Critical Race Theory: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Summary
TLDRThe video examines the controversy around critical race theory (CRT) and its portrayal in media and politics. It explains what CRT actually is - legal scholarship analyzing why racism persists post-civil rights. The video then explores how CRT has become a catchall term used by some to resist broader conversations about race, targeting diversity trainings and lessons. It traces connections between the anti-CRT movement and groups pushing for school choice and revising history curriculums. The host argues that shutting down discussions of race in schools fails to address racism and advocates for more constructive dialogue, rather than bans, around these complex topics.
Takeaways
- 😡 The panic over critical race theory (CRT) is being used by some conservatives to push school choice and restrict discussions of race
- 😕 CRT is complex legal scholarship about systemic racism, not what critics claim it is
- 🤔 The CRT backlash shows many don't understand CRT or discussions of race in schools
- 😠 Laws restricting CRT discussions could limit honest engagement with US history
- 😢 MLK later questioned his 'I Have a Dream' optimism about racial harmony
- 😠 Voucher schools promoted by anti-CRT activists sometimes teach distorted history
- 😡 Anti-CRT activist Chris Rufo admits pushing panic deliberately over CRT in schools
- 😩 Discussing race is uncomfortable but conversations shouldn't be shut down
- 😔 Marginalized students don't have the luxury of not thinking about race
- 🙂 We should have thoughtful discussions about race instead of banning topics
Q & A
What is critical race theory and where did it originate?
-Critical race theory is a body of legal scholarship that began in the 1970s. It attempts to understand why racism and inequality persisted after the civil rights movement. The core idea is that racism is embedded in legal systems and policies, not just a product of individual bias.
How has conservative activist Christopher Rufo contributed to the panic over critical race theory?
-Rufo has rebranded critical race theory into a broader category encompassing any conversations about race that conservatives want to shut down. He's cherry-picked extreme examples to portray CRT negatively and make people associate it with anything crazy or objectionable related to race.
What are some key goals of the anti-CRT movement beyond banning it from schools?
-Some anti-CRT activists like Rufo have admitted they are using the panic over CRT to advance school choice agendas. Others see it as a way to sanitize and whitewash school curriculums, removing honest discussions of racism and promoting conservative values.
What have been some consequences of the anti-CRT panic so far?
-Teachers and administrators have lost jobs over CRT controversies, even without evidence behind the accusations. Many states have introduced bills to restrict teachings on racism. Book bans are increasing. Terms like "diversity" and "white privilege" are being avoided.
How does the anti-CRT use of MLK quotes distort his views and the history?
-They cherry-pick aspirational early quotes, ignoring his later reflections questioning superficial optimism and calling for white self-examination. This promotes a false narrative that MLK solved racism in his lifetime.
How could anti-CRT laws negatively impact classroom discussions of race?
-They could give parents broad ability to sue over kids feeling discomfort, guilt or anguish because of their race. This could lead schools to severely limit discussions of racism to avoid controversy.
What are some alternatives to banning critical race theory?
-Rather than bans, schools need to prioritize helping teachers improve their ability to facilitate complex discussions on racism in constructive ways appropriate for students' ages.
Whose discomfort is really being prioritized by the anti-CRT movement?
-The discomfort of white/conservative parents is trumping that of students of color, who don't have the option not to experience racism. Avoiding the topic doesn't eliminate their discomfort.
How might voucher academies that replace public schools make racial issues worse?
-Many use textbooks that sanitize slavery and downplay systemic racism. Kids may receive warped, conservative views of history and racial inequities rather than truthful accounts.
Why can't racism just be ignored until it disappears, as some anti-CRT activists suggest?
-Racism shapes everyday experiences for people of color regardless of acknowledgment or discussion. Refusing to address issues does not make them vanish.
Outlines
😮Definition and explanations of critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a body of legal scholarship from the 1970s attempting to understand why racism persisted after the civil rights movement. The core idea is that racism is embedded in legal systems and policies, not just individual prejudice. CRT is graduate-level theory not being directly taught to kids. Critics present distorted ideas of CRT being taught in schools.
