Oklahoma critical race theory ban is unconstitutional, ACLU says in federal lawsuit - The Washington Post
An Oklahoma law that educators say restricts discussions of race and sex in classrooms is unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The civil rights organization and groups of students and educators say in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma against the state’s governor, attorney general and top education officials that the law violates students’ and educators’ First and 14th Amendment rights. They are seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the law from being enforced.
The law, which went into effect in July, is one of a handful passed by Republican-controlled states that are seen by many as seeking to ban discussion of critical race theory, an academic framework used to examine the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism.
But the broad language in Oklahoma’s law leaves educators with an “impossible” and unconstitutional choice: “avoid topics related to race or sex in class materials and discussions or risk losing their teaching licenses for violating the law,” the ACLU said, adding that the suit is the first challenge in federal court to one of the bans.
Discussions on race in Oklahoma classrooms are especially important, advocates say, because of events in the state’s past, such as the Tulsa Race Massacre and the practice of using boarding schools to try to force Native Americans to assimilate.
Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) had said in May that discussions about events such as the Massacre, in which as many as 300 Black Oklahomans were killed when a wealthy Black neighborhood was ravaged by a White mob in 1921, should be had. “We can and should teach this history without labeling a young child as an oppressor,” he said in a video statement.
It also bans educators from teaching that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex,” or that “any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex.”
The legislation has led some schools in Oklahoma to tell teachers not to use terms like “diversity” and “white privilege” in their lessons, and prompted some school districts to remove books like “To Kill a Mockingbird” from reading lists, the lawsuit says.
Carly Atchison, a spokesperson for Stitt, said in a statement in response to the lawsuit that "Governor Stitt stands by his decision to sign HB1775 and ban teaching our children that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.” A spokesperson for state Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hofmeister, who recently switched parties to become a Democrat, is named alongside Stitt as a defendant in the suit.
Conservatives have argued that critical race theory and other discussions of racism and White privilege unfairly vilify all White people and instead promote discrimination and division. Many educators and advocates have said, however, that discussions of racism and privilege are more nuanced than critics portray.
An Oklahoma community college canceled a class on race and ethnicity in May after the school said the law would “require substantial changes to the curriculum.” Melissa Smith, who taught the class, told The Washington Post that she had taught that “one race and one sex have privileges and that there are, again, inequalities that we need to address.”
source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/20/oklahoma-critical-race-theory-ban-aclu/
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