Critical Race Theory is a culture war flashpoint. SC Teachers see that as an opportunity

In his heart, David Martinez is a teacher.

He doesn’t mind tough questions or having a person challenge him, as long as people are trying in good faith to learn. But he also didn’t become a school teacher and eventually a University of South Carolina professor to get dragged into a culture war.

Martinez’s expertise, which uses Critical Race Theory to examine school funding, places him and many others in the crosshairs of conservative criticism for what scholars say is a misunderstanding of a once-niche academic term.

In the last week, top S.C. conservatives such as S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman have blasted the concept, saying it’s divisive.

“I don’t think that the critical race theory — and there’s different understandings of what that means — but it seems to me that is certainly not necessary for the education of young people four years old all the way through high school,” McMaster said.

Spearman blasted Critical Race Theory in a recent statement posted to Twitter, saying it “has no place in South Carolina schools in classrooms.”

Critical Race Theory is a process of examining how institutions and public policies — such as zoning, policing, banking, health care and more — have created or increased inequality. For example, an article from the University of California Los Angeles Law Review used Critical Race Theory to analyze school discipline and to argue that underlying prejudices and strict school discipline policies lead to minority students being disproportionately punished,

Conservative critics of the policy, led by former President Donald Trump, say Critical Race Theory paints an overly negative picture of America and makes white children feel guilty for actions they didn’t personally commit. Critics argue that Critical Race Theory places too much emphasis on a person’s race and not enough on a person’s character or individual actions.

“I see a lot of politicians making all these statements about what Critical Race Theory is, and it’s really apparent that they have no idea what it is,” said Spencer Platt, a USC professor whose doctoral research was in Critical Race Theory. “They say it’s trying to do things like teach folks to hate white folks...and, you know, I don’t know where they get that from. That’s just dishonest and not accurate at all.”

CRT “isn’t a program, a training or a curriculum. It’s a way of thinking about the world,” according to EdWeek.

While Spearman did not ban discussion of Critical Race Theory in classrooms, the Department of Education will not incorporate Critical Race Theory into curricula nor will it fund professional development that includes Critical Race Theory, according to her statement.

The education department will not try to stop teachers from attending training sessions on Critical Race Theory on their own time using their own money, department spokesman Ryan Brown.

The S.C. Department of Education “constantly” receives complaints from parents alleging their children are being taught Critical Race Theory, which is sometimes abbreviated CRT, Brown said.

“Many times what parents think is CRT is actually not but there have been instances of CRT principles being taught in public schools without the knowledge or consent of the school or district’s administration,” Brown said. “This is generally rectified by the school/district’s instructional leader providing the teacher with a more appropriate resource tied to state standards.”

Both Martinez and Platt said Critical Race Theory is not taught in K-12 schools or early education, something backed up by articles from ABC and IndyStar. The concept does, however, come up on college campuses.

Last week, the University of South Carolina held a two-day professional development/training regarding Critical Race Theory. USC held the event because many doctoral students wanted a deeper dive into Critical Race Theory, Platt told The State. While most participants were doctoral students, other participants included professors and lawmakers, Platt said.

USC offered the training for free to high school students, but no local high schoolers showed up because they were still in class, Platt said.

Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, who attended the event, is sponsoring a bill, H. 4343, that would place limits on how schools could teach gender and race.

The bill would prevent schools from teaching that people of a certain race or gender are unconsciously oppressive because of their gender, sex or race; that an individual’s character is determined by race or sex; that hard work and meritocracy are the products of racism or sexism; that living people of a certain race are responsible for the actions of their ancestors and more.

Scholars say Critical Race Theory does not teach students these things.

The bill, which would ban mandatory diversity training, would also withhold funding from schools that use the New York Times’ 1619 project as a source material. The 1619 project re-frames U.S. history as beginning in 1619, when the first African slaves were brought to the colonies, rather than in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The push to block Critical Race Theory from classrooms is not unique to South Carolina. Idaho recently enacted a law similar to the one proposed in S.C., according to the Idaho State Journal. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who may be gearing up for a presidential bid, jumped on the trend of bashing Critical Race Theory, according to The Miami Herald. As of mid-May, lawmakers in “nearly a dozen” states have introduced bills to regulate how slavery and racism are taught in K-12 schools, according to CBS News.

Rather than fighting or politicizing education, Martinez said people should be using the attention on Critical Race Theory to learn from one another.

“I think we need to be healthier about this,” Martinez said. “We’re not fighting here. We’re not engaged in a battle...The more that we get people that misunderstand what Critical Race Theory is to engage in the learning process...the better off we’re all going to be.”

While attention on Critical Race Theory may be new to the mainstream, the idea dates back to the 1970s, according to the American Bar Association.

“Critical Race Theory is not new. The dialogue around freedom is not new, the dialogue around inclusion and access and abolition and emancipation is not new,” Martinez said.

As a result, some people have always pushed back on those who say policies and institutions can create or exacerbate inequality, Martinez said.

“Whether we want to call it Critical Race Theory or not, there has always been resistance against these movements of liberation,” Martinez said.

While Critical Race Theory has been around for decades, conservative media have turned it into the latest front for a culture war.

One Fox News guest, appearing in September 2020 beside the network’s highest-rated host, Tucker Carlson, called Critical Race Theory an “existential threat to the United States,” according to a video posted on YouTube by conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation.