As parents protest critical race theory, students fight racist behavior at school – NBC Boston

[ad_1]

This fall, teens from more than a dozen states staged protests and spoke out in front of school boards about racist bullying and harassment by their peers – sounding the alarm bells about discrimination in some of the same states. districts and states targeted by conservative activists calling for a ban on anti-racism courses.

Students walked out of class over racist remarks from classmates in Connecticut and Massachusetts, racist social media posts by teenagers in Minnesota and Washington, graffiti with racist slurs found in bathrooms from schools in Michigan and Missouri; and threats against students of color in New York and Ohio.

David Hinojosa, a lawyer with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law who leads the nonprofit’s work on equal educational opportunity, is concerned that the school board battles put in jeopardize efforts to achieve racial and gender equality in schools. He cited widespread actions against diversity efforts “which have proliferated across the country,” starting with former President Donald Trump’s anti-CRT executive order last year and continuing with efforts by the State to ban books and limit the way history is taught.

“When we say it’s not okay to talk about this true story,” he said, “there’s going to be a spillover effect on the behaviors of teachers, behaviors of school leaders and student behavior. “

The wave of student activism in recent months, said he and two other civil rights experts, shows precisely why schools cannot afford to avoid topics of race and discrimination.

Read the full article on NBCNews.com here.

The term Critical Race Theory now has a different meaning from what it was originally taught by jurists in the 1970s and 1980s. States have passed laws prohibiting teaching of the concept, which is derived from legal journals, and recent political campaigns have used it as a problem, leaving teachers scared that any lesson related to race breaks the law. Insider Voices of Color reporter Gwen Aviles explains.

[ad_2]