The National Education Association (NEA) says it will teach critical race theory in more than 14,000 school districts spread across all 50 states.
The NEA passed two resolutions related to critical race theory – the ideology that the nation’s institutions are inherently racist – at their annual representative meeting over the weekend to implement the teachings in classrooms.
The union vowed to share and publicize “information already available on critical race theory (CRT) — what it is and what it is not,” and dedicate a team of staffers to learning more and fighting back against the “anti CRT rhetoric.”
The NEA pledged to “oppose attempts to ban critical race theory,” and the New York Times’ highly criticized “1619 Project,” which they cited as “an already-created, in-depth, study” of society.
They also plan to publicly convey their support of the “accurate and honest teaching” of age-appropriate accountings of “unpleasant aspects” of the nation’s history which includes, “slavery, and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other peoples of color.”
The union will join up with Black Lives Matter on October 14, which is George Floyd’s birthday, as a “national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression.”
NEA president Becky Pringle must commit to making public statements to the media in support of “racial honesty in education including but not limited to critical race theory.”
In a second resolution, the union committed to putting together opposition research on “organizations attacking educators doing anti-racist work,” and put together resources for educators to utilize when they come under attack for teaching CRT.
Legislation to ban critical race theory from being taught in schools has been proposed in 22 states and signed into law in five – “Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee.”
“We need to make sure that our kids recognize that this country is moving toward a more perfect union, that we should teach the exceptionalism of our nation and how people can live together and work together to make a greater nation, and to not teach things that inherently divide or pit either Americans against Americans or people groups against people groups,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said about the law that took effect in the beginning of July.
