Bradley Jones is a Fishers resident who is holding a “candidates forum” for school board candidates on Facebook. One of Mr. Jones’ questions is about Critical Race Theory:
This is an important question, since last year Fishers High School was teaching CRT in their Ethnic Studies course, and the HSE administration has repeatedly denied this fact. In addition, at least two of the board members running for reelection have been deeply involved in normalizing CRT-style racism in our community, so I was eager to find out what they have to say for themselves on this topic.
First Answer: Board Member and Candidate Janet Pritchett
Ms. Pritchett starts by saying this:
Oh boy. Well. Critical Race Theory is not a class taught in HSE.
Ms. Pritchett is right that there is no class called “Critical Race Theory,” but the theory was taught in the Ethnic Studies course at Fishers High last year. So her statement here is extremely misleading.
She goes on to say:
I think the real fear (disguised as CRT) may be that we talk about race or racism at school. Part of educating our students for the world around them is to acknowledge that racism exists.
I do not know anyone who thinks that racism does not exist. I also do not know anyone who has a problem with teaching children that it exists. So this is silly. What we do oppose is Ms. Pritchett’s continuing effort to spread racist ideas in our community, such as the idea that white people should try to be less white because white people are essentially oppressors. But there has never been any question that we want schools to cover topics like slavery, the civil rights movement, and the legacy of race-related historical injustices today. We just want these topics to be covered competently, and not in the racist, divisive fashion that Ms. Pritchett prefers, since her approach just makes everything worse.
Ms. Pritchett goes on:
The important thing to remember is that our teachers are asking our students to come to their own conclusions—teaching them to think critically. I applaud and support that in our schools.
Wow, that sounds pretty good! That sounds like what I want! Does she really mean it? Uh oh, it seems like she doesn’t:
For clarification, I don’t mean that there are two sides to racism, I just mean that we have to be able to have civil, educated discussions about it in order to learn anything from each other and our experiences.
So Ms. Pritchett thinks that there actually aren’t “two sides” on whatever she means by “racism.” This is pretty disturbing, since the “side” that she favors is the side that says things like “White identity is inherently racist; white people do not exist outside the system of white supremacy” (White Fragility, p. 150). This is a quote from the book that Ms. Pritchett led a community book study on in 2019. So it looks like she wants this kind of ideology presented to children, without any other side presented, since she thinks that there aren’t “two sides” on this issue. And then I suppose she’ll tell you that this isn’t CRT, and that you’re afraid to tell your kids that racism exists. It’s absurd.
If you’re in district 2, make sure to vote for Ms. Pritchett’s opponent, Juanita Albright. Juanita will tell you the truth and fight against the divisive and racist ideology that Ms. Pritchett favors.
Board Candidate Jackie Howell
Jackie Howell starts by offering a definition of Critical Race Theory:
To define Critical Race Theory: Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, to explore how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity.
She appears to plagiarize this definition of CRT from the Wikipedia article for Critical Race Theory:
This is pretty embarrassing, and I don’t enjoy embarrassing people, but this woman is running to have authority over a school district that serves over 21,000 students and has a yearly operating budget of over $250 million. She needs to answer questions without plagiarizing Wikipedia. Most children know better than this by the time they are old enough to write.
Ms. Powell also repeats the false claim that CRT is not being taught at HSE schools:
While it is not being taught at HSE, it is a buzz word that is circling the nation.
This is surprising given the definition she apparently plagiarized, since it is hard to imagine that Ms. Howell does not want students to discuss how “laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity.” After all, wouldn’t just covering the Civil Rights Movement meet this description? Obviously, as everyone understands, students should learn about the Civil Rights movement in their required American History course. So this answer from Ms. Howell reveals a deep and multifaceted confusion about the situation.
Ms. Howell is running in district 1. If you’re in district 1, please vote for her opponent, Tiffany Pascoe. Tiffany knows not to copy from Wikipedia, and, unlike Ms. Howell, she isn’t confused about what’s going on here.
Board President and Candidate Julie Chambers
Last up is Julie Chambers, the current Board President and candidate from district 4:
Well, I think we first need to define what we mean by CRT. If you are talking about the graduate level discipline that is sometimes taught in law school, then absolutely I agree that we do not and should not teach that coursework in HSE.
So she is also repeating the falsehood that CRT is not being taught at HSE. Note well that CRT is not rocket science. People like Ms. Chambers like to pretend that it is too complex for high school kids. But, in fact, if you gave the standard introductory textbook on CRT to a smart seventh-grade student, I think he or she could make good sense of it.
She goes on:
Additionally, as an example, we have had people complain that an elective, high school level ethnic studies course was teaching Critical Race Theory. That’s nonsense, of course, but just one example of how some people will distort the truth to make a political point.
You can see that Ms. Chambers is aware of my claim that this theory is taught in Ethnic Studies, a claim which she dismisses as “nonsense” without addressing the conclusive evidence I provided. She then implies that the content of the course is harmless:
Talking about race and how it intersects with history and society in an ethnic studies course isn’t some nefarious secret plan to teach “CRT”. What it is doing is offering our students a course to look at the world in a different way, and hopefully come away from that class more empathetic, more understanding, and more knowledgeable about the world they live in.
This is extremely deceptive. Here is what the course in question actually teaches, as I have documented:
White people invented racial categories five hundred years ago to justify slavery.
These categories were intended to form a power hierarchy with whites on top and blacks on the bottom.
Present-day American society is utterly soaked with racism.
It is important to take stock of all the aspects of each person’s “identity,” including the various oppressed categories that any given person might fall into (“intersectionality”).
These are central, defining tenets of CRT, as discussed in the most widely-cited textbook on the topic, written by experts Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, and published by NYU Press (you know, a legitimate academic press, unlike Wikipedia).
As I have said before, I myself have no problem with teaching CRT to high school students if it is taught competently, as a matter of significant controversy, and with a full review of objections to the theory, including the objection that the theory is racist. My problem is not with teaching high school students about CRT. My problem is the false statements repeatedly made by people like Ms. Chambers, Ms. Pritchett, and Ms. Howell.
If you’re in district 4, please vote for Ben Orr, who will put an end to this absurdity.
Here are the candidates I have endorsed, together with all the information you may need about voting. Make sure to vote, and please ask your friends and family to do likewise.
Julie Chambers has recently taken to pretending that she was taken out of context unless you provide her entire remarks. To prevent that sort of dishonesty, here are screenshots of the answers discussed above so you can read them for yourself and confirm that I did not misrepresent them.
Ms. Pritchett:
Ms. Howell:
Ms. Chambers:
