EDITOR:
If only the parents raising hell about their elementary school kids being “exposed to CRT” would worry more about all the guns in every neighborhood in this country. And worry more that one of those guns will be taken to their kid’s classroom someday. These days, the horror of someone bringing a gun to school is more likely to occur than a teacher determined to start spouting Critical Race Theory.
Critical Race Theory is that new boogeyman threatening peaceful school board meetings in a district near you.
If anyone bothered to read the syllabus for this college-level elective course, they might find “interest convergence,” differential racialization,” and “intersectionality” rather boring topics for elementary and even high school students.
CRT is an elective course in a few universities. It is not a required course. It’s a college-level class that might be offered by history, sociology or political science departments. It is not forced on anyone. It’s available to those who want to learn the true history of our country and the impact of racism that exists today. It’s not the Gerber spoon-fed variety that conveniently erases our discomfort about how badly we treated other groups of human beings at a time in our history, and some still today: Irish, Jews, Japanese, Native Americans, African Americans, Asians.
According to Britannica’s Online Encyclopedia, critical race theorists believe that racism is inherent in our American institutions and shows up in inequalities between whites and nonwhites. CRT exposes the subtle ways these inequalities continue in inferior health care; lack of access to quality education and good jobs; impoverished neighborhoods; and lengthier prison sentences. The goal then would be to remove “race-based and other unjust hierarchies.”
Does this sound like something sixth graders will be writing term papers about?
–LeAnn Karbaumer
Platte City
