Critical Race Theory Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

House Committee Moves ‘Anti-Racism Bill’ Forward

According to the bill itself, Senate Bill 130, known as the Anti-Racism Act of 2023, prohibits teaching that one race is inherently, morally, or intellectually superior to another race, but nothing in the bill prohibits the discussion of those concepts in theory as part of an academic course.

The House Education Committee had a vigorous debate Monday on the anti-racism bill. This is the same bill that died in the final hours of the 2022 legislative session.

Supporters of the bill say it offers protection for teachers, students and parents. Those against the bill say it inhibits open discussion and creates a chilling effect for teachers.

Del. Patrick Lucas, R-Cabell, said he thinks the bill protects students, parents and teachers.

“It protects teachers, number one, from talking about it in a way that can cause things to get out of hand,” he said. “And it also keeps teachers who might want to push their ideals onto students from doing so, too.”

Del, Elliott Pritt, D-Fayette, voted no on the bill.

“I voted against this act because there are too many ambiguities and it leaves the door open for punitive actions against teachers with very little recourse for them to be able to defend themselves,” he said. “It’s not well defined, and that becomes a problem.”

The anti-racism bill passed the House Education Committee and now moves on to the House Judiciary Committee.

Us & Them: Educators Worry About Pushback Against Racial, Gender Studies In America's Schools

The debate over curriculum choices and classroom materials has emerged again across the nation as a major topic of division. Some say educators should decide what’s appropriate for students, while others advocate for more “parental choice.” Some parents in communities across the country are calling for some books to be banned from public schools.

America’s public schools are once again in the crosshairs of our nation’s culture wars.

Some parents want more say in what and how their kids are taught — especially topics like racial history and gender studies. These parents say schools are pushing a social agenda they don’t agree with. The call for more parental involvement includes increased challenges to the books used in classrooms.

Last year, those cases quadrupled with challenges against nearly 1600 individual titles. Educators worry that the pushback against classroom materials can also achieve a broader goal — to challenge teachers with policies and laws that restrict what and how they can teach.

For this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay speaks with Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty and education historian Adam Laats.

Listen toThe Great Textbook War, which is about the 1974 Textbook Controversy in Kanawha County, WV.

Listen toThe Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom, which features the story of conservative textbook activists Mel and Norma Gabler.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.

These are some of the titles Texas State Rep.Matt Krause notified the Texas Education Agency that he is “initiating an inquiry into Texas school district content,” according to anOct. 25 letter obtained by The Texas Tribune.

Krause’s letter provides a16-page list of about 850 book titles and asks the districts if they have these books, how many copies they have and how much money they spent on the books.

The lawmaker’s investigation sought to identify books that pertain to race or sexuality or “make students feel discomfort.”

In January 2022, a Tennessee school district voted to ban the graphic novel Maus, which is about the Holocaust, due to “inappropriate language” and an illustration of a nude woman.

Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for the work that tells the story of his Jewish parents living in 1940s Poland and depicts him interviewing his father about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.

Adam Laats, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education.

Adam Laats taught middle and high school for ten years in Milwaukee. He earned his PhD in U.S. History at the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 2007. He is a professor of education at Binghamton University and studies the history of American education.

He is particularly interested in the history of cultural battles over schooling and school reform. His books have examined the campaigns of conservative evangelical Protestants in both K-12 and higher education, the history of creation/evolution debates, and the evolution of conservative thinking about K-12 education.

Laats is author of “Fundamentalist U.” and “The Other School Reformers.”

For years, Norma and Mel Gabler, a couple from Longview, TX, had a big say over what went into the nation’s textbooks and what didn’t.

Their story is one of small town activism that motivated thousands of conservatives in Texas and across the nation.

Tiffany Justice started Moms For Liberty with Tina Descovich in January 2021. The group has grown into a nationwide organization of parents. Some reports show they have 70,000 members in 165 chapters in 33 states.

Moms for Liberty fights for parent’s rights. They want students to learn academic essentials, like reading. They’re opposed to any form of government that gets between them and their children.

Us & Them: Can We Have A Hard Conversation About Race In America’s Classrooms?

The story of who we are as a nation is being challenged. Examining America’s racial history is not easy and not welcomed by everyone.

Americans are looking back to reassess their history and origins.

George Floyd’s murder launched a global movement to assert the critical role that race plays in American law and society; however, even before Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation and the world, there were efforts to redefine America’s origin story.

Now, there are fresh fracture points in how we see ourselves and how we teach our history. A focus of this debate is on a little-known academic and legal concept called Critical Race Theory that says that racism is inherent in our laws and institutions.

The theory is not part of standard public school curriculum; however, it has become a catch-all term for efforts to include race as an element in how we teach America’s history. Some parents are against any approach that makes their children pawns in a racial legacy they say focuses too much on oppression and victimization.

Once again, one of our nation’s most sensitive cultural flashpoints is evident in debates over laws and school curriculum, and who decides what students will learn about our past.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in Thursday, Mar. 24, at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on Saturday, Mar. 26, at 3 p.m.

