According to some, Critical Race Theory is an issue that has been manufactured to deny the right to teach the true, albeit gruesome and disheartening, history of this nation. Therein, I think, lies the problem for those opposed to teaching students about the impact of racism in America. They are unwilling to allow the disturbing truth of this country’s roots to be dug up any further, and they will fight to preserve the whitewashed fallacies that have existed for centuries. Why?
I will tell you that I do not have that answer, but racism’s beginnings are not a historical secret, and its perpetuity is not unnoticed in our current society. Children, adults, and senior citizens alike are still subjected to it today. Entire communities are left with a sense of alienation and exclusion when inequitable legislation is penned by people who are so far removed from the reality of racism, that they shouldn’t even be in the room. Yet, no one wants posterity to know the true foundation on which our nation stands, or the cycle that has been perpetuated since that time.
How will our children navigate such an unreality when racism rears its ugly head? How will they understand the nuances that will help to keep them grounded in a faith that became critical in the continuation of an entire race of people? I do not only refer to slavery as a historical marker, but I include the atrocities against Jewish people, as well as those perpetrated against Japanese Americans when the federal government rounded up and relocated 120,000 Californians of Japanese descent in the name of national security. Don’t even get me started on the savagery in which Native Americans have been dismissed from their own birthright. There are thousands of other examples, but if opponents have their way, America’s students will never learn about those occurrences that so indelibly marked their history.
So, how does Texas’ governor, Greg Abbott, think our students should be taught about their history? Well, by teaching them graduate level concepts about a theory that belies and negates the contributions, hell, downright soul sacrifices, that their ancestors were forced to make, to build a country that would always hate them. However, that good ol’ boy in Texas’ highest political seat maintains that making Juneteenth a federal holiday is the way to go. Both sides of his mouth are always going in opposite directions. Hypocrisies and lies spew from one side, while he patronizes entire races with the drivel that comes out the other.
Abbot’s decision to promote Critical Race Theory is a political ploy to keep his seat, and his hypocrisy is a slap in the face to the entire state of Texas and its checkered past. It is an affront to any progress we have made toward engaging in truth regarding that past. Juneteenth is ALL about exploring that past and building toward a future that is so foreign from it, that it no longer has to be taught. Sorry, Gregg old boy, but we ain’t there yet. The irony is that Texas’ late invitation to the emancipation party is the whole reason there is even a Juneteenth holiday at all. Waffle much, Governor?
It is my opinion that Greg Abbott is a racist. If Black and Brown kids are old enough to be subjected to racism, white kids are old enough to learn about it.
Elizabeth Thomas holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in public leadership. She is an advocate for social justice, and she uses her writing to address issues that are relevant to her community. You can find her on social media at, https://www.facebook.com/dueseasonwriters, https://twitter.com/EssentialEme, https://www.instagram.com/essentialeme/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethomasmpl/