To the editor:
In Megan Mueller Jensen’s letter, printed July 23, she said, “CRT isn’t referred to directly or indirectly anywhere in the draft of proposed updates the Minnesota Department of Education released.” She is right on, “direct reference;" however, she is dead wrong on, “indirect reference."
At one point in the curriculum, freshmen are taught about the evils of "whiteness, Christianity, and capitalism,” and asked to question the country’s founding documents. According to the standards, ninth graders must “describe the tactics used by the United States government to claim indigenous and Mexican land, including but not limited to an analysis of the ideology of Manifest Destiny and its relationship to whiteness, Christianity, and capitalism.” The same students learn about how EURO-Americans allegedly used "whiteness" and traditional gender norms to keep people enslaved.
Other lessons include: Explain how race is a “social construction" used to “oppress people of color.” “[Students will] explain the social construction of race and how it was used to oppress people of color and assess how social policies and economic forces offer privilege or systematic oppressions for racial/ethnic groups related to accessing social, political, economic, and spatial opportunities,” the curriculum reads. “[Students will] develop a respectful awareness about how ideas and norms about gender have changed over time.” “The committee has articulated the need to make standards and supporting benchmarks more meaningful by attending to the race, ethnicity, identity, and lived experiences of young people in relation to civic life and acknowledging voices and experiences of marginalized youth,” Bernie Burnham, vice president of Education Minnesota, said.
While the words, “Critical Race Theory," are not used, nor are the letters, “CRT," the above are tenets of critical race theory.
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Brad Howard
Alexandria, MN
