

Well said..teach the truth and do not allow elected officials to run the curriculum


Yes, the truth as my party drilled it.

[Bucco]

Yes, the truth as my party drilled it.

First, because you brought it up. I am an Independent, after not only being registered in the party you seem to espouse for over 60 years, but being a paid employee. I changed, but not to what you refer.

Second, CRT is something BOTH groups wanted. It is not, in any way a subject to be taught. The changes that are being made and solicited are now a party movement to erase history as it happened. Really you should read the law. Full of platitudes, nothing of substance and was only even brought up to have it worked out as a party issue, adding a few words like Marxism to really generate those who are not really concerned with the country, but the party.

So, you have completely and totally flipped the truth.

Erasing history to serve a party is a very scary thing to endorse.

After 40 years of no problem in the schools, you now suggest that you want every party change in legislature to generate a new history. That CRT was done to keep this from happening.

But, again....you don't care and that is your right

[Taltarzac725]

First, because you brought it up. I am an Independent, after not only being registered in the party you seem to espouse for over 60 years, but being a paid employee. I changed, but not to what you refer.

Second, CRT is something BOTH groups wanted. It is not, in any way a subject to be taught. The changes that are being made and solicited are now a party movement to erase history as it happened. Really you should read the law. Full of platitudes, nothing of substance and was only even brought up to have it worked out as a party issue, adding a few words like Marxism to really generate those who are not really concerned with the country, but the party.

So, you have completely and totally flipped the truth.

Erasing history to serve a party is a very scary thing to endorse.

After 40 years of no problem in the schools, you now suggest that you want every party change in legislature to generate a new history. That CRT was done to keep this from happening.

But, again....you don't care and that is your right

I had Native America studies at Earl Wooster HS (Reno, Nevada) in 1975-1976 or thereabouts. We went over a lot of battles in which the Native Americans won and we had three or four field trips to movies that featured the point-of-view of various Native American tribes like Little Big Man, A Man Called Horse and some others. Our teacher did favor the Native Americans but then again many of the kids in the class were Paiutes. This one too probably as it is about a Paiute-- Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Them_Willie_Boy_Is_Here)

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

In Georgia, like Florida you have weeks of early voting opportunities. I came from Pennsylvania where you voted on Election Day. I often waited in line for over an hour to vote…

Pennsylvania permits no-excuse absentee voting.
It implemented online voter registration system in 2015.
The voter ID law was rejected in 2014, though anyone who shows up at the polling place for the very first time must present an ID. An ID can be a drivers license or passport, or it could even be a current utility bill. It's basically proof of residency, not proof of identification.
Pennsylvania does NOT require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
All PA voters can cast absentee votes, up to 50 days prior to any special, primary, or general election. They can also request to be provided absentee ballots permanently, for each election.
PA also allows early voting.

So really, there's nothing in your post that is correct. I've never lived in Pennsylvania, and I was able to look up this state laws without any effort at all. One would think that someone making a claim about the state they are actually from, would know the information better.

[GrumpyOldMan]

No, the didn’t want to hear it, they got what they intended and that was end of it. There has to be cutoff for mailing voting when you have months to vote. You can’t be bring in truck loads of votes during Election Day especially after poles close and the count known. But it’s ok as long as 99% voted with you’re party right.

None of what you said has been proven, 60 some court cases, and only 1 agreed with any of your assumptions. And hundreds of millions donated to prove the election fraud, and 6 months in and no proof yet forth coming. Keep donating, keep searching, I hope for your sake you actually find some proof. Otherwise, it will be a sad waste of time and a serious detriment to democracy.

[jimjamuser]

Although I don't recall ever being taught about the Tulsa massacre, I do remember being taught in school about the slave trade, the threat of white supremacists, the origins of the KKK AND the perceived origins of the KKK (the actual origins and the perceived origins aren't the same). I don't remember being specifically taught that everything we were learning about was called "systemic racism." That term itself does not spark any memory of high school education. However, we did learn about concepts like racial barriers to advancement, general prejudice and how it can affect culture, etc. etc. And this was back in the 1970's.

So I'm not understanding why all of a sudden this is some big deal that anyone is fighting against. If you didn't learn about this stuff when you were in school, then your school was keeping things from you that you now find uncomfortable.

And when I say "you" I'm referring to whoever it applies to. If it doesn't apply to you, then I'm not referring to you.

I just really hope you don't get upset when you learn that Columbus didn't actually discover America.
There ARE reasons why CRT is "suddenly a big deal". Of course, it should NOT be. As you mentioned, it should just normally ease into schools and society as the US moves FORWARD to improve itself by the exorcism of the skeletons left behind in its History. But, we are at a critical time for the US as we are teetering on a knife's edge between Democracy and Dictatorship. This has created a horrendous social TENSION exacerbated by foreign actors (Russia) that have successfully driven wedges between US citizens - Whites vs Black and Browns - agnostics vs Evangelicals - coastal states vs midwestern states - the haves vs the want-to-have - blue collar vs white collar - vaccinated vs unvaccinated.

[Taltarzac725]

There ARE reasons why CRT is "suddenly a big deal". Of course, it should NOT be. As you mentioned, it should just normally ease into schools and society as the US moves FORWARD to improve itself by the exorcism of the skeletons left behind in its History. But, we are at a critical time for the US as we are teetering on a knife's edge between Democracy and Dictatorship. This has created a horrendous social TENSION exacerbated by foreign actors (Russia) that have successfully driven wedges between US citizens - Whites vs Black and Browns - agnostics vs Evangelicals - coastal states vs midwestern states - the haves vs the want-to-have - blue collar vs white collar - vaccinated vs unvaccinated.

And our enemies reap the rewards of this chaos.

[GrumpyOldMan]

No, the didn’t want to hear it, they got what they intended and that was end of it. There has to be cutoff for mailing voting when you have months to vote. You can’t be bring in truck loads of votes during Election Day especially after poles close and the count known. But it’s ok as long as 99% voted with you’re party right.

And if those "truckloads" of votes are legitimate votes of legal voters? You seem to be saying sucks to be them, their votes should not be counted, because of some law. Refusing to count American Citizens votes sure sounds like voter suppression to me.

If those truckloads were from non-citizens (no proof) or covered in Chinese bamboo fibers (no proof) or dead people (no to very little proof) or people voting in multiple elections (no proof). Hmm, there seems to be a trend here. All the things claimed to be done and that laws need to be passed to prevent, and there is NO proof after hundreds of millions of dollars were donated to investigate them.

[Byte1]

Critical Race Theory is designed to teach students that not all of America’s past is “pretty”. Germany mandates that their students learn about the Holocaust, ugly parts and all. Why do Americans want to hide the ugly parts of our past?

Nobody has been hiding our history, although there are plenty that wish to hide it or destroy it by renaming, destroying statues, burning the flag, etc. CRT is theory NOT fact. And theory is someone's opinion, NOT fact. How many times do these children need to be told about slavery? How many times is MLK taught to a student throughout his travels from one grade to another. Black history MONTH gives teaching and lecturing for a dedicated month. Explain why a theory that divides is good for children. It's not about teaching history. It's about demeaning both white and children of color. Anyone that thinks that is good for children, either does not have any children or they hate their own lives and wish to make every child miserable. Like I said before, if you want theory, then teach it in a college philosophy course. CRT sounds great to the naive, but is mentally dangerous for ALL children. Like the man said on Drag Net "just the facts ma'am, just the facts."

