In a party-line vote, the state Senate on Thursday approved legislation that would prohibit teachers from “promoting” certain concepts related race and sex in North Carolina classrooms.

House Bill 324 must receive one more favorable vote in the state House before going to Gov. Roy Cooper.

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The bill bans the teaching of seven concepts, as well as the use of materials to promote them. It doesn’t stop schools from assigning materials that incorporate the seven things, so long as “the public school unit does not sponsor, approve, or endorse such concepts or works.”

The seven concepts banned are as follows:

  • One race or sex is inherently superior
    • An individual, because of their race or sex, inherently has conscious or unconscious biases that are racist, sexist or oppressive
      • An individual should be discriminated against or receive "adverse treatment" solely or partly because of their race or sex
        • An individual’s morality is determined by their race or sex
          • An individual, solely because of their race or sex, must be responsible for actions committed by prior generations of that same race or sex
            • Any individual, solely because of their race or sex, should feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress”
              • The belief that the U.S. is a meritocracy is an inherently racist or sexist belief, or that the U.S. was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex

                The bill doesn’t prohibit First Amendment-protected speech, and it doesn’t prohibit people from accessing materials that advocate for the seven banned concepts, so long as they do so “on an individual basis.”

                Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who crafted the version of the bill voted on Thursday, said he doesn't understand why anyone would oppose preventing the instruction of "concepts everyone in this room knows are wrong."

                "I have yet to hear anyone say that public schools should force students to believe in one of those discriminatory concepts," said Berger, R-Rockingham, calling critical race theory "the most extreme form of indoctrination" students could face.

                Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, chastised her Republican colleagues, saying they gladly spend time on issues like critical race theory but don't want to invest in school buildings, nurses or counselors.

                "What in the world are we doing?" Robinson said. "We ought to be teaching anti-racism because the concept is that you're no better than me. Our children need to learn that because we messed up. We've screwed this place up.

                "These teachers aren't indoctrinating [anyone]. That's a bunch of political lies," she added.

                Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham, questioned who gets to decide what's indoctrination and what's not, likening the bill to the Orwellian concept of "who controls the past controls the future."

                "Truth and diversity in our education is not about indoctrination," Woodard said. "It is about marginalized people asking for their stories to be heard and taught, just as other people's stories have been taught for generations."

                Berger insisted that the bill wouldn't "whitewash history," saying that episodes of U.S. racial history still need to be taught.