😊CRT encourages honest conversations about inequality
CRT scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw says CRT encourages paying attention to how the past impacts differential outcomes today, so America can become the equal country it claims to be. CRT promotes conversations about inequality, which is more patriotic than opposing it.
😖Examples of clumsy lessons about race
There are bad implementations of lessons about race, like privilege bingo cards or eye-color discrimination activities, especially in diverse classrooms. But many educators work hard to teach about race properly. Teachers deserve credit for what students learn given the challenges they face.
😡Using MLK quotes incorrectly to oppose CRT
Anti-CRT activists incorrectly invoke MLK's dream speech as if it described reality then rather than aspirations. King himself later challenged white Americans' self-deception on progress. Banning discomfort about race misrepresents history.
😞Prioritizing some students' discomfort over others'
Laws restricting CRT lessons prioritize some students' discomfort over others'. Students of color don't get to avoid talking about race. White parents could exploit discomfort clauses to control curriculums based on their sensibilities.
😤Need for honest conversations about race
Discussions about race may sometimes be uncomfortable, but learning and growing isn't always comfortable. Generations have been taught fairy tales about race. Maybe it's time to talk honestly, rather than insist racism ended with MLK and electing Obama.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Critical Race Theory (CRT)
💡systemic racism
💡racial panic
💡indoctrination
💡school choice
💡sanitized history
💡white privilege
💡race discussions
💡discomfort
💡MLK ideals
Highlights
Critical race theory is a body of legal scholarship that attempted to understand why racism and inequality persisted after the civil rights movement
Critical race theory says let's pay attention to what has happened in this country and how what has happened in this country is continuing to create differential outcomes
Conservatives have rebranded critical race theory into a broad category that encompasses any conversation about race that someone does not want to have
You can find examples of clumsy, insensitive lessons about race, but many educators are working very hard to find age-appropriate ways to talk about these issues
The roots of the school choice movement trace back to states adopting voucher programs after Brown v. Board of Education to facilitate white flight from integrated schools
37 states have introduced legislation restricting teaching critical race theory or limiting how teachers can discuss racism
Lawmakers are trying to micromanage school curriculums to satisfy the most conservative parents, resulting in more book bans
MLK later reflected on his 'I Have a Dream' speech and challenged white Americans to look more deeply at themselves regarding racism
New laws could bend school curriculums to the sensibilities of the most conservative parents and restrict honest conversations about race
Talking about race is unavoidable, and shutting down those conversations privileges the discomfort of white parents over students of color
Kids learn about race at a young age no matter what; we should teach all students about it equitably so we can work on it together
The end goal of this critical race theory panic is to shut down discussions of race in public schools while promoting private voucher academies
We've told generations of kids fairy tales about race in this country, insisting things like racism ended with MLK and Obama's election
We should learn how to have better conversations about race instead of banning them, because that hasn't solved anything
Our discomfort is necessary for growth; we should expose the fairy tales told about racism and have open discussions, not run from them
Transcripts
[Music]
moving on
our main story tonight concerns school
it's the only setting in which a child
dissecting a frog is not an immediate
red flag
we teach kids a lot in school from
reading to long division to how to play
the recorder for some reason but
recently there has been a lot of concern
over one particular thing that people
worry that kids are learning
critical race theory is being taught in
our schools
critical race theory is bunk critical
race theory is a lie from the first word
to the last from start to finish racist
critical race theory critical race
theory critical race theory in the
schools and the wokeness let me tell you
right now critical race theory is
bigoted it is a lie and it is every bit
as racist as the klansmen in white
sheets
i do not like that ted cruz man
i do not like him shouting clan i do not
like him in a room i do not like him in
cancun
i do not like him playing ball i do not
like his face at all i wish he'd lose
his cushy job that man ted cruz is a
knob but here's the thing
it is true you have probably heard
people yelling about critical race
theory on tv for more than a year now
and people have been listening to that
noise especially judging by what's been
happening at school board meetings
across the country
[Applause]
the western culture and values that
