FAQs
QUESTION: What is Critical Race Theory?
ANSWER: Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies. The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others. Read more.
QUESTION: Is Critical Race Theory currently being taught in schools?
ANSWER: Critical race theory is a complex legal theory that most people won’t encounter until college, but schools can and should teach students to be critical of racism in history and today.
Good line from NYT: “While few K-12 educators use the term “critical race theory,” discussions of systemic racism have become more common in American schools in recent years. . .”
If some teachers and schools are incorporating the insights of critical race theory into their curriculum and practice we view that as a victory in the struggle for more equitable schools. Whether or not we teach CRT, all of us can and should teach students to be critical of racism in history and today. Schools have to address racism when teaching about the history of the United States and current events.
Two examples of teaching about racism are the struggle for voting rights or educational justice.
Voting rights: students learn that laws can be racially discriminatory even if they appear racially neutral. For example, voting restrictions that require a state-issued ID or limit the number of polling places or days of early voting may seem on their face neutral, but they primarily disenfranchise poor, Black, Brown, disabled, and rural voters.
Education: students learn that schools today are actually more segregated than they were 50 years ago. In order to understand why, they study the limitations of Brown v. Board of Education and the persistence of other challenges to educational equality.
QUESTION: Why are Republicans and the right wing media so focused on critical race theory right now?
ANSWER: “Critical race theory” is a term being thrown around now to confuse people. What’s actually happening is that Republican lawmakers are trying to stop teachers from teaching the facts about U.S. history in schools, by suggesting the truth is divisive or anti-American. It’s not.
Lawmakers have referenced critical race theory—and conflated it with any kind of anti-racist teaching, the New York Times’ 1619 Project, or BLM in Schools— in connection with any lesson or training that acknowledges the existence and persistence of racism. It is an ambiguous container that has little to do with what educators are actually doing each day in schools across the country: trying to teach students how we got to where we are so that they are clear-eyed about how we might move forward.
QUESTION: Doesn’t teaching about racism undermine national unity?
ANSWER: No. In fact, it’s just the opposite — racism is what prevents unity. Teaching about racism is simply teaching the truth about our society and giving young people the tools to create a more just future.
We cannot cure a disease we have not properly diagnosed. Helping students understand the history and the reality of the world they live in will help them understand how to make it better. Here are some examples of ways racism shows up in American society:
For decades, policies have kept Black Americans from building generational wealth. We see the result of that today in families’ average net worth. In 2016, the net worth of a typical Black family was $17,150. The average net worth of a white family was 10 times greater: $171,000.
A Black woman is 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes than a white woman.
Black students are over 3 times more likely to be suspended from school than white students.
Anti-Asian hate crimes have surged over 169% so far this year.
To teach the history of racism in the United States is also an opportunity to teach the history of movements to end it. These movements have always been multiracial, multiethnic, and built across lines of gender and class. Understanding this can be an incredible and powerful source of unity for all students.
QUESTION: Are you teaching that all white people are racist or trying to make white students feel guilty?
ANSWER: No. We are teaching students history so we can better understand the present and how we can move together into a better future. We need to remember that although individuals can espouse racist ideas, the most damaging effects of racism come from institutions and structures. Not all white people say or do racist things—but they do live in a society with structures and institutions that grant privileges to them because of their race.
By learning the history of how these inequalities were created and opposed, students see that what was built can be taken apart.
QUESTION: What are opponents’ perspectives on teaching about structural racism?
ANSWER: Some opponents believe that by not discussing race, racism will disappear. Others might want to maintain the structures of oppression that benefit them. Most people know that to tackle a challenge—especially a complex one—you have to understand it first.
QUESTION: What will be the real impact on teaching if these laws pass? Do teachers have to abide by them while they are being litigated?
ANSWER: The objective of these proposed laws is to create a chilling effect so that, whether they pass or not in a particular state, teachers everywhere will be fearful of teaching the truth about racism. In states where the laws have already passed, there are an increasing number of teachers who are pledging to follow their conscience and teach the truth about racism while lawsuits challenging these laws make their way through the courts. See Oklahoma example.
QUESTION: Why do you say that by following the prohibitions made in these bills would mean that you couldn’t tell the truth about U.S. history?
ANSWER: The truth is that racism played an incontrovertible role in our nation’s history. If you can’t teach that, you can’t teach the truth. Systemic racism and sexism are not hypothetical; they are facts. The United States grew as it did by taking the land and lives of Indigenous people and enslaving Africans. When this country was founded, political and legal rights were limited to white male landowners. Rights were only extended to women, people of color, and people of all income levels in response to concerted organizing efforts that continue to this day. These are historic facts, and teaching them is teaching truth. Knowing the truth about the past can help create a more just future.
These bills also prohibit teachers from helping students understand the causes of the massive inequalities we see today. There is no way to explain the wealth gap without explaining redlining, and there is no way of explaining redlining without explaining Jim Crow, and there is no way of explaining Jim Crow without explaining enslavement. Helping students see those connections across time — the systematic nature of racism — is imperative to understanding not just our history but our contemporary world.
QUESTION: How will these laws impact the ability for resources like ZEP or BLM at School to be used by teachers in states where there aren’t bills to ban them?
ANSWER: These proposed laws are intended to have a chilling effect—so whether they pass or not in a particular state, teachers everywhere will be fearful of teaching the truth about racism. The Zinn Education Project and efforts like BLM at School are helping support educators so they don’t feel intimidated or alone in teaching the truth. Even in places where there are no new laws, these attacks affect educators who now have to spend time defending what they’re teaching once parents and others have been misinformed or scared to think what teachers are teaching is divisive.
QUESTION: Why should anyone care, if they live in states where these bills have not been introduced?
ANSWER: First, teachers need to be able to teach facts to do their jobs. That’s common sense. Secondly, we should all care about supporting teachers to help build a more equitable and inclusive society. The objective of these proposed laws is to create a chilling effect so that, whether they pass or not in a particular state, teachers everywhere will be fearful of teaching the truth about racism. These bills are not just about history but the politics of the present. They attempt to deny students models of activism for making our communities more fair today. If you care about democracy, you should care about this attack on public education.
QUESTION: If you don’t live in a state with a bill that’s pending or passed, what can you do to support those who do?
ANSWER: People can pledge their support for teaching the truth at the Zinn Education Project website. Additionally, there is a national day of action scheduled for June 12 to support educators in states with bills that ban teaching structural racism and to help stop those bills from spreading to other states.
QUESTION: What is the 1619 Project?
ANSWER: The 1619 Project is a New York Times series designed to help readers better understand the struggles and contributions of Black people in the United States. It "aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative."
**NOTE: Adapted from Pledge to Teach the Truth Organizing toolkit provided by the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter in Schools**