Kim's confusion leads to a bad law

As of July 1, House File 802 will go into effect banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and pushed by her fellow Republicans, it is clear from Reynold’s statement that she is completely ignorant of what CRT actually teaches.

"Critical Race Theory is about labels and stereotypes, not education. It teaches kids that we should judge others based on race, gender or sexual identity, rather than the content of someone’s character," Reynolds said.

In truth, CRT examines the legal, social, and cultural issues as they relate to racism in our society. For instance, we can all agree that slavery existed in our early history and was codified in our laws. The Jim Crow laws that followed are another glaring example. Some examples, however, are not so apparent. In the 1930s, government officials mapped out lines to denote areas that were poor financial risks. This deterred banks from offering mortgages to Black people. It is not surprising that white Americans are not aware of all the subtle nuances of systemic racism, because they rarely have to confront it.

So how did Reynolds come to the understanding that CRT teaches our children to judge other people on race, gender or sexual identity? Good question, I suspect you won’t get any coherent answers from your state representative or the people advising her. They seem to be just as ignorant on this subject as her.

David Johnson

West Branch