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The death of George Floyd marked much more than an example of racial injustice; it even marked more than an upsurge of activity for the Black Lives Matter movement. His death marked a confrontation of racism with effects far beyond our justice system. In September of the same year, conservative journalist Christopher Rufo appeared on Fox News and “described [Critical Race Theory] as a radical ideology sowing racial division through education,” (Borter) going as far as to call it a “existential threat to the United States” (Rufo). To be clear, this is a patently absurd claim based in misunderstanding. Critical Race Theory, in fact, began in law schools to analyze the presence and effect of systemic racism in U.S. law. But with the rise of BLM movements and widespread criticism of racial injustice in America in coherence with the dominance of cancel culture in society, a great amount of fear was sparked, and thus, further conflict arose.
Every person has biases; it’s an unavoidable circumstance of being human. This reality, unfortunate as it may be, is not evil in itself. Rather, our own biases are simply burdens that we must confront and overcome, evil only arising when we allow our biases to take control of us instead. However, with the intense pressures of the racial divide in our country in combination with the fear of being “cancelled,” I believe that many Americans who had not confronted their biases began to fear being punished for admitting to these biases and thus feared any pressure regarding their own bias. Thus, the state of Texas, as well as many other southern conservative states, have begun to take action against the teaching of “Critical Race Theory,” a decision based in misinformation and the confrontation of inner biases.
In June of 2021, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed a bill with the aim to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in Texas schools which, “Opponents say [] limits honest conversations about race and racism in American society and will force teachers to equivocate on controversial or sensitive topics that will result in less educated students,” and also, “prohibits students from getting credit or extra credit for participating in civic activities that include political activism or lobbying elected officials on a particular issue” (McGee).
Now the Texas towns of Southlake and Fort Worth have begun to take action to ban books that discussed sex, race, and sexuality, with many schools and libraries having already taken books off the shelves. Furthermore, these smalls towns are citing recent Texas legislation regarding Critical Race Theory which says schools may not teach lessons that could makes students feel, “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” because of their race. However, as the next generations of Americans come of the age to confront their own biases, can we afford for our children to learn with such ignorance?
