As Republican lawmakers across the country advance state bills that would limit how public school teachers can discuss race in their classrooms, educators say the efforts are already having a chilling effect on their lessons.
In recent weeks, Republican legislatures in roughly half a dozen states have either adopted or advanced bills purporting to take aim at the teaching of critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in law and society. Conservatives have made the teaching of critical race theory a rallying cry in the culture wars, calling it divisive and unpatriotic for forcing students to consider the influence of racism in situations where they might not see it otherwise.
In reality, the bills many Republicans have proposed do not directly address critical race theory. Instead, many ban the teaching of concepts that educators say they don’t teach anyway.
A bill signed into law by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt bans lessons that include the concept that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” that a person’s “moral character is inherently determined by his or her race or sex,” or that someone should feel discomfort, guilt or distress on account of their race or sex.
Nonetheless, educators say the newly adopted and proposed laws are already forcing teachers to second-guess whether they can lead students in conversations about race and structural racism that many feel are critical at a time the nation is navigating an important reckoning on those issues.
In Oklahoma City, teacher Telannia Norfar said she and her colleagues at Northwest Classen High School had planned to discuss a schoolwide approach to help students understand current events – including the murder of George Floyd, family separation at the Mexico border and the use of racist terms such as the “China virus.”
“We need to do it, because our students desire it,” she said. “But how do we do that without opening Oklahoma City public schools up to a lawsuit?”
She said how and whether they’ll do that is now unclear. Paula Lewis, chair of the Oklahoma City School Board, said though the state’s new law bans teachers from discussing concepts they weren’t discussing anyway, and though its penalties are not yet clear, the danger is the fear it instills.
“What if they say the wrong thing?” Lewis said. “What if somebody in their class during the critical thinking brings up the word oppression or systemic racism? Are they in danger? Is their job in danger?”
