Members of Concerned Citizens of Eastern North Carolina are voicing their concerns about critical race theory and how to keep it from being taught in schools.
About 30 people attended a Tuesday meeting of the group, formerly the Eastern North Carolina Tea Party, to discuss CRT, which critics say is being incorporated into the state’s new social studies standard course of study.
“We have to think about the adverse effect of this kind of indoctrination, brain-washing,” member Elizabeth Weidner said. “They’re taking this down to children that are kindergartners all the way through 12th grade.”
Critical race theory, a movement that suggests “the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica, was introduced by legal scholars in the 1980s. But it has recently become the topic of debate and discussion across the country. […]
Sandy Smith, who ran in 2020 to represent North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, told fellow members that there are educators who do not support teaching critical race theory in schools.
“There are great teachers that are being forced to teach this in our school systems,” she said. “I get phone calls and letters from them all the time. They’re fearful for their jobs. We need to keep that in mind that we are not only fighting for our children, we’re also fighting for our silent teachers that are not able to speak out.”