brought forth christianity in the
founding documents are being called evil
and racist i am not co-parenting with
the government it is not your job to
force these ideas onto my child the
narrative in this country is that we're
all inherently racist and i'm about sick
of it it's a marxist ideology and we all
know it all of these lessons have the
intent to make our children feel disgust
towards our nation this country isn't
even a racist country we elected obama
for two times wait hold on hold on
america can't be racist because of obama
i don't know if you remember the 2008
election but things got pretty racist
back then people kept saying he was born
in kenya people said he was a secret
muslim and then a few years later we
elected that people president so let's
just agree to disagree on that one shall
we that first meeting was in loudoun
county virginia and it got so out of
hand that the meeting was shut down
early and one guy passionately railing
against crt was arrested for trespassing
only to pop up on tugger carlson the
very next day so clearly a lot of people
are getting very mad about critical race
theory right now and instinctively
you probably know it's a manufactured
panic but the fact is the fear around it
is having real effects last year glenn
younkin won the governor's race in
virginia after repeatedly promising that
on his first day in office he'd ban crt
from being taught in schools multiple
states have passed laws outlawing the
teaching of it and republicans are
likely to make it a major focus of the
midterms when it comes to critical race
theory think of it like rihanna's
pregnancy
even if you think it has nothing to do
with you believe me you're going to be
hearing a lot about it this year
so given that we thought tonight we take
a step back and look at what critical
race theory is and isn't why the panic
around it has spread and what the
consequences might be for everyone
involved and i realize some of you may
already know what crt is after all
explainers honest have become one of the
most common sites on the internet along
with mediocre wordle scores and ugly
monkey jpegs sold by and four
but
but many are still very confused a
recent survey found that an overwhelming
majority of u.s residents have a hard
time articulating exactly what crt is
and that even goes for some of those
who've been yelling about it the loudest
i i've never figured out what a critical
race theory is to be totally honest
after a year of talking about it they're
teaching that some races are morally
superior to others that some are
inherently sinful and some are
inherently saintly and that's immoral to
teach that because it's wrong
wow i don't know if i've ever seen a
person confidently complain about
something just seconds after admitting
they don't know about it
look i've never figured out how a car
engine works to be honest but there's a
chimpanzee under the hood turning a
crank and when you press the accelerator
it pokes it with a sharp stick and makes
him crank faster and it's immoral to do
that because it's wrong
but obviously that is not what critical
race theory is it's the name given to a
body of legal scholarship that began in
the 1970s that attempted to understand
why racism and inequality persisted
after the civil rights movement the core
idea is that racism is not merely the
product of individual bias or prejudice
but also something that is embedded in
legal systems and policies as for
tucker's notion that it teaches that
some races are superior to others or
that parents claim that it teaches kids
to hate america none of that is remotely
true as kimberley crenshaw one of crt's
leading scholars points out
critic cory's theory just says let's pay
attention to what has happened in this
country and how what has happened in
this country is continuing to create
differential outcomes so we can become
that country that we say we are so
critically siri is not anti-patriotic in
fact it is more patriotic than those who
are opposed to it because we believe in
the 13th and the 14th and the 15th
amendment we believe in the promises of
equality and we know we can't get there
if we can't confront and talk honestly
about inequality yeah she's right and
incidentally if you've just found
yourself there wondering what the 13th
14th and 15th amendments are that alone
might be a good sign that we don't talk
about this stuff in schools enough and
to be clear seot is graduate level legal
theory so unless your five-year-old is
currently pursuing a law degree they're
not reading kimberley crenshaw but
critics of it argue that the ideas
behind crt are being taught in schools
and often present a hyperbolically
distorted version of what those ideas
are and a key person here is this man a
conservative activist named christopher
ruffo he claims crt is actually a
revolutionary program that would
overturn the principles of the
declaration and destroy the remaining
structure of the constitution which it
just isn't it isn't that
but in the wake of the george floyd
protests just as america was beginning
to grapple with systemic racism fox news
began featuring roofo on air a lot as
part of their efforts to swing that
pendulum back hard and in one appearance
