Republicans move to keep 'critical race theory' out of NC schools

The surprise legislation on a controversial subject drew quick rebuke from some Democrats, including Rep. James Gailliard, D-Nash, who called it "a bill of hatred ... a bill of privilege ... a bill of fragility.”

When House K-12 Education committee Co-chairman Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, who is white, called on Gailliard to debate the measure in committee, he initially mistook him for Rep. Brandon Lofton, D-Mecklenburg. Both Gailliard and Lofton are Black lawmakers, but Lofton isn't on the education committee.

"That's exactly the purpose of my comments, all due respect, Mr. Chairman," Gailliard said. "I'm Rep. Gailliard. I think this is an anti-education bill."

The measure is similar to Republican-backed bills in other states that push back on critical race theory, a point of view that acknowledges the existence of white supremacy and systemic racism and holds that some institutions are inherently racist because they maintain the momentum of racial inequality.

House Republicans said Tuesday that their new House Bill 324 won't completely ban critical race theory in schools, but schools will have to make it clear they don't "sponsor, approve, or endorse such concepts."

The bill moved through the committee Tuesday afternoon, shortly after it popped up as a wholesale replacement for a bill that once dealt with charter schools and their response to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be on the House floor for a full chamber vote Wednesday, according to a news release House Republicans put out shortly after the committee vote.

“No student or school employee should be made to feel inferior solely because of the color of their skin or their gender," Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston and a bill sponsor, said in the release. “Our public schools should be a place of respect – not hateful ideologies.”

House Bill 324 would forbid schools from promoting the idea that any race or sex is inherently superior and from teaching that anyone should feel guilt, discomfort or responsibility for "actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex." It also forbids promoting the idea that the United States is racist or sexist or that it was "created by members of a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex."

It would allow teachers to "state" these concepts, but they'd have to "make clear" that the school system doesn't endorse them.

Gailliard called it "a don’t-hurt-my-feelings bill."

“What this bill does is it keeps history out of our schools," he said. "Probably the best way to reproduce history is not to talk about it. ... In 1978, I was desegregating schools, but we don’t want to tell students that.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt, a Republican, backed the bill in a statement Tuesday, calling it "a common-sense bill that provides reasonable expectations for the kind of civil discourse we want our children to experience in public schools."

"This 'golden rule' approach ensures that all voices are valued in our school system," she said. "We want to encourage students to think freely and respect differences of opinions, while ensuring our classrooms are not promoting ideas contrary to the equality and rights of all."