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

There ARE reasons why CRT is "suddenly a big deal". Of course, it should NOT be. As you mentioned, it should just normally ease into schools and society as the US moves FORWARD to improve itself by the exorcism of the skeletons left behind in its History. But, we are at a critical time for the US as we are teetering on a knife's edge between Democracy and Dictatorship. This has created a horrendous social TENSION exacerbated by foreign actors (Russia) that have successfully driven wedges between US citizens - Whites vs Black and Browns - agnostics vs Evangelicals - coastal states vs midwestern states - the haves vs the want-to-have - blue collar vs white collar - vaccinated vs unvaccinated.

I also feel that the topic is not appropriate for elementary school children. A basic understanding of "why being different is OKAY" is important for them. But once it gets into socio-political studies, it needs to be learned in the higher grades. 11th and 12th grade perhaps.

But it absolutely does need to be presented as a subject to High Schoolers, because SOMEONE has to take an interest in it in college. Politics is a social science. Do we want our country to be led by an idiot who never learned anything about how our country came to exist? Or do we want our country to be led by someone who at the very least - read something about in a Senior Social Studies class?

Personally I'd rather my elected officials be as educated as possible on every subject that affects the citizenry. Telling them they're not ALLOWED to learn certain aspects of history is just shooting ourselves in the foot.

They could even say "hey there's this thing called CRT. Here's what THESE people think about it. Here's what THOSE people think about it. Here's a list of things that define what it IS. Now you can make your own decisions about it because you have learned."

That's really the least that should be expected, and accepted. Knowledge is power. If you want to take power away from people, then take away their knowledge.

[manaboutown]

And our enemies reap the rewards of this chaos.

Our true enemies are the proponents of CRT which is simply Marxist propaganda camouflaged by using race as leverage. They want to use its false narrative to brainwash our children and tear apart our country, the freest and best country on earth.

[Briand]

Anyone prepared to be introspective will see that hiding our history is not a good idea. I am a ‘Brit’ and the first to admit the building of the biggest empire in History was not carried out without a lot of evil actions on our behalf and suffering for many in the British Empire. Knowing this and understanding the suffering of those who were ‘conquered’ is vitally important to becoming an active and sympathetic member of society today.

[GrumpyOldMan]

NCRT sounds great to the naive, but is mentally dangerous for ALL children. Like the man said on Drag Net "just the facts ma'am, just the facts."

I assume this is opinion or have you got any examples?

[jimjamuser]

Although I don't recall ever being taught about the Tulsa massacre, I do remember being taught in school about the slave trade, the threat of white supremacists, the origins of the KKK AND the perceived origins of the KKK (the actual origins and the perceived origins aren't the same). I don't remember being specifically taught that everything we were learning about was called "systemic racism." That term itself does not spark any memory of high school education. However, we did learn about concepts like racial barriers to advancement, general prejudice and how it can affect culture, etc. etc. And this was back in the 1970's.

So I'm not understanding why all of a sudden this is some big deal that anyone is fighting against. If you didn't learn about this stuff when you were in school, then your school was keeping things from you that you now find uncomfortable.

And when I say "you" I'm referring to whoever it applies to. If it doesn't apply to you, then I'm not referring to you.

I just really hope you don't get upset when you learn that Columbus didn't actually discover America.
It IS a "big deal" because murders are up. The US is adjusting to coming out of a Pandemic and those adjustments are hard - like many businesses have gone bankrupt - workers have had time to take a good look at themselves and their not-so-bright future and are reluctant to RETURN to the same low paying, futureless job that they left. In this environment, people are more polarized and upset, and aggressive than usual. That partially explains WHY Critical Race Theory has BECOME enough of a wedge idea that people are willing to argue and fight about!

[jimjamuser]

And our enemies reap the rewards of this chaos.
Exactly! They do.

[Swoop]

Pennsylvania permits no-excuse absentee voting.
It implemented online voter registration system in 2015.
The voter ID law was rejected in 2014, though anyone who shows up at the polling place for the very first time must present an ID. An ID can be a drivers license or passport, or it could even be a current utility bill. It's basically proof of residency, not proof of identification.
Pennsylvania does NOT require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
All PA voters can cast absentee votes, up to 50 days prior to any special, primary, or general election. They can also request to be provided absentee ballots permanently, for each election.
PA also allows early voting.

So really, there's nothing in your post that is correct. I've never lived in Pennsylvania, and I was able to look up this state laws without any effort at all. One would think that someone making a claim about the state they are actually from, would know the information better.
There is a huge difference between absentee ballots and early voting! There are no polling locations you can go to before Election Day! You can go to your local courthouse and request an absentee ballot, I did that if I wasn’t going to be in the state on Election Day, but there were never any polling locations available to vote early. Sorry to burst your robust Google search results…

[Byte1]

There ARE reasons why CRT is "suddenly a big deal". Of course, it should NOT be. As you mentioned, it should just normally ease into schools and society as the US moves FORWARD to improve itself by the exorcism of the skeletons left behind in its History. But, we are at a critical time for the US as we are teetering on a knife's edge between Democracy and Dictatorship. This has created a horrendous social TENSION exacerbated by foreign actors (Russia) that have successfully driven wedges between US citizens - Whites vs Black and Browns - agnostics vs Evangelicals - coastal states vs midwestern states - the haves vs the want-to-have - blue collar vs white collar - vaccinated vs unvaccinated.

Disagree with ALL of this post.
Social tension is not the fault of the Russian boogieman. The only wedges between races is politically motivated. There is no tension between agnostics vs Evangelicals, states, haves and have nots and blue collar vs white collar and anywhere else there is no problem between vaccinated vs unvaccinated. This is just local hysteria caused by a certain group of ------- you know.
You can answer by being truthful as to which bunch want to rename everything that is not PC. Who keeps attempting to stir up minorities by reminding them of the past and neglect to mention all the good things that have transpired in the past century. Who keeps telling us that the wealthy are evil and should "share" their wealth? Who is it that disparages Christians consistently? Etc, etc........
And once again, a certain poster attempts to make this subject political so it will be closed.

[mikemalloy]

When I hear about children in our schools being made to say that they are an oppressor if they are white and that they are a victim if they are of color, I think about Germany of the 1930's where the propaganda of the time was that Jews were the oppressors and that non Jews were the victims. Eventually the oppressors were removed for extinction and the victims stood silent.
For years we've been told that stereotyping individuals is wrong as is racial profiling. Yet the same people who were preaching that are now the ones claiming systemic racism and White Privilege.
I'm sorry but I can't accept that tens of thousands of white men were slaughtered at places like Shiloh, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, fighting to end slavery, because they lived in a country that was systemically racist.

[Byte1]

It IS a "big deal" because murders are up. The US is adjusting to coming out of a Pandemic and those adjustments are hard - like many businesses have gone bankrupt - workers have had time to take a good look at themselves and their not-so-bright future and are reluctant to RETURN to the same low paying, futureless job that they left. In this environment, people are more polarized and upset, and aggressive than usual. That partially explains WHY Critical Race Theory has BECOME enough of a wedge idea that people are willing to argue and fight about!

CRT is a big nothingburger, pushed by disgruntled and miserable white liberals.