he pointed to diversity trainings in
government as evidence of crt's
influence and he spoke directly to
president trump through the camera about
what he wanted to see happen
the president at the white house it's
within their authority and power to
immediately issue an executive order
abolishing critical race theory
trainings from the federal government
and i call on the president to
immediately issue this executive order
and and stamp out this destructive
divisive
pseudo-scientific ideology at its root
now did trump see that i don't know is
the pope a catholic is the reason big
died the fact that carrie didn't call
9-1-1 fast enough the answer to all
those questions is yes and also she was
right not to do it no big loss
because mark meadows trump's chief of
staff has since revealed president trump
saw that interview and when roofo said i
call on the president to immediately
issue this executive order quote that's
what we did which is weird there should
be more steps than that it shouldn't
just go one yell your wish at the
president then two it happens
ideally you want an executive branch
that's a little more complicated than
siri
and with that
crt or crucially rufo's definition of it
was suddenly absolutely everywhere fox
news kept pushing it mentioning the term
critical race theory nearly 5 000 times
last year alone and the network zeroed
in on its supposed use in schools with
ruffo telling fox's audience that crt
has really become the default ideology
of the public education system and what
rufo has been cleverly doing is cherry
picking the worst examples that he can
find of lessons in classrooms or
training materials for teachers and
saying that is crt and he's openly
admitted that he's been engaged in a
deliberate rebranding exercise tweeting
we have successfully frozen their brand
critical race theory into the public
conversation and are steadily driving up
negative perceptions the goal is to have
the public read something crazy in the
newspaper and immediately think critical
race theory and the thing is it
worked because whenever you hear crt now
you are not hearing about the academic
discipline you're hearing about a
category so broad it encompasses both
the craziest thing in the newspaper and
also crucially any conversation about
race that someone does not want to have
and look
i am not saying discussing race in a
classroom is easy or even always done
well experts in this field will readily
admit that
now have you seen bad implementations of
this of course
right that's like asking have i seen a
bad math lesson right like
yes
teachers are humans especially as we're
trying to figure out how to teach about
race and racism
exactly teachers are human and can make
mistakes frankly i'm surprised they
don't make more they wake up insanely
early and spend all day getting low-key
roasted by teenagers for an amount of
money best described as completely
harrowing the very fact any student in
america knows what a covalent bond is is
a miracle and every adult
involved deserves the congressional
medal of honor
and the fact is you can find examples of
clumsy shitty lessons one school used a
privilege bingo card which sure seems
like a glib way to handle a very serious
subject another classic lesson over the
years has been to teach about prejudice
metaphorically by dividing a classroom
up by eye color with brown eyed people
for instance being the lowest tier and
then being treated terribly and if you
do that in a diverse classroom and think
for even a second about who is more
likely to have brown eyes
you can probably immediately see just
how badly that lesson could go that
actually happened in at least one school
in the chicago area and the reason i
know that is that this kid was in the
class that day and she's one of our
writers now ali what did you think of
that lesson
it was pretty up yeah yeah i bet
it was
but the fact is
many educators are working very hard to
find age-appropriate ways to talk about
race and racism in the classroom and if
you do it right you don't stop at the
civil rights movement you tell the story
all the way to the present day which
kids want and need they have questions
about what they can see with their own
eyes and they deserve good answers and
it is frankly far better for them to
have these discussions in a supportive
educational environment rather than the
potential alternative during a screaming
match at thanksgiving but the panic over
crt threatens to shut those
conversations down and that is not all
it is likely to do because some pushing
this panic the hardest are actually
using it to advance a much bigger agenda
that they've wanted for a very long time
and that is school choice basically
letting parents take tax dollars
afforded to the public schooling of
their kid and use them at any school
they like here is chris ruffo again
laying out that exact strategy
first uh we have to just get it out of
schools we have to ban it and abolish it
but in the long term what we need to do
is give every parent in this country a
right to exit failing institutions no
child should be trapped in a failing
public school that violates his sense of
conscience that violates the values of
the parents every parent should take
those education dollars anywhere that
