even all the people who have claimed that that has happened have not been able to produce a shred of evidence that that is true. i think some students who are white probably automatic walk away from some of these lessons and feel very uncomfortable, as we should. a master educator knows how to give those lessons without making students internalize these feelings of racism. at the end of the day, this politicizing of this, it s clearly been weaponized. you ve described it, i think, pretty well, on the weaponization of this. do you think simply time will get us past this? how can we get over this hump? i don t know honestly. i m quite concerned about what s happening in our country because, as you know, my project which is a work of journalism by the new york times is banned by name in georgia, florida, in texas.
its impact on schools and politics. i ll also talk to nikole hannah-jones, whose new york times 1619 project put slavery at the center of american history. we ll begin with a special report from my colleague antonia hylton who embedded herself in a texas town near dallas and has the story of what happened when a popular principal was accused of putting critical race theory into his school s curriculum. all right, buddy, are you ready? let s go. reporter: this is what most days are like for dr. james whitfield and his family. i would be lying if i told you it didn t pain me to not be with the students that i typically get to serve each day. reporter: normally he d be up by 6:00 a.m. in a suit, ready to lead a school of about 2,000 kids, but since late august he s been suspended from his job as the first black principal of texas majority white colleyville heritage high school in the wake of accusations he
behind the scenes, text messages, phone calls, voice mails. so sorry that happened, we love you, we support you, we ve got your back, but nobody would say that publicly though. reporter: 200 miles away in oklahoma, the state is facing the first ever federal lawsuit against an anti-crt law filed in october by the aclu arguing the law violates free speech. educators at millwood public schools in oklahoma city had been working under a law nearly identical to the one in texas that would ban concepts that could make students feel discomfort or guilt. but some teachers aren t budging. let s go before the massacre. what do you know about greenwood the city? reporter: today s lesson is about the tulsa race massacre and why a white mom burned down black homes and businesses in a city called greenwood in 1921. the plan there probably makes
in antonia hylton s piece earlier, you heard the state lawmaker from texas talking about not wanting white children not to be taught they re superior because they re white and black children are inferior just because they re black. that is a huge win. think about what that means in the context of the history of this country, having a white person say they don t want their white children taught that. that s something you can build on, even if it s someone who says critical race theory scares me, okay, where are you now? we don t have a clear understanding of what america is ready to discuss now because that s a need we can meet today. keith, one of the things i ve thought about is it was 1975 that the president then, gerald ford, declared february black history month. and it has served as a tool for educators to at least begin a some teaching of african-american history.
will you do this job again? there are a lot of school board members who have been walking away. i ve been on the board for 10 1/2 years. i m in my third term. it s been a long time. i don t make decisions based on not asking you to make predictions about your political future. the unintended consequence is i feel as if we re just going to separate on this, whether teachers are going to walk away, school board members are, like, don t want the fight, parents may go to their own schools. we re already seeing that. we see people we see a lot of our teachers saying just as an effect of the pandemic and this piled on top of it, they re walking away. it s an underrated profession as it is. jelani, that seems to be the unintended consequence we re all bracing for. we could have segregation of education. i m not sure that s an unintended consequence. this is just an extension of the dynamics we ve seen before, death by euphemism where texas