[jimjamuser]

I also feel that the topic is not appropriate for elementary school children. A basic understanding of "why being different is OKAY" is important for them. But once it gets into socio-political studies, it needs to be learned in the higher grades. 11th and 12th grade perhaps.

But it absolutely does need to be presented as a subject to High Schoolers, because SOMEONE has to take an interest in it in college. Politics is a social science. Do we want our country to be led by an idiot who never learned anything about how our country came to exist? Or do we want our country to be led by someone who at the very least - read something about in a Senior Social Studies class?

Personally I'd rather my elected officials be as educated as possible on every subject that affects the citizenry. Telling them they're not ALLOWED to learn certain aspects of history is just shooting ourselves in the foot.

They could even say "hey there's this thing called CRT. Here's what THESE people think about it. Here's what THOSE people think about it. Here's a list of things that define what it IS. Now you can make your own decisions about it because you have learned."

That's really the least that should be expected, and accepted. Knowledge is power. If you want to take power away from people, then take away their knowledge.
Yes! A FREE PEOPLE should NEVER be afraid of the TRUTH! The fact that some states are afraid shows me that the US is drifting down a heavy current in a river of Propaganda. We live in unstable times, unfortunately. ALL the old hidden problems and skeletons have emerged AFTER a period of CHAOS has highlighted them. It will NOW be hard to put those skeletons BACK in their box.

[Byte1]

Yes! A FREE PEOPLE should NEVER be afraid of the TRUTH! The fact that some states are afraid shows me that the US is drifting down a heavy current in a river of Propaganda. We live in unstable times, unfortunately. ALL the old hidden problems and skeletons have emerged AFTER a period of CHAOS has highlighted them. It will NOW be hard to put those skeletons BACK in their box.

Truth? According to? I guess I just see all the good that has happened in this country in my lifetime instead of dwelling on all the negative that may have occurred before I was born, and on the negative fears that might happen in the future. I certainly do agree with one part, "propaganda" and that is exactly what this is all about. CRT is a propaganda tool, not worthy of our education system.

[Topspinmo]

First, because you brought it up. I am an Independent, after not only being registered in the party you seem to espouse for over 60 years, but being a paid employee. I changed, but not to what you refer.

Second, CRT is something BOTH groups wanted. It is not, in any way a subject to be taught. The changes that are being made and solicited are now a party movement to erase history as it happened. Really you should read the law. Full of platitudes, nothing of substance and was only even brought up to have it worked out as a party issue, adding a few words like Marxism to really generate those who are not really concerned with the country, but the party.

So, you have completely and totally flipped the truth.

Erasing history to serve a party is a very scary thing to endorse.

After 40 years of no problem in the schools, you now suggest that you want every party change in legislature to generate a new history. That CRT was done to keep this from happening.

But, again....you don't care and that is your right

You’re truth

[Topspinmo]

None of what you said has been proven, 60 some court cases, and only 1 agreed with any of your assumptions. And hundreds of millions donated to prove the election fraud, and 6 months in and no proof yet forth coming. Keep donating, keep searching, I hope for your sake you actually find some proof. Otherwise, it will be a sad waste of time and a serious detriment to democracy.


Nothing was proven either cause it was never heard.

[Taltarzac725]

I had Native America studies at Earl Wooster HS (Reno, Nevada) in 1975-1976 or thereabouts. We went over a lot of battles in which the Native Americans won and we had three or four field trips to movies that featured the point-of-view of various Native American tribes like Little Big Man, A Man Called Horse and some others. Our teacher did favor the Native Americans but then again many of the kids in the class were Paiutes. This one too probably as it is about a Paiute-- Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Them_Willie_Boy_Is_Here)

Recall that this teacher was not a favorite of many of the parents but many of his students liked him. I had him Junior year as I skipped my Senior year by taking correspondence courses offered by another Reno, Nevada area high school. And went onto the University of Reno, Nevada and took history classes and had one African-American history professor who did teach kind of a Marxist approach to history but that is very different from Critical Race Theory.

[Bucco]

Nothing was proven either cause it was never heard.

Gee.....hate to be personal, but even you must know that you must have a reason for a lawsuit....that is how the courts work.......

NO REASON....it gets tossed and NO reason was ever given. All dismissed with prejudice

"When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds."

Dismissal with Prejudice | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/dismissal_with_prejudice)

[Bucco]

Truth? According to? I guess I just see all the good that has happened in this country in my lifetime instead of dwelling on all the negative that may have occurred before I was born, and on the negative fears that might happen in the future. I certainly do agree with one part, "propaganda" and that is exactly what this is all about. CRT is a propaganda tool, not worthy of our education system.

Is that how your children were educated ? Is that how you want your grandchildren educated ?

NO FACTS allowed unless elected officials decide it is ok to teach.

Right

[Bucco]

Truth? According to? I guess I just see all the good that has happened in this country in my lifetime instead of dwelling on all the negative that may have occurred before I was born, and on the negative fears that might happen in the future. I certainly do agree with one part, "propaganda" and that is exactly what this is all about. CRT is a propaganda tool, not worthy of our education system.

Simple question....define CRT !

You always refer to it as something that is taught, and its not, but you obviously dont even know what this is all about.

[joelfmi]

Critical Race Theory…

*believes racism is present in every aspect of life, every relationship, and every interaction and therefore has its advocates look for it everywhere
*relies upon “interest convergence” (white people only give black people opportunities and freedoms when it is also in their own interests) and therefore doesn’t trust any attempt to make racism better
*is against free societies and wants to dismantle them and replace them with something its advocates control
^only treats race issues as “socially constructed groups,” so there are no individuals in Critical Race Theory
^believes science, reason, and evidence are a “white” way of knowing and that storytelling and lived experience are a “black” alternative, which hurts everyone, especially black people
^rejects all potential alternatives, like colorblindness, as forms of racism, making itself the only allowable game in town (which is totalitarian)
^acts like anyone who disagrees with it must do so for racist and white supremacist reasons, even if those people are black (which is also totalitarian)
^cannot be satisfied, so it becomes a kind of activist black hole that threatens to destroy everything it is introduced into

[jimjamuser]

No I'm saying I remember learning about systemic racism in the 70's, however I don't remember that we were taught that particular phrase. We learned the subject. It isn't a new subject. It's an important subject to learn. I just don't recall that we called it "systemic racism" and I don't recall that our lessons in school were called "critical race theory."

Sort of like if you learn all about the color blue, but they never mention to you that this color is called blue. You still know all about the color. Just not its official name.

That's all I meant by that.

The point of my post was that these lessons aren't new, and that I'm confused as to why all of a sudden people are against it. Are they also against teaching that the south lost the Civil War? Are they against learning that George Washington was our first president? Are they against learning that blue is a primary color?

I mean - this stuff shouldn't be shocking to anyone. I do have to say that learning about the Tulsa massacre only in the past year or so was sad to me. I should have learned about that in the 1970's too when we were learning about race relations (I believe that was the term we used, as a catch-phrase for the overall topic). It's possible that we were taught about Tulsa and that I merely forgot about it. Our country has been through trauma every which way since its inception. We have been victimized, and we have victimized others. We have had horrific crimes committed against us, and we have committed horrific crimes against others.

How can we learn from our mistakes, if we are ordered not to learn what we did wrong? We MUST know what we've done that was horrible and traumatizing and cruel and unjust, if we are ever to evolve as a society. Those who cannot learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
40% of America does NOT want to "evolve". They want it to STAY the same with THEMSELVES in POWER. NEW ideas like CRT threaten their POWER so they pass laws against it. "Make the world stay the SAME because I am comfortable with it with ME on TOP".

