Critical Race Theory is an academic framework noting that current racial inequalities, often presented as happenstance, are inextricably linked to centuries of overt racist violence and subjugation, often at the hands of revered government institutions and historical icons.
Because the theory doesn't unconditionally praise the United States or insist that racism was something terrible from which America has since moved on, the theory is the latest target in the culture wars instigated by far-right lawmakers and media outlets.
They falsely insist that children are being taught Critical Race Theory in classrooms and being indoctrinated to hate America. The pundits lie that Critical Race Theory teaches its scholars to hate white people. The fearmongering around the theory has led to legislation barring it from being taught.
Tennessee is one such state. Its legislature passed a bill banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory, as well as white privilege and racism, this past May.
If that weren't enough, the penalties being considered by state education officials are extreme, to say the least.
The state's Department of Education released a guidance on the penalties being considered for violating the ban. Listed as potential penalties were a $1 million fine for the first offense, and $5 million for repeat offenses. According to the Washington Post, the $1 million fine amounts to a year's worth of schooling for around 100 children.
The guidance drew immediate backlash and concern, including from journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose groundbreaking 1619 Project sparked much of the right's hysteria on Critical Race Theory.
How would we cover this if these laws were being enacted by Cuba or China or Afghanistan?https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Ida Bae Wells (@Ida Bae Wells) 1628081555
I don't think folks are really understanding fully what is happening on the frontlines in school districts and school boards. And it is only getting worse.https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Leslie Mac (@Leslie Mac) 1628088768
Compare this to the amount of work governments do to hold abusive teachers accountable. This country does not care truly about children's safety.https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Wagatwe Wanjuki \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf8 (@Wagatwe Wanjuki \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf8) 1628119991
So afraid of the truth they will go to any lengths to conceal it.https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Hannah Drake (@Hannah Drake) 1628084142
WTF?!!!!!!!!! Hmmmm where were all the fines when I was in elementary school being indoctrinated with white supremacy??!!!!!!!!https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Nkechi Taifa (@Nkechi Taifa) 1628166164
People also pointed out the hypocrisy coming from a party that breathlessly rails against so-called "cancel culture."
Perhaps the biggest free speech crisis in modern American history and crickets from the Intellectual Dark Web folks, the Je Suis Charlie folks, the \u2018campus free speech\u2019 folks, and of course hypocritical Republicans who like to rail against \u2018cancel culture\u2019 and \u2018big government\u2019.https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan) 1628087784
Theirs is the real cancel culture.https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— J. Holtham (@J. Holtham) 1628120329
hey remember like 5 minutes ago when conservatives couched all their objections to "woke culture" and "cancel culture" as being about the free exchange of ideas?https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1422902658097111040\u00a0\u2026— Michael Tae Sweeney (@Michael Tae Sweeney) 1628194047
The Tennessee Department of Education is accepting public comment submissions on the proposed penalties through August 11.
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