By Patricia Bailey, Education Gem of the Sound Reporter
Testimony to the School Board – Critical Race Theory in Highline Schools
Good evening Highline School Board Members,
IRI, a look-alike program to Critical Race Theory, is present in the Highline School District. Many people believe CRT is a study of the history of slavery, discrimination, racism, and the struggle for civil rights. Most people would agree these are needed studies in American history classes. However, CRT is the belief the United States is irredeemably racist and must be dismantled, including our founding documents.
CRT separates students into the privileged-oppressor class and victim-under class based on skin color. The so-called reformers would have students of color believe they are permanently disadvantaged by the white supremacist power structures In this country. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of informed parents of all ethnicities in this country oppose CRT as being divisive and damaging to children.
Let’s see how critical race theory holds up under scrutiny by looking at our United States governors over the past 20 years.
- The governor of Washington State was Gary Locke, a Chinese American.
- The governor of New Mexico was Bill Richardson, a Mexican American.
- The governor of Massachusetts was Devel Patrick, an African American.
- The governor of Louisiana was Bobby Jendal, an Indian-American— {India].
- The governor of New York was David Paterson, an African American.
- The governor of New Mexico was Susana Martinez, a Mexican American.
- The governor of South Carolina was Nikki Haley, an Indian American— [India].
- The governor of Hawaii was David Ice, a Japanese Okinawa American.
- The governor of New Mexico is Michelle [Lujan] Grisham, a native American.
- The governor of Oklahoma is Kevin Stitt, a Native American.
So far, we have shown CRT reformers are deceivers, and we haven’t even gotten to the legions of mayors, representatives, and senators of color in this country.
Let’s look at others we recognize as people of color who are presumably hopelessly stifled in their potential due to the color of their skin:
- Russell Wilson
- Whitney Houston
- Bill Cosby
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Stevie Wonder
- Jimmy Hendricks
- Bruce Lee
- Denzel Washington
- Oscar de la Renta
- Morgan Freeman
- Michio Kaku
- Condoleezza Rice
- Muhammad Ali
- Michael Jackson
- Kanye West
- Oprah Winfrey
- Barack Obama
We could go on and on.
It is essential these CRT so-called reformers, with their poisonous deceptions, not be given any role in training our teachers. Those who seek to deceive children into believing they will never be able to achieve, contribute, and excel because there will always be some privileged pale person standing in their way, is toxic to students. We want our children nourished in a supportive, cooperative, optimistic worldview where they see one another as allies across all races—not adversaries as these enemies of children, the CRT reformers, would try to urge children to believe.
