The Cobb County, Georgia, school board banned Critical Race Theory (CRT) lessons Thursday from classrooms.
The district, which has about 110,000 students and is the state’s second largest, blocked lessons on “systemic” racism after board Chairman Randy Scamihorn “said he brought up the topic because educators allegedly said on social media they were using part of the theory in their classroom discussions,” the
Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreported.
“It’s revisionist history and history should be thorough,” Scamihorn said, adding CRT “is a Marxist concept that pits one group of people against another.”
According to the paper, the board’s four Republicans all voted in favor of the ban while the three Democrats abstained from voting on the resolution.
The statements from Woods and State Board of Education Chairman Scott Sweeney did not outright mention CRT. Sweeney said during the meeting that the resolution is just a statement and doesn’t put the brakes on anything already being taught in classrooms for now.
“We want to encourage people to teach the facts,” Sweeney told board members. “Is there racism within the country? Absolutely. Is the entire country racist? I don’t agree with that.”
Specific language in the resolution reads concepts that put “fault, blame, a tendency to oppress others, or the need to feel guilt or anguish to persons solely because of their race or sex” violate students’ individual rights and equal opportunity.
ATLANTA — The state Board of Education voted Thursday to essentially endorse Gov. Brian Kemp’s opposition to teaching “critical race theory” in Georgia schools, despite criticism it would muzzle open
An enslaved family picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in the 1850s. Photograph by Pierre Havens.Photo: Pierre Havens/New York Historical SocietyAn enslaved family picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in the 1850s. Photograph by Pierre Havens.Photo: Pierre Havens/New York Historical Society
Georgia Board of Education Votes to Censor American History
The state board drafted a resolution restricting classroom discussion of racism, then blocked comments from the YouTube livestream.
June 4 2021, 3:13 p.m.
An enslaved family picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in the 1850s. Photograph by Pierre Havens.Photo: Pierre Havens/New York Historical SocietyAn enslaved family picking cotton outside Savannah, Ga., in the 1850s. Photograph by Pierre Havens.Photo: Pierre Havens/New York Historical Society