ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri State Representative Nick Schroer has introduced an amendment to House Bill 1141 that would bar school districts from teaching “critical race theory.” Some of the lessons are tied to the New York Times’ 1619 Project.
The legislation is supposed to help students who have seen their education impacted by the pandemic. There have been several other amendments like a trans-youth sports ban added to the bill.
“Wednesday afternoon I sponsored the amendment to stop ‘critical race theory,’ including the erroneous and hate-filled 1619 Project, from being shoved into our curriculum in our Missouri schools. For those trying to push scare tactics claiming this is about ‘white washing’ history, you are dead wrong. This is about ensuring no one taints a factual teaching of our American history,” writes Schroer on Facebook.
The amendment says that school teachings cannot identify any people or institutions as racist, biased, privileged, or oppressed. A person’s identity cannot be tied to race, income, family origin, or sexual identity in lesson plans. Blame cannot be assigned to categories of people regardless of the actions of one person.
Sources for the curriculum cannot include the 1619 Project, the Learning for Justice Curriculum of the Southern Poverty Law Center, We Stories, programs of Educational Equity Consultants, and similar programs.
Several groups oppose the legislation. The Education Equity Center of St. Louis is encouraging people to contact their representatives. Their Facebook posts says, “We can not let the Missouri legislature ban anti-racism curriculum from being taught!”
The ACLU of Missouri also has a social media campaign to oppose the bill:
