1. Falsehood: Critical Race Theory teaches White folks to hate their skin.
Nope, not even close AND if you are White and feel any shame or guilt about some of the facts and stories you are exposed to that happened as a result of pretty despicable decisions made by White folks, good on you, you have a conscience and might be experiencing empathy. The question now is, what part are you going to play to make sure going forward our systems do not produce disparate outcomes or injustice? Let's go!
2. Falsehood: CRT means Critical Race Theory.
Honestly, if you're looking for the initials CRT in RTK requests you will likely be getting information about Culturally Responsive Teaching OR Culturally Relevant Teaching (Pedagogy) which are strategies to ensure EACH child gets what they need to be successful, which is what folks with hearts want, right?
Also schools are notorious for creating initials. CRT might mean Curriculum Research Team or Candy Reconaissance Team, who knows. Don't be fooled by initials alone, think critically about what they mean and how they are being explored.
3. Falsehood: MLK would have hated Critical Race Theory.
Honestly, Martin Luther King Jr. was a constant target of our government, just like Malcolm X and Freddie Hampton and others. Folks in power, don't want poor folks, working folks to organize, because that means they'll have to give some power up. A Poor People's Campaign is dangerous, it was in 1968 and it is now. We celebrate Dr. King in our schools, but honestly most White folks really don't understand his philosophy because we've been asked to memorize parts of some speeches and not asked to critically examine them in their full context. If someone is using Dr. King’s words as a proof point that Critical Race Theory is bad for America, question that. He is quoted out of context ALL THE TIME. While you’re at it, ask them what quotes they remember about Dr. King’s thoughts on Militarism and White Moderates.
4. Falsehood: Schools these days are indoctrinating our kids.
5. Falsehod: Schools are not indoctrinating our kids.
Folks on both sides of this argument need to be real, indoctrination is happening in our schools, just not in the way these anti-CRT crusaders are making it sound. Indoctrination is the process of teaching folks to accept a set of beliefs without critically thinking. We've been doing this for about a century now and only recently did schools really start to shift to more inquiry based methods. Go to most high schools, and you're sure to find a multiple guess, true false, or fill in the blank test that require students to regurgitate facts and information their teachers deemed important. That is indoctrination; teachers control what information has to be memorized, kids memorize that information so they can get the grade. There are additional layers of indoctrination too, so many that we literally had to write a whole book* of falsehoods our society believes about education because... indoctrination.
Honestly, we need less memorization and more critical thinking where kids can explore their identity, their interests, their goals, their world which, by the way, might include studying different theories about how our systems function, like Critical Race Theory. It also means they'll likely question other things, which is really what all the hoopla is about. Folks in powerful places don't want the questions, or the critical thinking because then those who know how the system is failing work together to make the world more just.
6. Falsehood: Critical Race Theory and Implicit bias training teaches us to be racist.
This is probably the most dangerous falsehood, because implicit bias training actually helps us to slow down and recognize when we're making decisions that might harm others. If I were facilitating an assessment workshop for all White teachers who I knew where only teaching White children, I would still talk about implicit bias. Our media and our socialization has trained us to think certain ways. Trained us, unconsciously, without us even knowing what was happening. There are whole books written on this, so please look it up, but I want to give an example most can relate to.
Billy is a second grader in Mrs. Bean's class. He has three older brothers who caused nothing but trouble when they had Mrs. Bean. When Mrs. Bean sees Billy on the roster, she thinks "not again", but then checks her bias and thinks that Billy might be different, after all he's a different person. She tries really hard to give Billy the benefit of the doubt, but as the school year progresses she often finds herself drawn to pinpointing Billy as a culprit everytime some mischief in class starts to happen. She often says, "Billy, was that you who ....?" Billy in turn starts to really get annoyed with always getting called out for stuff he didn't do, that snowballs into him not being engaged or wanting to participate at all. You finish the story.
Another good bias example in schools, handwriting. It says a lot about a person right? Or maybe not- that's just how someone writes. Implicit bias is essential training for teachers, ignoring it hurts all kids. Period.
Critical Race Theory asks folks to examine facts, critically, so that we can make improvements. It's certainly better than ignoring truths or turning our backs on our neighbors. It doesn't teach us to be racist; it helps us understand in what ways our systems, policies and practices disproportionately and negatively affect Black folks, Indigenous folks and People of Color so that we can find solutions to do better. If you think it's racist to ignore facts about our BIPOC communities because they make some White folks feel uncomfortable, I'm going to have to agree with you.
7. Falsehood: Critical Race Theory is taught in our schools.
Honestly, it's just not. However, critical thinking is, and us regular folk should all be happy about that.
*126 Falsehoods About Education is coming out later this summer. Stay tuned.