they wish school choice will liberate
people it will empower people and it
will actually depolarize some of these
national fights that we've seen
oh so you're doing all of this to tone
down part of that fight are you chris
very cool of you you've probably noticed
that general wave of calm chill vibes
sweeping the nation lately if there is
one word i would use to describe every
image coming out of a school board
meeting these days it is
depolarized
look
it is not just rufo conservative
organizations that have long pushed for
school choice like the heritage
foundation and freedom works have poured
money into this fight and of course no
school choice push would be complete
without lifelong rich person and
occasional education secretary betsy
devos who wrote an op-ed titled let's
liberate kids from race indoctrination
with school choice and you should know
this is just nothing new there is a long
history of responding to racial panic
with a push for school choice in fact
the roots of the school choice movement
trace back to the brown versus board of
education decision when southern states
adopted voucher programs to facilitate
the creation of private schools called
segregation academies and some of those
taking advantage of school choice today
sure seem to be doing some heavy
indoctrination of their own take florida
it is one of the states that allows
public money to go to voucher schools
and a few years back an investigation
into some of them found commonly used
textbooks that downplayed the horrors of
slavery one of them is this one america
land i love which has all the kind of
that you would expect the civil
war was fought for states rights but it
also states that during the antebellum
period the slave who knew christ had
more freedom than a free person who did
not know the savior which is not just
offensive it is profoundly stupid any
kid reading that absolute trombone slide
of a sentence
would instantly dropped two full grades
it sounds less like something you'd find
in a textbook and more like something
you'd find crocheted on a throw pillow
in paula dean's living room
so if you want to talk about racial
indoctrination of school kids this might
be a better place to start but the thing
is
even a manufactured panic is a panic
those parents at school board meetings
are genuinely angry and as any little
league coach knows
once you reach a critical mass of angry
white parents there will be consequences
in texas this high school principal was
forced out of his job after being
accused at a school board meeting of
promoting crt by someone who wasn't even
a parent at his school and in tennessee
this current affairs teacher was fired
for not giving varying points of view
after he gave students a tanahassee coat
article and showed them kyla janae
lacy's poem white privilege and he
actually had a pretty decent response to
that criticism i think to me
the varying viewpoint
is
kyla janet lacey and is tanahasi coates
those are perspectives that my students
aren't exposed to on a daily basis
because
you know we live in that white dominant
evangelical
environment
right when you live in a mostly white
environment the voices of black people
can be the varying point of view and not
just on current events either on lots of
things that white people might otherwise
assume even trivial ones like it's okay
to go out in a blizzard in shorts and if
i argue with this cop i can probably get
out of a ticket and time travel would be
a fun and stress-free activity
the 1930s i can't wait to look around
unfortunately though those situations
are now only likely to become more
common since january of last year 37
states have introduced bills or taken
other steps that would restrict teaching
critical race theory or limit how
teachers can discuss racism and the
justification for these has often been
more than a little flimsy here is one
tennessee lawmaker explaining why he was
pushing for his state's bill listen to
the following quotes from an email
forwarded to me concerning a
seven-year-old girl in williamson county
the little girl told her mother
i'm ashamed that i'm white
the daughter then asked her mother
is there something wrong with me
why am i hated so much
okay i hear that i really do but the
thing to do in that situation isn't to
pass a law limiting the discussion of
race in the classroom is to ask
literally one follow-up question like
what was happening to make you think the
other kids hate you or did any adults
step in when you felt this way or do you
even exist because you should know when
reporters looked into this they found no
parent had come forward to that school's
principal teachers or district officials
with that complaint and administrators
there weren't able to pinpoint any
students who might be upset or lessons
that could have been upsetting and if
that is how we are arguing things now i
should probably mention that i too just
so happen to have an email forward from
a different little white girl way cuter
than the first one by the way who said
that that first girl story is complete
and the thing is by tennessee
law it seems i simply have to believe
her
but that that lawmaker actually
illustrates the problem facing
legislators currently trying to outlaw
