Things seems super chill around education these days. Wait—do they? Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about the current state legislation being passed to ban the instruction of Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools, something that isn’t happening. So since it’s not happening, what is happening instead is banning the instruction of anything associated with race or racism. As the Brooklyn 99 folks like to say, cool cool cool cool cool.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

ABC4 Utah. (2021, May 4). What you need to know about Idaho's new critical race theory law. ABC4 Utah. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/what-you-need-to-know-about-idahos-critical-race-theory-law/

Barakat, M. (2022, February 15). Youngkin looks to root out critical race theory in Virginia. AP NEWS. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://apnews.com/article/education-richmond-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-virginia-8ad5da65b9cb05265f2b8081c41827cd 

Bella, T. (2022, February 4). Black history month is not critical race theory, Alabama educator says in response to complaints. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/04/alabama-black-history-month-crt-schools/ 

Bittle, J., Pareene, A., Tomasky, M., Noah, T., & Shephard, A. (2022, March 20). The Fox News guest behind the Republican Frenzy over Critical Race Theory. The New Republic. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://newrepublic.com/article/162617/christopher-rufo-critical-race-theory-interview 

Cobb, J. (2021, September 20). The man behind critical race theory. The New Yorker.  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/the-man-behind-critical-race-theory

Craig, T. (2022, March 11). Florida legislature passes bill that limits how schools and workplaces teach about race and identity. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/10/florida-legislature-passes-anti-woke-bill/ 

Dixon, K. (2022, March 14). Bill Banning 'divisive concepts' in schools passes Georgia Senate. Axios. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.axios.com/local/atlanta/2022/03/14/bill-banning-divisive-concepts-schools-passes-georgia-senate 

Donahue, A. R. (2022, January 12). State Education Board passes measure countering GOP's 'critical race theory' bills  ⋆ Michigan Advance. Michigan Advance. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://michiganadvance.com/2022/01/12/state-education-board-passes-measure-countering-gops-critical-race-theory-bills/ 

Guynn, J. (2022, March 15). Florida law will restrict how race is discussed. USA TODAY (USA), p. A5. Available from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/188BEDD20BC605D8.

Herron, A. (2022, March 1). Indiana Senate kills CRT-inspired legislation that created outrage among educators, Black Hoosiers. The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2022/02/28/hb-1134-indiana-senate-kills-crt-critical-race-theory-inspired-legislation/9323738002/ 

Jones, Z. C. (2022, March 10). Florida legislature passes "stop woke act," Second controversial education bill this week. CBS News. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-critical-race-theory-education-stop-woke-act/ 

Jones, S. (2021, July 11). How to manufacture a moral panic. Intelligencer. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/christopher-rufo-and-the-critical-race-theory-moral-panic.html 

Kiersz, A., & Gal, S. (2020, July 8). 26 simple charts to show friends and family who aren't convinced racism is still a problem in America. Business Insider. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6 

Matzen, M. (2022, February 10). Education Committee votes to limit critical race theory instruction in South Dakota's public schools. Argus Leader. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/education/2022/02/09/critical-race-theory-crt-south-dakota-public-schools-legislature-limited/6728586001/ 

McGee, K. (2021, June 15). Texas "critical race theory" bill limiting teaching of current events signed into law. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/15/abbott-critical-race-theory-law/ 

Meckler, L., & Dawsey, J. (2021, June 21). Republicans, spurred by an unlikely figure, see political promise in targeting critical race theory. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/19/critical-race-theory-rufo-republicans/ 

Messer-Kruse, T. (2022, February 16). How to sink anti-CRT bills. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-sink-anti-crt-bills?bc_nonce=jwfrpc6h01bmnrbftplf8&cid=reg_wall_signup

Napsha, J. (2022, March 16). Norwin debate continues in regards to systemic racism, critical race theory. TribLIVE. Retrieved March 20 2022, from https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/norwin-debate-continues-in-regards-to-systemic-racism-critical-race-theory/

Ramjug, P. (2021, December 21). Seven out of 10 people don’t know what critical race theory is, US poll finds. News@Northeastern. https://news.northeastern.edu/2021/12/23/critical-race-theory-survey/

Randall Kennedy on why critical race theory is important ❧ current affairs. Current Affairs. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/03/randall-kennedy-on-why-critical-race-theory-is-important 

Ray, R., & Gibbons, A. (2022, March 9). Why are states banning critical race theory? Brookings. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/07/02/why-are-states-banning-critical-race-theory/ 

Rufo, C. F. (2021, June 23). Washington Post tried to smear me for criticizing race theory - and failed spectacularly. New York Post. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://nypost.com/2021/06/22/washington-post-tried-to-smear-me-for-criticizing-race-theory-and-failed/ 

Wallace-Wells, B. (2021, June 18). How a conservative activist invented the conflict over critical race theory. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 20, 2022, from https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory 

Sound effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCR8pZ2C7to - Brooklyn 99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0sofJcByXE 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4TAQF6ocLU - The Reid Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEtHS8Gp5zg - Gov. Tate Reeves

https://twitter.com/thegoodliars/status/1455243036795998212 - Good Liars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBh1MYyVO4 - Norwin BOE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxc6iqRC-n8 - I Have a Dream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBXRdWflV7M - Tucker Carlson