Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed a bill that prevents publicly funded schools from teaching critical race theory. Shortly after signing the bill into law, Stitt posted a short video message explaining why he decided to sign the bill.
“I firmly believe that not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to define and divide young Oklahomans about their race or sex,” he said.
“We can and should teach this history without labeling a young child as an oppressor, or requiring he or she feel guilt or shame based on their race or sex.”
Critics have stated that Stitt does not know what critical race theory is. Furthermore, Stitt’s opponents have accused many Republican lawmakers of mischaracterizing what critical race theory is in exchange for political gain.
“The term critical race theory is being used by Republicans in a loose way to capture all sorts of critical thought about the histories and legacies of racism in this country. It’s a bogeyman that they’re constructing around critical attention to the history of the country,” Amna Akbar of Ohio State University told The Hill.
“Critical race theory attends not only to law’s transformative role which is often celebrated, but also to its role in establishing the very rights and privileges that legal reform was set to dismantle. Like American history itself, a proper understanding of the ground upon which we stand requires a balanced assessment, not a simplistic commitment to jingoistic accounts of our nation’s past and current dynamics,” UCLA’s Kimberlé Crenshaw adds.
Despite pushback, bills like Stitt’s are gaining traction in certain pockets of the country. Oklahoma has just become the sixth state to push forth such legislature in recent years.