[jimhurtt@twc.com]

Please tell me how voting is being suppressed today. Every citizen of the United States can vote.

[miharris]

THE truth.

- The truth of the our early economy being based on free slave labor.
- The truth of segregation, with inferior or non-existent amenities for blacks.
- The truth of the Tulsa race riots.
- The truth of systemic racism that has existed in government and private enterprise.
- The truth of the rise of white supremacism and our own intelligence agencies saying that the biggest internal threat is white extremist groups.
- Etc., etc., etc.
- The truth that privileged whites are doing everything possible to ensure our children don't hear of any of this.

THOSE kind of truths.

Now it's time to hear from those who say slaves actually had it pretty good, who would also refuse to truthfully answer whether they would prefer to be enslaved and have 3 meals - or to be free and struggling.


- Our early economy was not based on "free slave labor" Slave labor was used almost exclusively in the south for cash crops - primarily cotton and tobacco. In terms of the overall economy of the US, the south was miniscule compared to the industrialized northern states. In fact, the cause of the civil war was not primarily slavery, it was the fact that the south was being increasingly marginalized by the northern states, who favored high import and export tariffs, which kept agricultural prices low (fewer export markets) and the price of manufactured goods high (difficult to import from other industrialized countries). There is no question that slavery was and is abhorrent, but it is true that it existed for thousands of years in hundreds of cultures.


- Segregation was in fact true, and an unfortunate part of US history, but our current system provides abundant opportunities for people of color in education and employment. In fact, the most successful 'race' in the US currently is Asian, not white.

- The Tulsa race riots were a travesty, true, but they happened in 1921 for gods sake. Are you seriously implying that the country where that happened is the same country that elected a Black man president? Twice??

My biggest issue is that the current extreme left wing movement, including things like CRT, is to the push to equality of outcome, as oppose to equality of opportunity. That is not what made this county the envy of the world. And before you object to that phrase, tell me why our boarder is being over-run by people from central and south America? Why aren't they flocking to Venezuela? Mexico? Brazil? North Korea?

[jimhurtt@twc.com]

Oh, so there should be a polling place on every block in every city? Or every 1/4 mile in the country?

[Byte1]

- Our early economy was not based on "free slave labor" Slave labor was used almost exclusively in the south for cash crops - primarily cotton and tobacco. In terms of the overall economy of the US, the south was miniscule compared to the industrialized northern states. In fact, the cause of the civil war was not primarily slavery, it was the fact that the south was being increasingly marginalized by the northern states, who favored high import and export tariffs, which kept agricultural prices low (fewer export markets) and the price of manufactured goods high (difficult to import from other industrialized countries). There is no question that slavery was and is abhorrent, but it is true that it existed for thousands of years in hundreds of cultures.


- Segregation was in fact true, and an unfortunate part of US history, but our current system provides abundant opportunities for people of color in education and employment. In fact, the most successful 'race' in the US currently is Asian, not white.

- The Tulsa race riots were a travesty, true, but they happened in 1921 for gods sake. Are you seriously implying that the country where that happened is the same country that elected a Black man president? Twice??

My biggest issue is that the current extreme left wing movement, including things like CRT, is to the push to equality of outcome, as oppose to equality of opportunity. That is not what made this county the envy of the world. And before you object to that phrase, tell me why our boarder is being over-run by people from central and south America? Why aren't they flocking to Venezuela? Mexico? Brazil? North Korea?

Excellent response! I don't know whether to say "drop the mic", "case closed" or :boom:

[Byte1]

Anyone prepared to be introspective will see that hiding our history is not a good idea. I am a ‘Brit’ and the first to admit the building of the biggest empire in History was not carried out without a lot of evil actions on our behalf and suffering for many in the British Empire. Knowing this and understanding the suffering of those who were ‘conquered’ is vitally important to becoming an active and sympathetic member of society today.

We don't hide our history. CRT is NOT history.

[Byte1]

Our public schools teach Black history, along with U.S. History. History is supposed to be fact based on a timeline, not theory. I have yet to read or see anything positive about CRT and it does not belong in a fact based history lesson(s) given to our children. I have no qualms on slavery, equal rights amendments or other fact based historical moments being taught our children, but I do object to our children being taught a "theory" of how racist ALL whites are (white privilege and white supremacy). I also object to Black children being taught that they are inferior and that they are victims today. And before anyone pipes in with how blacks are being killed by the cops, let me remind you that there are two white victims of police shootings to every black shot by law enforcement. The only way that is racist is if those whites were killed by black cops, and we know that is not true.

[jimjamuser]

I’m curious, how do you feel black voters are “suppressed” today?
Blacks and Browns are suppressed by gerrymandering for one thing. And by the NEW laws passed by Arizona, Utah, Georgia, and Florida. We ALL remember voting lines in Atlanta stretching back for four blocks. That's Suppression with a capital S.

[Aloha1]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.
"Critical Theory" emanated from German Marxists who based it on class. When the idea migrated to the US it was transformed into a theory based on "race", which has no basis in science. It has been adopted by "progressive" socialists and marxists in this country as a way to "transform" this country, ie; to gain power. It is divisive, damaging to our children since it teaches that minorities have no chance in life because they are "oppressed", and worst of all, teaches people to fear each other on the basis of their melanin. It does not teach history nor does provide a historically accurate account of this country. I applaud Florida for stopping this insidious fifth column from getting a foothold in our education system.

[jimjamuser]

Surprised this thread has been allowed this long. Sadly, there is no question our country is perhaps more divided than since the civil war.

My view a major problem is what we allow. The teacher's union as a group is far left.
Any opposing view will be snuffed out. Charter schools has been proposed. We have one in the Villages and it is one of the top schools. For some a solution. My view I try to see pluses and minuses of every issue. Charter schools would mean that the best students would leave the public school system. The public school system would be left with the worst student population.

Our constitution is a miracle. Imagine written by humans, no internet, no cell phones, heck a pen was a sharpened feather. Law is being tied into knots. Freedom of speech,
right to gather, no state religion all in the First Amendment. Many on both sides of the divide need to read it. It does not say freedom to agree with me, right to gather only if you agree with me, or the right to have a faith so long as it is mine.
You WANT to eliminate teacher's unions, do you? They are about the ONLY unions LEFT in the US. Germany has unions and is STRONGER for it. Right-to-work laws? What has that delivered to the US. Manufacturing is now all outsourced to Mexico and China. Good job .......right-to-work advocates. Elimination of unions is one BIG factor in the US NOW having the world's biggest WEALTH DISPARITY. Stay proud you Union HATERS!

[jimjamuser]

Divide and conquer. That's the goal.

We are not responsible for the acts of those who were here before us.
When someone's parents die, they are not responsible to pay their debts.

Slavery was acceptable in the past around most of the world.

The only reason people decided that slavery wasn't needed was because of the industrial revolution.

Slavery still exists in other countries.....China for example. So if anything you have has a label that says "Made in China", then it is quite possible that by your actions, you are approving and causing the continuance of slavery there.

So if some of us would get off our "high horse", and some of us would quit whining about how bad we have it because of our color, and all of us put on our "big boy shoes" and accept that all have made mistakes in the past, we wouldn't have a problem.
"because of our color" ?????????????????

