ST. LOUIS – What is critical race theory?
Parents at a forum on race in the curriculum in the Rockwood School District aren’t the only ones fired up about it.
“Who gets to decide what history is?” one parent asked.
“Just because I do not want critical race theory taught to my children in school does not mean I am a racist, damn it!” said another.
Scholars of critical race theory define it as recognizing race as a social construct embedded in many American institutions throughout history, with implications you can see today.
Scholars say those institutions include the criminal justice system or even the demographics of communities.
Advocates say critical race theory urges people to grapple with systemic racism to work toward understanding and fairness.
“We need to have a critical lens to examine what it means to be a certain group of people and then to also have conversations and dialogs to flesh out what are the biases that could exist in the system so that we can actually create that platform and create the equity that we all long for,” said Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, an associate professor and chair of the Diversity Advisory Committee at Webster University.
But opponents have said critical race theory is perpetuating racism, saying it pushes the idea that white people are inherently racist, and people of color are inherently oppressed.
“We can do a lot of good for the nation from here, but not if we’re continually divided by race and/or gender,” said Representative Brian Seitz, a Republican who represents Taney County in the Missouri House. “Let’s look at ourselves as equal. I think that’s what Martin Luther King Jr. was looking for.”
Read more: https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/education/explaining-critical-race-theory-causing-stir-schools-across-country/63-75fe7982-8613-4555-b519-d1a7a85be20e
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