Nikole Hannah-Jones developed The 1619 Project, which was turned into a podcast and later, a book. Among the goals for project was to reframe the origin story of America and to document how instrumental the institution of slavery was in the creation of the United States.

Nikole Hannah Jones website.

Nikole Hannah-Jones interview on the PBS News Hour.

Jelani Cobb is a professor at the Columbia Journalism School faculty. He has contributed to The New Yorker since 2012, and became a staff writer in 2015. He is the recipient of the 2015 Sidney Hillman Award for Opinion and Analysis writing and writes frequently about race, politics, history and culture. Cobb was most recently an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut where he specialized in post-Civil War African American history, 20th century American politics and the history of the Cold War.

Jelani Cobb’s New Yorker article about Derrick Bell —”The Man Behind Critical Race Theory.“

Matthew Hawn was a social studies teacher in Sullivan County, TN. He was fired for lessons he taught that delved into the role of race in American society.

Articles about Matthew Hawn in The Atlantic and Washington Post.

Jonathan Zimmerman is an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written about the culture wars in the public schools for decades. An updated version of his book from 2002, “Whose America” will be published this fall. The original book took a deep dive into the religion and history wars in the schools.

Jonathan Zimmerman’s article in The Hill about Critical Race Theory.

Learn more about Jonathan Zimmerman’s book “Whose America, Culture Wars in the Public Schools.”

Glen Youngkin picked up support from parents because he talked about their concerns on the campaign trail in his race for Governor of Virginia. He saw their anxiety over masking requirements and the pandemic, and he tapped into their frustration about what students were learning, or not learning at school. He made a campaign promise to ban Critical Race Theory from being taught in Virginia’s school system, despite the fact that CRT was not part of the state’s education curriculum. Youngkin defeated former Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. As promised, when he took office on January 15, 2022, Governor Youngkin signed an executive order against teaching “divisive concepts” in public schools. Youngkin’s order was a version of similar legislation that’s passed in a dozen states so far, and still being considered in a couple dozen more.

Tiffany Justice is a co-founder of Moms For Justice, which has grown into a nationwide organization of parents. Some reports show they have 70-thousand members in 165 chapters in 33 states. Justice is a wife and mom of four school-aged children. From 2016 to 2020, she served on the Board of the School District of Indian River County, FL. Justice says her organization empowers parents to look behind what she calls the “education curtain.”

Learn more about Moms for Liberty.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of history at The Ohio State University where he teaches courses on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement.

‘Anti-Racism Act’ Fails In Final Moments Of 2022 Legislative Session

It looked like the most controversial bill of the 2022 West Virginia Legislative session had just squeaked by in time, just before midnight and adjournment sine die on Saturday. But within the next hour, it was confirmed by the Senate Communications Director that Senate Bill 498 had not passed the upper chamber in time.

Senate Bill 498 was named the Anti-Racism Act of 2022 but was widely seen by opponents as a response to concerns about critical race theory. Referred to as CRT, Education Week describes it as “a theory that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.”

Supporters said it will protect students and ensure that no educator in West Virginia is teaching that one race is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” or that people should be discriminated against or “receive adverse treatment” because of their race.

Earlier in the legislative process, state education officials testified before lawmakers that they have had no instances of such lessons being taught in West Virginia.

A similar bill in the House of Delegates, House Bill 4011, failed to get out of committee following an emotional public hearing.

Sen. Owens Brown, D-Ohio, spoke against Senate Bill 498 on March 2, before it passed the Senate. Brown is a former president of the West Virginia NAACP and the only Black lawmaker in the state Senate.

“In 2020, after George Floyd was killed, I noticed people across the country coming together, white Americans, Black Americans, Asian, hispanics, arm-and-arm marching together protesting the inhumanity that had happened,” Brown said. “But then all of a sudden I see critical race theory being thrown out there and a debate again trying to divide people.”

“And this is what is happening,” he continued. “CRT was dormant. And it’s been told to you over and over again, that it wasn’t taught in the public schools. But here we are still trying to say it’s been inserted into public schools for political purposes and for political gain. And that is not right.”

Brown asked Senate Education Chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, who is also the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 498, for instances in West Virginia schools where she knew this theory was being taught. Rucker said she could not provide specific instances.

Opponents say the bill would limit thoughtful discussions about race, systemic racism and implicit bias in West Virginia K-12 schools and higher education institutions. Opponents have said such a law would create a “chilling effect” in the classroom, prohibiting teachers from teaching history accurately.

Supporters counter by saying the bill does not curtail free speech, historical discussions and academic freedoms.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who is a public school teacher, spoke in support of the bill during debate on March 2. She said Senate Bill 498 will protect students like hers who have generations of family who come from poverty. She said it is wrong to say they are privileged just because of the color of their skin.

“Many of them come from generations of poverty – generations,” Grady said. “Some of them live in single wide trailers with holes in the floor, holes in the floor, no heat, no water, definitely food insecurity, to tell those kids that they have a leg up in society because of their race, is doing them a great disservice.”

“They don’t have a leg up in society, no more than skin color holds somebody down. We have to make sure we are telling our kids they can reach the stars,” she said.

