Oklahoma鈥檚 far-right superintendent of public instruction thinks that schools should teach students about the Tulsa race massacre, so long as teachers don鈥檛 actually acknowledge that the white supremacist attack was about race.
Ryan Walters took office in January, and prior to that, he served as the state鈥檚 secretary of education. Walters is anti鈥撯渃ritical race theory,鈥 a Republican bogeyman used to attack critical thought about racial justice. Last month, he called for schools to promote Christianity in the classroom鈥攊ncluding by displaying the Ten Commandments鈥攁s well as 鈥淲estern heritage,鈥 which many scholars recognize as coded language for white supremacist ideology.
Walters held a public forum Thursday night, during which someone asked him how teaching about the Tulsa race massacre doesn鈥檛 violate his ban on CRT. 鈥淚 would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist,鈥 Walters said.
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