Legislators in at least 15 states have introduced bills seeking to restrict how teachers can discuss racism, sexism and other social issues, according to Education Week.

In its 2021-22 budget (section 1.105), South Carolina has joined Republicans across the U.S. challenging Critical Race Theory (CRT) and The New York Times’ 1619 Project, and State Superintendent Molly Spearman has proclaimed CRT “ideology has no place in South Carolina schools and classrooms.”

Two aspects of this attack on CRT are important to address. First, CRT is not a curriculum or program, but an obscure scholarly theory found in law programs not in K-12 education.

Second, most critics never define CRT, which Victor Ray, a professor of sociology at the University of Iowa, describes as follows:

“Critical race theory arose to explain why structural racism endures … Despite internal disagreements, critical race theorists have documented a stunning (and disturbing) array of racial inequalities that can’t be explained by the acts of individual racists.”

Simply put, CRT examines situations around race through the lens of structural, not individual, racism. For example, using CRT to understand police killing Black people at a higher rate than white people is grounded in Black people being perceived as older than their biological age (consider Tamir Rice), not necessarily that individual police officers are racists.

Legislation aimed at CRT or the 1619 Project threatens academic freedom and the education of South Carolina students. As Eesha Pendharkar reports in EdWeek: “[E]xperts say the laws ultimately will unravel years of administrators’ fitful efforts to improve educational opportunities and academic outcomes for America’s children of color, who today make up the majority of the nation’s student body.”

What, then, might these attacks “unravel”?

Canceling Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project is political theater, a solution in search of a problem. Race and racism remain a significant part of life and education in South Carolina. Republicans are poised to ruin the needed, but incomplete, work identified above.

It is critical that teachers and students are free to know the truth so we can create the future we believe is possible.

Thomas is an education professor at Furman University. This column was originally published in Statehouse Report, City Paper’s sister publication.

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