[Swoop]

Blacks and Browns are suppressed by gerrymandering for one thing. And by the NEW laws passed by Arizona, Utah, Georgia, and Florida. We ALL remember voting lines in Atlanta stretching back for four blocks. That's Suppression with a capital S.
Please… Gerrymandering? If a voting district can be redrawn to suppress the black vote where on party has power, the other party can redraw voting districts to enhance the black vote and suppress the white vote where it has the power. It’s not a one way street…
And there were long lines in this election all across the country. Picking a single area with a high black population and pointing out long lines is absolutely meaningless…

[Aloha1]

IMO, our schools have set aside very little time for teaching the basics that these children need in everyday life, let alone have enough time for teaching liberal "theory" of casting blame on our past. Let's not mix up actual history with Social Studies or Civics. Even as old as we are, most of us were taught about the slavery and the Civil war. In Civics class we were taught about equal rights.
That said, this is not about teaching, it's about indoctrination. CRT is not about teaching history, but teaching these kids about what some believe is "systemic racism" which is not even accurate. It is teaching these children that if they are "white" then they come from a history of "white supremacists." It is teaching Equity instead of Equality. This is ALL wrong. Anyone believing the garbage that CRT is a good thing for children, must not have children or had children themselves. I am not suggesting that there is no longer racism in our country, but I am suggesting that we have come a very long way and now some folks are using politics AND racism to further an Anti-American ideology. Americans are good people. We have been the standard for ALL other countries. No one is suggesting that America never had it's blemishes or that Americans walk on water. BUT, we are the of the best in the world and anyone that refutes that has never lived and traveled outside of our country to see proof.
CRT is very dangerous to our children. Not what it is being said it is, but what it really is. A black child should not be told that it is a victim of today's white supremacy and can never expect to do better on their own. They should not be taught that this country owes them a debt, but an equal chance based on ability. A white child should not be told that they will always owe someone else a debt because history says they are always going to be racists because their ancestors were racists.
Teach history by time line and leave ideology and theory to higher institutions.
Anyone that is taught about the CIVIL war and events leading up to it, knows that there was a slavery problem. Want to talk about equal rights, then bring Civics back into the classroom and teach it along with other countries' constitutions. But also teach the kids about how our gov is run.
CRT is political, not science. If you can't see that, then it's too late for you because you have already been indoctrinated by a warped liberal/marxist agenda. Next thing you will be teaching the kids is that communism is the American way.
Well said.

[jimjamuser]

An awful lot of posters evidently never even heard about CRT until it was made a target of a certain faction. It is a selected agenda item for 2022, and is being wrapped in such different wrappings that are not real.

It has been around for 40 years....not new, and it appears from some of the comments on here, the hard right extremists have made it into something it's not, nor never been.

It is no wonder that almost all the top threats to our country are labeled as coming from the same direction.

To attack teachers, and suggest subject matter should be in the control of elected officials is inexcusable, offensive and with zero credibility. To utter a word like Marxism in the same breath shows the impact of certain cable networks, and social media.

Teach the truth about history. Not teaching feelings, but facts that did happen. What civilization restricts accounts of their history to its young people ?

But begin by studying what CRT means, academically, not defined by elected officials, stop attacking something you obviously don't understand
What's new is that Russian propagandists found that it touched a nerve NOW with US people because our society is starting to FRAY. And they and their US multipliers (useful idiots in Russia-speak) jump on EVERY weakness.

[jimjamuser]

Sadly, hate is a powerful yet mindless emotion. Far to many parrot what they are fed.

As far as suppressed vote. The effort to vote is minimal. Nothing is can or will be perfect
and yet we spin reality to support what we want.

The reality, is shockingly interesting. I am very much against reality suppression and am regularly shocked to discover the difference between what people scream and reality.
We tend to divide our people into groups. Sadly no other way to speak but not all Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Orientals, I do not mean to not list all but I hope it makes the point, think or vote the same. To my surprise blacks have among the highest percentage of voters compared to the other groups.
They vote the most because they have the most to lose! Have your grandfathers ever been lynched?

[Taltarzac725]

"Critical Theory" emanated from German Marxists who based it on class. When the idea migrated to the US it was transformed into a theory based on "race", which has no basis in science. It has been adopted by "progressive" socialists and marxists in this country as a way to "transform" this country, ie; to gain power. It is divisive, damaging to our children since it teaches that minorities have no chance in life because they are "oppressed", and worst of all, teaches people to fear each other on the basis of their melanin. It does not teach history nor does provide a historically accurate account of this country. I applaud Florida for stopping this insidious fifth column from getting a foothold in our education system.

This is as described by the far right. Google Critical Race Theory for more objective descriptions. The people who created Critical Race Theory are not Marxists as far as I can tell.

[Aloha1]

No, it is designed to encourage honest discussions about American histrory.
Honest discussions?/ Based on falsehoods?? Please read up on this. There is a reason why so many parents of school age children across our Nation are protesting this.

[Taltarzac725]

Honest discussions?/ Based on falsehoods?? Please read up on this. There is a reason why so many parents of school age children across our Nation are protesting this.

Like who? Sounds like this is all about votes and not about what actually goes on in schools. It should be left up to the school districts and not the politicians.

[New Englander]

it is forbidden from being taught in public schools in florida.

good!

[Aloha1]

You ask if the black vote is being suppressed today?

Take a look at the restrictions in the Georgia law .... they closed two out of three polling places in the black areas of the inner city. Duh. "Restrict" is a word with a meaning. Closing polling stations is a "restriction". Pretty simple.

Source please. We'll wait.

[Taltarzac725]

With respect, CNN is hardly an unbiased source on this matter. Furthermore Critical Theory started in Germany based on class, by Marxists. You're good at research. look it up.

Critical Theory is not Critical Race Theory.

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

[Aloha1]

You took my quote out of context. The post I was referring to, and my post were talking about history and the study of documents to try to determine what happened centuries ago. I was referring to a person who denigrated the study of history and lumped it together with CRT.

I did NOT say or mean that CRT is a science.

I agree with you, that knowing the past doesn't encourage one to repeat it, in fact, I believe that studying the past - history - truth (as close as we can determine) will help us not repeat the past mistakes and atrocities.

A theory is a tool used by science that by definition accepts that it may not be perfect or "truth". However, a theory is useful because it makes predictions and explanations of phenomena. The better the theory the more accurate the predictions or conclusions. It is used by science but is not necessarily true or facts. Very little in science is actually truth or facts, most of science is theory. (some like believe it is all theory.)

For example, our use of electricity is based on a theory, and it is useful in our daily lives. But there is little doubt that it is just a theory and actually not how electricity actually works.

No, it is a theory BUT it is a PROVEN theory and therefore reality and not a hypothesis.

[GrumpyOldMan]

No, it is a theory BUT it is a PROVEN theory and therefore reality and not a hypothesis.

You obviously do not know what the word theory means.

A theory is just an idea that makes useful predictions, It is NOT the truth, it does not represent reality. When referred to as a "proven theory" it means it makes predictions that are mostly accurate. It is still a theory, unlike facts that can be proven to be true.

There are very few facts known.

