Credit Albert Herring / Tulane Public Relations
There is a lot of concern about the idea of teaching critical race theory in schools and how it could impact students. Last month, Utah’s State Legislature passed a resolution making recommendations to the Utah State Board of Education about critical race theory. But what is it and is it being taught in Utah?
Marisela Martinez-Cola teaches sociology at Utah State University and said critical race theory was born out of an effort of people in the 70's beginning to ask tough questions about the situations they were a part of.
“Critical legal study said law is not as pure as I think most of us had hoped it would be. That you would just apply it and it's done. We need to be able to look at the power dynamics involved. People who are in poverty lose cases, much more frequently than people who have the money to be able to work in the system,“ said Martinez-Cola. “Other legal scholars began to say, well, if we're going to center power in the discussion, I think it's okay to put another lens on that, and center race. What is the role of race in all of this?”