On Jan. 21, Sinclair hosted an introductory discussion on a topic that has been in the news a lot lately: critical race theory. The event was hosted by Michael Carter, Sinclair\u2019s Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Advisor to the President, and Jared Cutler, Assistant Provost of Accreditation and Assessment. Critical race theory (CRT) studies racism as a social construct and the historical impact it\u2019s had on housing, education, jobs, and the justice system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProponents say learning the history of racism is crucial to addressing inequities,\u201d said Carter. \u201cCritics say the theory teaches that the U.S. is fundamentally racist\u2026 Most people who don\u2019t want critical race theory taught can\u2019t really define it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaching CRT has been banned or restricted in 15 states including Florida, Montana, New Hampshire, and Idaho. There are also possible bans happening in over a dozen other states, including Ohio. Carter reiterated that CRT is never taught in K-12 education, but mostly in grad school and law school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHere\u2019s the slippery slope of this: when we say you can\u2019t teach things that are \u2018anti-American,\u2019 you run into these issues where we\u2019ve got book-banning going on all across the country,\u201d said Carter. \u201cWe\u2019re letting parents define what should be taught in schools.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Books about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement have been banned from schools, including a children\u2019s book about Ruby Bridges, the first child to integrate a segregated New Orleans school in 1960. The ban was because the white people in the story\u2013who screamed slurs at the 6-year-old, withdrew their children from the school and refused to teach or have classes with her\u2013 did not have \u201cenough redemption\u201d in the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, critics of CRT have nothing to say about Alabama and Mississippi still celebrating Robert E. Lee Day, Tennessee having a state park named after the founder of the KKK, and Mississippi declaring April Confederate History Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnderstand this fight against the teaching of critical race theory isn\u2019t about what\u2019s divisive at all,\u201d said Carter. \u201cIt\u2019s about what makes certain people uncomfortable and [they] don\u2019t want to teach it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter described banning books and CRT as dangerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you talk about not being able to teach anything divisive, now you can\u2019t teach about the Holocaust, can you? Because there are going to be some people who may feel bad,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIf you’ve got German ancestry, we have to not teach about the Holocaust because that may make you feel bad or guilty.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMaus,\u201d a graphic novel about the Holocaust, was recently banned in a county in Tennessee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo shield people from feeling discomfort over historic actions by their race, nationality or gender,\u201d Cutler said. \u201cKeep in mind that they have already outlawed CRT being taught in schools, so this is above and beyond the whole CRT discussion even. How in the world do you teach about slavery? How in the world do you teach about Jim Crow without people feeling some discomfort? They should feel uncomfortable about those things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter took some time to explain the context of the extremely divided time we are living in, as far as the social and political climate. He quoted Thomas Friedman, author of \u201cThe World is Flat\u201d who said: \u201cPeople aren\u2019t afraid of change they\u2019re afraid of loss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople feel that if someone else is getting something that they\u2019re losing something,\u201d Carter went on to explain. \u201cAnd to be honest, that\u2019s what a lot of people are afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The demographics of America are becoming less white, which is scary to some people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re more segregated today than we were 30-years-ago in this country,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWhen that happens you live in these echo chambers. There\u2019s this group-speak and group-think, and you\u2019re not challenging your ideas and thoughts when you don\u2019t come in contact with other folks.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter pointed out how people of color (POC) don\u2019t have a choice on whether or not they interact with white people, especially in the Midwest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhite people in this country, if they don\u2019t desire to interact with people of different races, they don\u2019t have to for the most part,\u201d he said. \u201cUnless you live in a large urban environment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People of different races have a different memory of America\u2019s past. Not everyone knows about the Tulsa Race Massacre or that the prison system was expanded because the unpaid labor of slavery needed to be recreated, especially in the South. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People are more aware of acts of racism today because they are filmed on a regular basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThink of where we would be if George Floyd\u2019s murder had not been filmed,\u201d said Carter. \u201cIt would have been a debate about what happened, but you could not debate [the video]. You couldn\u2019t change the narrative.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another factor of today\u2019s societal divide is social media, which has normalized conspiracy theories, rejecting facts and accepting lies as the truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe truth doesn\u2019t matter anymore,\u201d Carter said. \u201cNow we can\u2019t even decide what the truth is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cutler also spoke about the importance of equity over equality. Everyone in society has different needs, so it doesn\u2019t make sense to give everyone the same thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t understand all the pushback that we\u2019re seeing against equity,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems to me that it makes all the sense in the world that people have different needs and should be provided with what their circumstances require in order for them to succeed.\u201d Cutler continued by saying, \u201cThere are things we have to talk about. There are things we have to deal with if we\u2019re going to make progress.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n