[jimjamuser]

How do you figure that the rich pay less taxes? Any taxes paid is more than half the country is paying and that is a fact. To be fair, we would either have to initiate a flat tax where EVERYONE (including the low earners) pays a percentage of earnings, OR we would have to have a federal sales tax. Then I wonder how some would feel about the rich paying sales taxes. A person wishing to save their money would not purchase. A rich person not wishing to pay taxes on a Rolls would purchase a Ford.
Time to quit making excuses and face reality. The rich are paying for the running of this country and should not be penalized to the point of leaving it. The rich are patriots. Yep, I said it because I am not biased against those that are my betters in wealth. It is the rich that employ. The gov cannot spend it's own money because it makes no money. It is the rich that pay the most taxes that finance the gov employees. If you want equity, then EVERYONE should pay the same. Is that what you really want?
The rich pay less taxes through the mechanism of Capital Gains. The rate is LOWER than rates on income!

[Aloha1]

:bigbow:Well written - EVERYONE should read this and LEARN!!!! Why did so many people die for this beautiful country with all of its faults? Were they "suckers" or were they fighting for what is described above - to preserve what we have built - not to have it torn down!!! We trust they did NOT die in vein!!!!! I've lost five members of my family in the last four wars - WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Was it all for nought? Democracy is at best "messy" but its alternative "authoritarianism" [a rule of one] is worse! America resulted from a rebellion against the king [a rule of one] and now it is at risk of slipping back into those destructive chains of authoritarianism. Why? Because of the deep divisions and resultant anger [as so accurately described above] being played upon by political malfeasance.

The definitions of "equality" and "equity" are twisted around to define the moment which can result in a hazardous, slippery slope as defined in another response above - annihilation of capitalism is an extreme as is Marxism resulting in the eradication of the rule of law replaced by temporary "people power" which is self destructive and, in the long run, ends in authoritaranism such as exists in Russia. China's evolution of family dynasties till they were overthrown in the guise of "people power" again resulted in authoritarianism as we witness today.

Are we next? Are we going to tear each other apart until the rule of law is no longer? That gangsters - in the guise of preserving our country - will run rampant, as did the brown shirts before Hitler took control, suppressing and killing all those deemed in opposition to the new rule? Or ruler?

I for one, hope not! I pray that my, and everyone else's, ancestors did not die in vein defending this democracy. I pray that we ALL wake up in America, put down our frenzied differences, stop yelling at each other and LISTEN! There's the good, the bad and the ugly on all sides that need to be addressed so that we and democracy [no matter how messy] can survive!

:bigbow:

[GrumpyOldMan]

No, it is a theory BUT it is a PROVEN theory and therefore reality and not a hypothesis.

Oh, and a hypothesis is an idea that has not been shown to make useful predictions, as a theory. And the idea that a theory makes useful predictions, does not mean it is always right. In fact, theories are often wrong more than they are right. Newton's theory of gravity is wrong. It has been prov en to be wrong, but it works sometimes, and so is useful when it is "good enough"

[SkBlogW]

The rich pay less taxes through the mechanism of Capital Gains. The rate is LOWER than rates on income!

Of course not, they don't use H&R Block to produce their returns. :a040:

[Aloha1]

Well said..teach the truth and do not allow elected officials to run the curriculum

Uh, that runs counter to your previous posts. The poster you quoted is AGAINST the divisiveness of CRT. Re read the comment. Or have you had a change of heart?

[manaboutown]

The rich pay less taxes through the mechanism of Capital Gains. The rate is LOWER than rates on income!

So do the poor and everyone in between. A capital gain which can be due in part or in whole to inflation, for example, is a very, very different animal than earned income. It is based on any gain from the sale of an asset. In some countries NO tax is paid on capital gains. I think in the UK capital gains are taxed at 10%, much lower than in the US.

Last I heard in the USA 47% pay NO income taxes because they do not earn enough!!! That is almost half of us.

[jimjamuser]

Teacher gets paid to teach state approved curriculum, they don’t get to teach off the cuff. It they can’t teach what state has approved, then they need to find another job. They don’t get to change history or state approved curriculum.
Robots are NOT quite yet teaching school.

[golfing eagles]

The rich pay less taxes through the mechanism of Capital Gains. The rate is LOWER than rates on income!

So in your world, someone like Mitt Romney for which we have a pretty good idea of the numbers, has no income other than capital gains and dividends, and pays 5 million/year in taxes in addition to his 3 million in charitable donations is "cheating" the poor little guy who works in a factory and earns 30,000/year because (in theory only) his tax rate is lower. Even though that "little guy" is paying ZERO in income tax, just like 47% of the population.

Were you indoctrinated to socialism in college, signed up for an adult "education" course, or simply dropped on your head as a baby?????

[manaboutown]

Oh, and a hypothesis is an idea that has not been shown to make useful predictions, as a theory. And the idea that a theory makes useful predictions, does not mean it is always right. In fact, theories are often wrong more than they are right. Newton's theory of gravity is wrong. It has been prov en to be wrong, but it works sometimes, and so is useful when it is "good enough"

"Although Newton's theory has been superseded by Albert Einstein's general relativity, most modern non-relativistic gravitational calculations are still made using Newton's theory because it is simpler to work with and it gives sufficiently accurate results for most applications involving sufficiently small masses, ..."

From: Gravity - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity)

[manaboutown]

Robots are NOT quite yet teaching school.

I have experienced teachers who might as well have been robots. They had been conditioned by dogmatic leftist thinking and were not open minded whatsoever.

[jimjamuser]

Well written - EVERYONE should read this and LEARN!!!! Why did so many people die for this beautiful country with all of its faults? Were they "suckers" or were they fighting for what is described above - to preserve what we have built - not to have it torn down!!! We trust they did NOT die in vein!!!!! I've lost five members of my family in the last four wars - WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Was it all for nought? Democracy is at best "messy" but its alternative "authoritarianism" [a rule of one] is worse! America resulted from a rebellion against the king [a rule of one] and now it is at risk of slipping back into those destructive chains of authoritarianism. Why? Because of the deep divisions and resultant anger [as so accurately described above] being played upon by political malfeasance.

The definitions of "equality" and "equity" are twisted around to define the moment which can result in a hazardous, slippery slope as defined in another response above - annihilation of capitalism is an extreme as is Marxism resulting in the eradication of the rule of law replaced by temporary "people power" which is self destructive and, in the long run, ends in authoritaranism such as exists in Russia. China's evolution of family dynasties till they were overthrown in the guise of "people power" again resulted in authoritarianism as we witness today.

Are we next? Are we going to tear each other apart until the rule of law is no longer? That gangsters - in the guise of preserving our country - will run rampant, as did the brown shirts before Hitler took control, suppressing and killing all those deemed in opposition to the new rule? Or ruler?

I for one, hope not! I pray that my, and everyone else's, ancestors did not die in vein defending this democracy. I pray that we ALL wake up in America, put down our frenzied differences, stop yelling at each other and LISTEN! There's the good, the bad and the ugly on all sides that need to be addressed so that we and democracy [no matter how messy] can survive!
We ARE on a knife's edge between Democracy and Dictatorship. Very WELL put! Kudos!

[Aloha1]

This is as described by the far right. Google Critical Race Theory for more objective descriptions. The people who created Critical Race Theory are not Marxists as far as I can tell.

Critical Theory emerged out of the Marxist tradition and was developed by a group of sociologists at the University of Frankfurt in Germany who referred to themselves as The Frankfurt School. Critical theory as it is known today can be traced to Marx's critiques of the economy and society. It is inspired greatly by Marx's theoretical formulation of the relationship between economic base and ideological superstructure and focuses on how power and domination operate.

