WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY, ANYWAY?
WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY?
In short, it's a school of thought that says systemic racism is part of American society. Legal scholars use Critical Race Theory (CRT) to analyze the role of race in our country's laws and institutions.
In practical terms, it says your race determines whether you will be oppressed or privileged, because our laws and institutions are racist. They favor White people over Black people. (Gender is often included when determining whether you're oppressed or privileged.)
What the American Bar Association has said about CRT.
For a longer explanation of Critical Race Theory, read here.
ATTEMPTS TO BAN IT
The above NAACP link lists common elements found in legislative attempts to keep CRT out of schools:
"Bans on any discussion or teaching that the United States is inherently or fundamentally racist."
"Bans on what legislatures have deemed “divisive concepts,” including white supremacy, male privilege, white privilege, equity, unconscious or implicit bias systemic racism."
IN MISSOURI
Missouri lawmakers have been working on this issue, and, it's true that various versions of legislation have included the type of language listed above in the NAACP link.
NOT LITERAL CRT TEACHING
When naysayers tell us CRT is not in K-12 schools, they're almost right.
The words "Critical Race Theory" are not generally in curricula for school districts across the country. They're not in Rockwood's curriculum, either.
Additionally, no teachers or classes in Rockwood teach what CRT is.
IT'S THE BELIEFS OF CRT
Instead, the tenets, or beliefs, associated with CRT, are what's in Rockwood.
They've been found in daily lesson materials and books, sometimes chosen by teachers, without administrators knowing. Sometimes, Rockwood gives them to teachers.
One common CRT belief found in Rockwood: police are racist. This is seen in negative portrayals of police in books, class lesson materials, and teacher training materials.
For more about that, go here.
Note: None of what's written on this site is meant to be an exhaustive explanation of Critical Race Theory or a claim that the writers of this blog are experts in this area. We have simply read a lot about it and have seen the connections between beliefs associated with CRT and what students and teachers are reading and doing in Rockwood.