something that they cannot define
because what are you then gonna do
pass a law saying kids can't feel bad
well it turns out yes because that is
exactly what tennessee did they passed a
law prohibiting any teaching that would
cause discomfort guilt anguish or
distress solely because of the
individual's race or sex which is very
broad and you know what you're not going
to believe this but i just received
another email this second
from a third tennessee white girl who
says what idiots are writing
these laws and how many fictitious
children are they gonna make up to
justify them p.s i honestly preferred
the new zazu and wow what a nice thing
to say from a definitely real child
and look the thing is
we have talked before on this show about
the multiple problems with teaching kids
a sanitized version of us history and
how as far back as a century ago groups
like the united daughters of the
confederacy were reshaping textbooks to
downplay its horrors and it seems
here we go again i guess because
lawmakers are trying to micromanage
school curriculums sometimes pretty
ineptly a bill proposed in virginia
contains a section listing some of the
founding documents that is okay to teach
a list that includes the declaration of
independence the constitution and the
first debate between abraham lincoln and
frederick douglass which i hope you know
is not a thing that happened
the lincoln douglas debates were of
course between senator stephen douglas
and his opponent a 2020 lincoln
navigator so
read your history everyone facts matter
here
but maybe the most insulting distortion
of history is in the quote that every
single anti-crt activist seems to love
to invoke
you think about what mlk uh stood for he
said he didn't want people judged on the
color of their skin but on the content
of their character you know i i believe
it was martin luther king said you know
when he was talking about his children
that he didn't want his children to be
judged on the color of their skin but by
the content of their character content
of their character not by the color of
their skin content of our character not
the color of our skin and the immortal
words of dr martin luther king ring in
our ears that we must judge others not
by the color of their skin by the
content of their character the left
wants us to constantly focus on skin
color it's destructive martin luther
king jr is rolling over in his grave
yeah you know what i bet he is actually
in fact i'm pretty sure every time
someone uses his words that way dr
king's illustrious remains spin fast
enough to power the eastern
seaboards
here is the thing though that dream
speech was clearly an aspirational goal
not a description of things as they
stood and in fact king himself later put
a pretty major asterisk on it
i must confess that
that dream that i had that day has many
points
turned into a nightmare and i've come to
see that we have many more difficult
days ahead
and some of the old optimism
was a little superficial and now it must
be tempered with a solid realism yeah
exactly and in a book published that
same year he wrote that while the
majority of white americans consider
themselves sincerely committed to
justice for the negro and they believe
that american society is essentially
hospitable to fair play and to steady
growth toward a middle-class utopia
embodying racial harmony unfortunately
this is a fantasy of self-deception and
comfortable vanity so while it is
clearly very appealing to create a
version of history where mlk was a kind
figure who existed solely to help white
people win arguments
the truth is he later reflected on his
own message and challenged white people
to look more deeply at themselves and
that is something the kids should
absolutely be learning about in school
but the problem is they won't if these
laws continue a white parent could
plausibly claim that reading mlk's
writing made their child feel discomfort
on the basis of their race and some of
these laws seem designed to bend schools
curriculums to the sensibilities of the
most conservative alarmed parents in
florida ron desantis is pushing a stop
woke act that was him unveiling it just
a minute ago with chris ruffo by the way
right behind him and that would give
parents private right of action to sue
if they think their kids are being
taught crt and all of these laws are
already having chilling effects book
bans are on the rise around the country
and one oklahoma school district has
even told teachers simply to avoid using
terms like diversity and white privilege
and look here's the thing you can ban
all the books you want you can try and
legislate it away but as any black woman
on the bachelor can tell you
talking about race is unavoidable and it
is not just unavoidable it's essential
especially in the places where people
are most panicked about crt and this
actually brings us
all the way back to where this story
began in loudoun county virginia where
that school board meeting got so very
far out of hand here is one of the
leaders of the anti-crt push there
explaining just why she is so fiercely
opposed to it being taught in loudoun
county this is the wealthiest county in
the country
there's not a lot of racism
there are