Instead of focusing on class, in the US, it has focused on race as the best way to achieve Marxist objectives.

[Aloha1]

///

[Aloha1]

So your interpretation of "awful lot" is NO ONE.

Reading comprehension is not your strong suit?

Not sure who you're replying to but I never said "awful lot" in my response to Bucco.

[Aloha1]

You obviously do not know what the word theory means.

A theory is just an idea that makes useful predictions, It is NOT the truth, it does not represent reality. When referred to as a "proven theory" it means it makes predictions that are mostly accurate. It is still a theory, unlike facts that can be proven to be true.

There are very few facts known.

So, you are saying nothing is proven and no one can know the facts? Sounds like faith to me. But the dictionary says this:

Theory definition: A coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:

The key here is "commonly". CRT is certainly not commonly accepted.

[dustyaljac]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.
A whole variance of replys on this subject. As I have read, this "Idea" has taken on multiple concepts in its application. More often than not it clearly has been a tool to Divide. Be it Classes, Ideologies, Races, etc. Most result in oppression, destruction and replacement of Social or Governace systems with a preferred Eleatist, Power Autoritarian Ruling Body or a Popular Movements.

As it seems to be being used here in America it takes on a multi step approach to bring about the changes today's Popular Movements wants 1. Make Europeans who came to this country out to be evil. 2. Make them feel ashamed by bashing their bad, Evil history. Ignor anything good regardless of national origins that contributed. As one respondent assured us of our "Evils". 3. Make it all about onesided Racism. In this case, Be ashamed to have a light Skin (Your Badge of Evil). Be less White, be sympathetic to what you have done to People of Color and ignor anything that might appear to be racist from people of color, it is not, they earned that right from what Your People did to them 4.. Best place to Assure your Agenda works is plant and fertilize its growth is through young children's minds. Making Skin Color more important than personal accomplishment, morals and character. How quickly they have chosen to put away the long hard bloody road that has be struggle, not yet reaching that celebrates All Humanity are truly Brothers and Sisters.

Sadit of all, is the Wedge has stared, moving fast, truths ignored by The Eleatist Power Structures Slipped into place in Media, Money and Politics.

[stanley]

4.. Best place to Assure your Agenda works is plant and fertilize its growth is through young children's minds. Making Skin Color more important than personal accomplishment, morals and character.

Bingo!

[jimjamuser]

Please tell me how voting is being suppressed today. Every citizen of the United States can vote.
Please.......that is answered on TV news shows almost EVERY NIGHT for the last 4 years. The "old school", normal TV channels.

[Cview]

Just curious, what would you folks feel appropriate to teach in the schools. Should school children know that segregation was the law in the south? Should Jim Crow laws be understood?? I never learned that the south enforced apartheid in the South till Johnson got Civil rights passed. How are students to understand this if they are never taught. Are we supposed to be proud of that???

[stanley]

Just curious, what would you folks feel appropriate to teach in the schools. Should school children know that segregation was the law in the south? Should Jim Crow laws be understood?? I never learned that the south enforced apartheid in the South till Johnson got Civil rights passed. How are students to understand this if they are never taught. Are we supposed to be proud of that???

The kids are being taught, taught facts and not "theory"

[newgirl]

Worded perfectly..my question is why anyone would want to continue teaching kids all lies? So beyond sad , yet they wonder what all the uproar is about.
Only those that believe they are superior would ever agree with these people who agree with keeping racism alive and deadly.

[jimjamuser]

Honest discussions?/ Based on falsehoods?? Please read up on this. There is a reason why so many parents of school age children across our Nation are protesting this.
And that reason is that the US is in an era of "crazy times chaos" from which it may or may NOT recover!

[stanley]

And that reason is that the US is in an era of "crazy times chaos" from which it may or may NOT recover!

This I don't understand and this needs a tad bit more clarification

[GrumpyOldMan]

So, you are saying nothing is proven and no one can know the facts? Sounds like faith to me. But the dictionary says this:

Theory definition: A coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena:

The key here is "commonly". CRT is certainly not commonly accepted.

Really, and you have something to back up that it is not commonly? You mean on the media sites you visit, you mean in your social circle?

[stanley]

You mean on the media sites you visit, you mean in your social circle?

The same can be said for the "other" way of thinking

[jimjamuser]

This I don't understand and this needs a tad bit more clarification
You need to pull up the post that I was replying to.

[stanley]

You need to pull up the post that I was replying to.

I did, still needs clarification

[jimjamuser]

:boxing2: :a040: :MOJE_whot:
Think about it. It is a metaphor.

[stanley]

Think about it. It is a metaphor.


:coolsmiley:

[Bucco]

And that reason is that the US is in an era of "crazy times chaos" from which it may or may NOT recover!

With current news unfolding and each day more revelations coming out of buried actions, I can see not able to recover, as the most likely.

[stanley]

With current news unfolding and each day more revelations coming out of buried actions, I can see not able to recover, as the most likely.

Without a doubt.....................

[Aloha1]

And that reason is that the US is in an era of "crazy times chaos" from which it may or may NOT recover!

Caused by what?

[Aloha1]

Really, and you have something to back up that it is not commonly? You mean on the media sites you visit, you mean in your social circle?

You mean the research I do? I can't fix your world view nor would I try to do that. It's just sad to see people who won't take the time to actually look at what's happening in our country today. They will be the first to go "What happened to the United States?"

[lkagele]

And if those "truckloads" of votes are legitimate votes of legal voters? You seem to be saying sucks to be them, their votes should not be counted, because of some law. Refusing to count American Citizens votes sure sounds like voter suppression to me.

If those truckloads were from non-citizens (no proof) or covered in Chinese bamboo fibers (no proof) or dead people (no to very little proof) or people voting in multiple elections (no proof). Hmm, there seems to be a trend here. All the things claimed to be done and that laws need to be passed to prevent, and there is NO proof after hundreds of millions of dollars were donated to investigate them.

Give us a break. Of course there are laws/rules/regulations governing the voting process and rightfully so. Without them the voting process would be chaos. Think about it in this way. EVERY state has statute of limitations outlining the time frame in which to file a lawsuit. Is that suppression too? What would you say if 500,000 votes came in tomorrow for Trump in one of the swing states? Just like the rest of us, you would say it's too late. It would have nothing to do with voter suppression.

The rules governing peoples' right to vote are actually quite simple. Frankly, if someone can't figure out the voting rules then maybe they shouldn't be voting. The right to vote is a sacred duty. Proper rules have to be in place so the public has little to no cause to suspect voter fraud.

[Cindyd]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.


Unfortunately, slavery has gone on since the beginning of time. Read Bible, Torah & Quaran.

Today, due to policies at the border or lack of, we have created a system of indentured servants, which is ignored.

Have you looked at actual CRT materials, or investigated the marzists founders of CRT? If not, please do.

How are voters suppressed today? Answer carefully, as even the NYT gave Pres Biden 4 pinnochios on this claim

[nick demis]

A Lesson on Critical Race Theory (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/)

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.

The problem is the radicalism of many, if not most, educators. This has been a growing problem since the late 60's.

[SkBlogW]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 View Post
A Lesson on Critical Race Theory

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.