Senate Bill 498 also would have created a reporting mechanism to the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission for alleged violations.

The House sent over its amended version of Senate Bill 498 Friday evening after more than two hours of debate. The Senate waited until minutes before midnight on Saturday to take up the bill for a final vote, just missing the midnight deadline.

There was no mention of the missed deadline from Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, as he lowered the gavel to adjourn.

W.Va. Senate Passes Bill Restricting Race, Identity Teaching

The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 498 on Wednesday that would prevent the teaching in public K-12 and higher education schools that any race is superior to another or that students should feel guilty because of their race.

The Republican majority greenlit the legislation 21-12, despite objections from multiple Democrats, including the body’s only Black lawmaker, who said the policy was “a step backward.”

Similar legislation has advanced in other states — all led by Republicans — to block the teaching of critical race theory and other instruction centered around race and identity. The measures have caused confusion about whether teaching such topics as the lingering effect of slavery are acceptable in public school classrooms.

Democrats and organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia are opposed to the legislation because of concerns about limiting free speech and censorship in schools.

Democratic Sen. Owens Brown, who is the former president of the West Virginia NAACP and is the first Black man to serve in the state Senate, said there is no evidence that any teachers in West Virginia are teaching students that one race is superior to another.

He accused Republicans of using the bill as a “weapon or tool in their campaigns” and stoking unnecessary fear among citizens.

“It’s been told to you over and over again that it wasn’t taught in the public school but here we are still trying to say it’s being inserted into public schools for political purposes and for political gain,” he said. “And that’s not right, because you’re turning people against each other.”

Critical race theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

Brown, who is a retired developmental specialist with the West Virginia Education Association where he served as a human and civil rights coordinator, said West Virginia is more than 90% white and that it’s important for children to experience diversity and be challenged in the classroom.

Democratic Sen. Mike Romano said the bill “opens the door for unfounded complaints against educators for saying the wrong words, or for making somebody upset.”

“There’s a more nefarious tone to this,” he said.

Republican Sen. Patricia Rucker, the bill’s sponsor and a Hispanic woman, said the bill does not target critical race theory or one particular concept or ideology.

She said she has no data on whether children are actually being taught these concepts in school, but there is concern among residents that they are. She said she wants to alleviate those concerns.

“We really worked very carefully to have language that just made it clear: ‘We don’t condone or want those kinds of statements,” she said. “I believe this is truly what the vision of Martin Luther King was: that we judge people based on their character not on the color of their skin.”

Sen. Amy Grady, a Republican who has worked as a public school teacher and spoke in support of the bill, said she teaches her students about difficult topics such as the Civil Rights movement and the historical injustices that Black Americans have faced.

“It’s important to teach those things. It’s important to teach history because we want to learn from history,” she said. “We don’t want to make mistakes of the past.”

What she doesn’t support, she said, is students being taught that because of their race, they are “privileged.” She said many of her students come from generations of poverty.

“To tell those kids that they have a leg up in society because of their race is doing them a great disservice,” she said. “They don’t have a leg up in society no more than skin color holds somebody down.”

The “Anti-Racism Act of 2022” — Senate Bill 498 — prevents the teaching in both public K-12 schools and colleges and universities that one race, ethnic group or biological sex is superior to another, that one group is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” and that people should be discriminated against or “receive adverse treatment” because of those identities.

It also includes a provision that says students should not be taught that a person’s moral character is determined by their race, ethnicity or biological sex, that a person should not be made to feel “discomfort, guilt or anguish” because of that identity and that “academic achievement, meritocracy, or traits such as hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race, ethnic group or biological sex to oppress” another.

Public Speaks On ‘Anti-Stereotyping’ Act

In a public hearing on House Bill 4011, more than two dozen people spoke against what’s known as the “anti-stereotyping act.” Two people voiced support.

The bill requires schools to publicly post training and instruction materials related to issues like nondiscrimination, race and sex. The bill also forbids schools from embracing stereotypes, and specifies that individuals should not be blamed, “for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.”

Among those against the measure, historian Kaylen Barker said the bill whitewashes history.

“History is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable, supposed to elicit critical thinking and better understand the world we live in,” Barker said.

Kathy Ferguson fears the bill sends the state spiraling backwards.

“Our lack of diversity in business, economy and now education (are a) threat to the critical fabric of West Virginia,” she said.

5th grader Sage Blymer worried about her teacher getting in trouble or fired for teaching the history she loves to learn.

“Like how we treated people of color, women, LGBTQ people,” Blymer said, “I can feel sad about it but that doesn’t make me feel bad about who I am.”

Barry Holstein supports the bill. He said some West Virginia teachers’ lesson plans include radical recommendations from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“Some materials teach students that people are divided into two groups, the oppressors and the oppressed, and that division occurs because of the color of one’s skin. ” he said.

The bill’s sponsor, Del. Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, says HB 4011 allows the free teaching of history, but negates the radical ideas coming out of our universities.

“The idea that certain individuals are superior and certain individuals are inferior. We shouldn’t be teaching that in our schools, we need to be teaching equality,” he said.

The bill now goes to the House Judiciary committee.