How critical race theory bans are fueling debates on education and identity

“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

What’s happening

The origin of racism in American history is part of an ongoing national debate as lawmakers, experts and educators advocate for and against the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in schools across the country.

“It’s a framework of analysis in which we utilize race as a sociological concept in order to understand the dynamics of a society,” Dr. Vida Robertson, director of the Center for Critical Race Studies at the University of Houston-Downtown, told Yahoo News.

But lately the theory is often used to define any teaching that incorporates race. “Critical race theory is being utilized as a catch-all for all socially conscious or racially critical examinations of society,” Robertson said.

The theory sparked controversy following the murder of George Floyd and the 1619 project, a docseries featured on Hulu and a series of essays published in the New York Times Magazine that analyze the impact of slavery on American life.

Additionally, “Trump signed an executive order [in September 2020], that was a cascading effect of lots of people using very similar language to introduce bills all around the country,” Jane Bolgatz, professor of social studies education at the Fordham University Graduate School of Education and author of “Talking Race in the Classroom,” told Yahoo News.

Most recently, on June 8, Arizona school superintendent Tom Horne, who created a hotline for people to notify leadership of improper teachings, says he was alerted to teachers’ professional development courses teaching about critical race theory, claiming there is “enough CRT in our schools to constitute a problem.”

Efforts to ban critical race theory are widespread, as dozens of states have passed legislation and more than 40 have introduced it. “It’s a concerted effort. The laws that are being proposed in all these states have very similar wording,” Bolgatz said.

Experts say racism is a part of our society that cannot be ignored.

“Many that are condemning critical race theory haven’t read it or studied it intensely. This is largely predicated on fear: the fear of losing power and influence and privilege,” Jonathan Chism, assistant professor of history at the University of Houston-Downtown, told NBC News. “The larger issue that this is all stemming from is a desire to deny the truth about America, about racism.”

Why there’s debate

According to some experts, critical race theory is indeed an attack on America — a necessary one. “It is very un-American. It goes against every fiber of who we imagined we are, and everything that we ever hoped that we would be,” Robertson said.

Critics argue that teaching critical race theory instills the notion that one race is better than another. "We should not teach that one race is inferior to another,” Texas Republican state House Rep. Steve Toth said in an interview with ABC News.

But experts say the theory does not teach that any one race is superior — instead it highlights centuries of systematic racism. “Critical race theory itself is just saying racism exists, you can’t be colorblind,” Bolgatz said. “We live in a society where your color does make a difference as to what you get, and what you earn and the wealth that you have, because of the ways that race and racism have existed for hundreds of years and continue to exist.”

Some argue that lessons on racism and oppression in the U.S is a part of history that can not be forgotten or overlooked.

Andrew Hartman, a history professor at Illinois State University, describes the ongoing debate as a culture war. “I think it’s been a useful sort of political tool. Especially for some right-wing legislators like [New York Rep. George] Santos, [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis, and other conservative states. There have been a number of Republican-controlled state boards of education that have outlawed critical race theory,” Hartman told Yahoo News.

For states that have already passed legislation to ban critical race theory, some experts say those students are being taught a less holistic picture of history. “It’s harmful,” Hartman said.

“The polarization that we’re currently experiencing is likely to just increase,” he added. “I think having American students learning a completely different curriculum, depending on where they grow up, is not great.”

Perspectives

‘Unravels the American myth’

“Critical race theory was simply an analytical tool, but to some white people, the fact that white supremacy was overtly used to infect America’s systems of power with both racial oppressions and racial privileges is too much to handle. It is discomforting. It unravels the American myth. But critical race theory doesn’t diagnose the country as evil, even though it is beyond dispute that some evil people designed the architecture of racial oppression in this country and that there are still some who help maintain it.” — Charles Blow, opinion columnist for the New York Times.

Youth should be aware of America’s ‘mistakes’

“It is important for young people to know that America is a nation that has made mistakes, particularly in oppressing various groups, but also that America has made changes to correct wrongs and will always need to correct wrongs.” the Rev. Robert Montgomery, who holds a PhD in the social scientific studies of religion, told the Asheville Citizen Times.

Affirmative action and critical race theory

“Affirmative action has helped fuel the notion that Americans cannot rise above the kind of racism that existed decades and centuries past. It is perhaps the most pessimistic of policies promulgated by what used to be an optimistic country. Democrats need affirmative action, DEI, critical race theory and intersectionality to be a crutch for liberal policies that have failed to support economic and social mobility for minorities. They’re fine with perpetuating the placing of race above the personal circumstances of each individual,” Tom Basile, host of “American Right Now,” told the Washington Times.

Racism is in Americans’ DNA

“Thankfully the practitioners of Critical Race Theory — who view neither the Founding Fathers nor the revolution as “sacred” — are confronting and debunking all such myths and misrepresentations of America’s beginnings in quick succession. And they are not attempting to be apolitical or objective while doing so. They have a strong bias against social injustice and are very much activists working hard to show the world how deeply embedded systemic racism has always been in the DNA of the U.S. and the West.” Donald Earl Collins, a historian, told Al Jazeera.

Teachers are caught in the middle

“We’ve got $500 for the person that first successfully catches a public school teacher breaking this law. Students, parents, teachers, school staff. ... We want to know! We pledge anonymity if you want." Moms for Liberty NH tweeted on Nov. 12, 2021, after legislatures in New Hampshire passed the “Right to Freedom From Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education.”