Dear Editor,

Critical Race Theory is in the news lately. Many people, mostly in the South, but all over the country, are opposed to teaching it in schools. Why? What is Critical Race Theory? It is the idea that our country, in the past, has mistreated certain minority races and it has had long term consequences on our country, Most obviously CRT relates to slavery, segregation, Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, discrimination, Jim Crow laws, and general racism.

CRT also includes our exploitation of Chinese “Coolie” labor to build our transcontinental railroads in the 1800s.

CRT also includes our sending innocent Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II, CRT also includes our forcing Native Americans off their ancestral lands and putting them in reservations. The Holocaust, even though it was Germany, not USA, is also a part of Critical Race Theory, All of these things actually happened. They are a part of our History, Should we ignore them and sweep them under the rug? They are in direct conflict with the words in the Declaration of Independence, … all men and women?) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness … These are admirable ideals, but our country has sometimes come up short, Of course most of the founding fathers were slave owners, The 13th Amendment to the Constitution freed the slaves, the 14th made them citizens cind denied the states from abridging their rights, and the 15th said. states could not deny them the vote. This all sounds good, but mostly in the South these rights were flagrantly restricted.

It took a whole century and a civil rights movement in the 1960s, led by Martin Luther King Jr., to create federal civil rights legislation, The South is still opposing this. Again, this is actually part of our History.

If we don’t teach it in our schools it could happen again. Germany and the Holocaust illustrate how dark periods in a country’s History should be treated, Germany has come face to face with its past. It has created memorials and museums at some concentration and death camps, It has built a huge “Documentation Center” in Nuremburg that chronicles the causes and rise of the Nazi Party.

Germany has given much support to Israel, The Nazi era is taught in schools. It is actually a crime to deny the Holocaust in Germany, We have visited the Dachau Concentration Camp and the Documentation Center in Nuremberg, They were sobering experiences.

So what should we do here? Do we whitewash our past? Do we want to tell our kids we are always the good guys? USA! USA! That is what many in our country want to do. They say it is unpatriotic to teach Critical Race Theory They have a point that if it is taught, it should be age-appropriate and taught very thoughtfully.

We should not be banning book but finding the right books. I believe we should be more like Germany to make sure dark periods in our past are not repeated.

Bruce Williams,

Warren