Originally Posted by JerryLBell (Post 1958374)

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.

Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 1958874)

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.

Originally Posted by Joe C. (Post 1958877)

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.

Originally Posted by jimjamuser (Post 1959122)

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.

Originally Posted by Byte1 (Post 1958798)

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.

Originally Posted by Bucco (Post 1958879)

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

Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 1958889)

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.

Originally Posted by Aloha1 (Post 1959125)

"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.

Originally Posted by kenoc7 (Post 1958832)

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

Originally Posted by Aloha1 (Post 1959139)

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.

Originally Posted by toymeister (Post 1958372)

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

Originally Posted by rlcooper70 (Post 1958871)

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.

Originally Posted by Aloha1 (Post 1959141)

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.

Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan (Post 1958862)

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.

Originally Posted by Aloha1 (Post 1959148)

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