silly people that say stupid things but
if you talk about it less you're gonna
notice that division less i don't look
at the person based on their skin color
i look at them based on their character
okay so there's a lot of obvious red
flags there from confidently asserting
there's not a lot of racism here to the
i don't see skin color to the you won't
notice division so much if you just
don't talk about it and hey
if the problem with racism in america
was only it's bumming patty mendes out
then yeah shutting up about it would
probably solve the whole issue but guess
how long it takes for that conversation
to take a real turn
i think there are a lot of there are
probably plenty of people that would
agree with exactly that but just to be
fair on the other side there are people
especially young black men for example
would say i would love to not be judged
on the color of my skin do you think
it's more on the color of their skin or
their actions
how they're dressed how they perceive
how they respect others
if you have a kid that's pulled over by
a cop does it really matter what color
they are or is it the respect that they
give to that police officer
wow when you respond to someone
mentioning young black men would like to
be treated better by automatically
envisioning them dressed terribly and
acting disrespectfully while being
arrested by the police you are telling
on yourself patty you are snitching on
your very soul
and as for her claim there that there is
not a lot of racism in loudoun county
you probably already assumed that that
was but you should know an
assessment of public schools there found
that it was shocking the extent to which
students report the use of the n-word
and i think as a society we've now
agreed white people should not be using
the n-word a shocking number of times
unless that is they have a lucrative
podcast deal with spotify but that is
absolutely it and all of this brings us
to the main point here that for all the
laws being passed to prevent discomfort
or anguish on account of an individual's
race
whose discomfort exactly are we
prioritizing here because kids of color
can tell you they don't get a choice do
not talk about race and have it go away
like this graduate of loudoun county
schools i do understand that many
parents don't want their children
learning about race at such a young age
but i beg to differ in that sense we
learn about race every day when we're
the only colored kid in our classrooms
or when we're learning about slavery and
all the heads turn to us so one way or
another one group of students will learn
about race before another so we believe
that it would be equitable if all
students learned about race in the same
context so we can work together on it to
improve our future
yeah
children of color learn about race from
a very young age from realizing you
celebrate different holidays or get
different safety talks or the first time
you go to a white friend's house and you
served a casserole you realize very
quickly in that moment we are different
people with different cultures so look
by this point it should be pretty clear
the debate around critical race theory
is both very loud and very very dumb but
unfortunately it is important to engage
with it because if we don't the end
point that we are heading toward is that
honest discussions of race will be shut
out of public schools even as some
parents off to voucher academies
where their kids can learn a version of
history that's basically antebellum fan
fiction and i'm not saying the
discussions on race will always be
comfortable for everyone in a classroom
but think about it like this when was
learning and growing as a person ever
really comfortable
the thing to do here isn't to run from
those discussions or past laws banning
them it is to learn how to have them
better because for generation after
generation we've told school kids fairy
tales about race in this country and
maybe it's time we stop doing that
because all it's done so far is get us
to the point that we're at right now
with full-grown adults insisting america
can't be racist because we elected obama
twice that racism will go away if we
just don't mention it and that martin
luther king's i have a dream speech
wasn't an aspiration we have yet to
fulfill but some kind of magic spell
that ended prejudice then and there that
is our show thank you so much for
watching we'll see you next week good
night
john john i've got more stories okay in
third grade we did an oregon trail unit
my teacher put me and the other black
kid in the class together and said we
were a family of freed slaves heading
west to make our fortune like what am i
supposed to do with that in sixth grade
i told my teacher that reading role of
thunder hear my cry made me
uncomfortable and she told me it all
works out in the end okay in the end one
of the characters almost gets lynched
howas almost gets lynched a happy ending
for ella's island day i said my family
didn't immigrate and we don't know where
in africa we're from and my teacher said
well guess sounds like you guess
there were only two black kids in the
whole class and we were the freed slaves
going west okay
[Music]
you
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