89833

[stadry]

wfy ?as educators originally created this trash

[stadry]

Black Mom Torches Critical Race Theory: It’s ‘Racist,’ It’s ‘Teaching Hate,’ Will Destroy America | The Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-mom-torches-critical-race-theory-its-racist-its-teaching-hate-will-destroy-america?utm_campaign=dw_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=housefile&utm_content=member)

[Byte1]

Blacks and Browns are suppressed by gerrymandering for one thing. And by the NEW laws passed by Arizona, Utah, Georgia, and Florida. We ALL remember voting lines in Atlanta stretching back for four blocks. That's Suppression with a capital S.

So, ONLY blacks and browns are affected by "gerrymandering?" And only blacks and browns stand in long lines to vote? Are you suggesting that blacks and browns are too ignorant to use early voting? Sounds a bit racist to me.

[drducat]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725 View Post
A Lesson on Critical Race Theory

Looks very complicated. Teachers should be able to decide which students could handle this. Beltway bigwigs should not determine it. Leave it to the educators.



89833

Our Governor says it best.

Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools.

https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1402983754134704129?s=20

[Irishmen]

From what I've read, critical race theory is really two ideas.

The first is that the very idea of race is not based on biology or science of any kind. There's nothing about the physiology of humans that neatly divides humanity into categories like "white", "black", "Asian", etc. The attempts to divide people into these categories were done societally, not scientifically.

The second idea is that American history shows us that governments put in place in the Americas by European settlers were and continue to be racist in nature. To steal land away from the indigenous people, governments put into place laws that made those peoples have fewer or any rights and encouraged the suppression of those peoples. Prior to the industrial revolution, manual labor was vital and slave labor was cheaper than paid labor, so laws were put into place to allow kidnapping, torturing and enslaving peoples from other countries, especially Africa. Laws were put into place over time to exclude Asians. During World War II, people of Japanese heritage were robbed of their properties and imprisoned while people of German heritage were not. Even after the emancipation of enslaved people in America, voting rights were suppressed and continue to be so to this day.

Critical race theory doesn't paint an artificially pretty picture of American history or governance. If you read history deeply, however, it is probably a more accurate picture. Does this divide people? Possibly. Some people are averse to learning unpleasant truths. I've always thought that true patriotism wasn't blindly loving ones country, right or wrong but rather wanting the best for and out of ones country, realizing when ones country was wrong or doing wrong and changing it for the better even if that involves discomfort and hard work.

America isn't perfect and never was. It gets better over time, despite occasional backsliding. I hope it continues to get better and better in the future. Pretending we are and have been perfect won't help us get there.

But that's just my opinion.
Funny I bet you have hundreds of products made by child slave labor from countries who say America is racist and has to end. More funny the people in America who still want slaves, who voted against ending slavery, and the voting rights of 1964 are in power today by fraud.

[bobdeb]

Give us a break. Of course there are laws/rules/regulations governing the voting process and rightfully so. Without them the voting process would be chaos. Think about it in this way. EVERY state has statute of limitations outlining the time frame in which to file a lawsuit. Is that suppression too? What would you say if 500,000 votes came in tomorrow for Trump in one of the swing states? Just like the rest of us, you would say it's too late. It would have nothing to do with voter suppression.

The rules governing peoples' right to vote are actually quite simple. Frankly, if someone can't figure out the voting rules then maybe they shouldn't be voting. The right to vote is a sacred duty. Proper rules have to be in place so the public has little to no cause to suspect voter fraud.

Amen to that...

[Gray lady of the sea]

Thank goodness !

[collie1228]

We should all understand the difference between "equality" and "equity" as taught by the hustlers pushing CRT in our schools. It's really a scary concept. They decry evidence and logic-based thinking and rely on anecdotal evidence and "storytelling". Google the "Student Equity Ambassador Program" at Loudon schools in Virginia. White kids need not apply.

[billethkid]

Our Governor says it best.

Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. It Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools.

https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1402983754134704129?s=20

Simply stated!!
Intellectualizing it is akin to sorting fly specs from pepper!!

[Gray lady of the sea]

Thank you ! You are absolutely correct

[Bucco]

Teach our children the truth.

Why push to change history.

As children find that they have been lied to, they will ask WHY.

[Bucco]

A comment from Texas, and while I am oft criticized for giving links, I am sorry...do not have the source..

"Texas banning Critical Race Theory is like Baylor banning pre-marital sex because it might lead to dancing."

[jebartle]

Bottom line, teach our children how the pigment of skin was the basis of our hierarchy, shame on us.

[Taltarzac725]

Bottom line, teach our children how the pigment of skin was the basis of our hierarchy, shame on us.

The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_of_Slavery_in_Western_Culture)

David Brion Davis - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brion_Davis)

Think it had more to do with cotton in the South and cultivating it with cheap labor.

Slaves in ancient times could have had any skin color and come from any country. But it was about cheap labor and control of it. Other things too.

University of Maryland historian Ira Berlin wrote that "no scholar has played a larger role in expanding contemporary understanding of how slavery shaped the history of the United States, the Americas, and the world than David Brion Davis."[11] In a series of landmark books, articles, and lectures, Davis moved beyond a view of slavery that focuses on the institution in individual nations to look at the "big picture", the multinational view of the origins, development, and abolition of New World slavery.[12] The most important of his books is his trilogy on the history of slavery in the Western world, which revealed the centrality of slavery in American and Atlantic history. The trilogy consisted of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (1966), The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770–1823 (1975), and The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation, (2014).[13] He was committed to a conception of culture as process—a process involving conflict, resistance, invention, accommodation, appropriation, and, above all, power, including the power of ideas. Culture, in his view, involves a cacophony of voices but also social relations that involve hierarchy, exploitation, and resistance.[14]

[bobdeb]

I'm wary of the public school system in general. Yes, there are so many talented and giving and unselfish teachers everywhere. I applaud them openly.

But, then again, so many public systems, in my experience, are disingenuous in their teachings. There are so many subtle nuances in their teachings.

I support public schools in three different counties so I feel entitled to my 'opinion'. I know teachers all through New England. I read their bumper stickers. I see their posts in local message boards. They have strong opinions. And they all seem to be in unison.

Please, spare me the enlightened theme.

I support public schools, private schools and charter schools.

[Taltarzac725]

I'm wary of the public school system in general. Yes, there are so many talented and giving and unselfish teachers everywhere. I applaud them openly.

But, then again, so many public systems, in my experience, are disingenuous in their teachings. There are so many subtle nuances in their teachings.

I support public schools in three different counties so I feel entitled to my 'opinion'. I know teachers all through New England. I read their bumper stickers. I see their posts in local message boards. They have strong opinions. And they all seem to be in unison.

Please, spare me the enlightened theme.

I support public schools, private schools and charter schools.

Many of their parents in New England would have the very same strong opinions.

[saratogaman]

Curious why this is being pushed in our schools? This seems like it is designed to divide our country.

One problem with your question -- critical race theory it's not being taught in schools. It's being hyped by some media and politicians just like Sharia Law was hyped in recent years as though it's a real problem...just to scare people. Let's not fall victim to yet another bunch of hokum.

[bobdeb]

Teachers can be opinionated like anyone else. And could very well have different opinions than a student's parents.

I've known several personally. Their inclinations and positions are painfully obvious. Well, be objective in the classroom, if you can.

You want to talk about Teacher's Unions or get banned from TOTV?