Critical Race Theory, or CRT for short, is a practice that explains the framework of how and why racism exists in our current society. CRT originated in the 1980s and argues that traditional, liberal-based policies are ineffective in their attempts to combat racism and give the “full truth” to America’s discriminatory history.
Virginia's most recent Governor, Glenn Youngkin, banned the practice of CRT in all Virginia public schools in an executive order on his first day in office, despite it not being taught in any Virginia K-12 schools. With this ban, Youngkin established an anonymous tip line for any concerned citizen to report “inherently divisive practices, including Critical Race Theory” being taught in school. The tip line’s intended to serve as a sort of "witch hunt" to expose teachers who facilitated any conversations about race or racial discrimination. Youngkin’s actions received widespread criticism, with most arguing that the tip line is designed to intimidate educators.
To a large extent, the tip line ended up backfiring. Thousands of people nationwide spammed the tip line email with content ranging from song lyrics to grocery lists to the entire Bee Movie script. One individual even went so far as to create a website specifically to auto-fabricate spam emails to flood the tip line with. The website reportedly has over 1,000 visits per half hour.
More recently, in February, Youngkin refused to publicize the emails sent to the tip line, defending his rejection by adducing an exemption clause from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The governor and his office claimed that the emails were “working papers and correspondence of the Office of the Governor”.
So what? If the tip line is proving to be largely ineffective, why should there be any concern over it or the governor? Surely Youngkin’s attempts to smother the discussions of racism in America do not actually impact the lives of Virginia educators?
The thing is, it is still an issue. According to Roanoke County journalist Dan Casey, “There are roughly 1.25 million students in Virginia public schools…which means Virginia has somewhere south of 2.5 million parents with children in schools. If only 1% of them tattle on teachers…that’s 25,000 accusatory emails…”. That means that Virginia teachers are still very much in danger of losing their jobs for just trying to do their job. Even if the tip line is overflowing with spam mail, real reports can still be fished out, and teachers can still be hunted down.
The fact is, Critical Race Theory helps take away the fear factor surrounding the discussion of race in America. In addition to encompassing all aspects of history, it creates a safe space for conversation and self-reflection, giving children a deeper understanding of how our society works and how to make it better. Without CRT, how are teachers expected to accurately inform their students about American history without acknowledging the exploitive systems which helped dictate thereof? What of topics like the Civil Rights Movement or the Reconstruction era? If people are too afraid to have the conversation, how will we ever progress?
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