The Utah Legislature recently passed a resolution banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Utah schools. The most instructive comment during the discussion was Rep. Lincoln Fillmore telling the chamber that “I don’t know what it is.”
Interesting then that he would vote to ban something when he doesn’t know what it is. But, I have news for Rep. Fillmore and his GOP colleagues. We have been teaching race theory for hundreds of years.
We taught that Blacks are 3/5ths of a person. We taught that a significant portion of the country valued slavery so much that they were willing to attempt to secede from the Union to maintain it. We taught that some valued slavery so much that it was a contributing factor in the assassination of President Lincoln. We taught that policing and prison regulations could be modified to keep Blacks enslaved through the peonage process even after the 13th Amendment was passed. We taught that Blacks shouldn’t be educated with the same level of resources as whites, and that they should be educated in separate and demonstrably unequal facilities. We taught that Blacks should not be allowed to move into your neighborhood. We taught that Blacks should be feared and killed for relatively minor offenses, like selling cigarettes on a street corner, jogging and suspicion of criminal activity.
Yes, we have been teaching race theory for hundreds of years. Don’t you suppose it’s about time that we taught it, not just from the standpoint of the victimizers, but also from the perspective of the victims?
Dennis R. Edmonds, Sandy
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