WHERE I STAND ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Virginia Sheppard

Candidate For Sequim School Board

Most discussions about Critical Race Theory seem to revolve around whether or not there is a subject matter entitled “Critical Race Theory” actually being taught in our schools.  To enter into this discussion is to go round and round about terms and the meaning of terms.   We must avoid being drawn into this distraction.  To do so, we must examine what is being taught as elements of Critical Race Theory even if the name is being judiciously avoided.  There are three red flags to look out for.

Unequal Treatment.  Any time that a child is treated differently from the rest due to his or her skin color or gender, even if under the banner of “antiracism”, it is discrimination and has no place in our schools.  Any time that a teacher assigns unequal value to groups of people based on race or gender, it is discrimination and has no place in our schools.  Antiracism is not the antithesis of racism; it is nothing more than a veil covering over racist concepts.

Distorted History.  There is no doubt that American history has its ugly racist periods.   However, it often also contains episodes of great honor, sacrifice, and nobility.  Both types of occurrences need to be taught.    Tailoring or adjusting history to fit a fashionable political agenda is wrong.  Distorting history to emphasize or deemphasize a class of people based on race or gender is wrong.  American history needs to be taught as accurately, comprehensively, and thoroughly according to the best scholarship.   In extreme cases, objective truth is even under attack as racist: turning math away from a discipline into an exploration of inclusive feelings; and changing science from the quest of factual reality to the pursuit of consensus.

Structural Racism.   The term “structural racism” is being used to denote a situation in which racism is deeply embedded in the institutions of America and our community making those institutions unfit for 21st Century realities.  Hence, they must be torn down and rebuilt racist free.   The argument being that those institutions are so tainted by past racism that they cannot be redeemed or otherwise salvaged.  They must be demolished and replaced with something entirely different as envisioned by the critical race theory proponent.  Their thinking is that this rebuilding takes place along largely Marxist lines.

I believe that an open, objective, and honest dialog concerning the role of race in our 21st Century American society needs to take place and our schools is an excellent place for this to happen.   However, when conducted under the compulsion of critical race theory or of any of its elements I have just described, such discussions constitute a coerced and thus, false dialog.  As a member of the Sequim School Board, I will not support Critical Race Theory or its key pillars while I will support open discussions about race.  I am willing to listen to any parent who feels that their child is being subjected to coercion under the banner of Critical Race Theory.