Louisiana governor strengthens CRT ban in public schools with order

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is ensuring that Critical Race Theory (CRT) won’t be taught in public schools, the latest in a slew of states to ban teaching the controversial doctrine.

In a three-page executive order, Landry, a Republican, directed the state’s Department of Education to “eliminate” anything in school districts that teaches:

• People are “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously;” 
• “Moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex;” 
• “By virtue of his or her race or sex, [a person] bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;” 
• “Meritocracy or traits such as a strong work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race or sex to oppress another race or sex;” and 
• Discrimination “against someone based on the individual’s color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.”  

While the state had already outlawed some aspects of CRT through a parental bill of rights act, supporters of the governor’s executive order said that the directive can help enforce the law where districts have been ignoring compliance. 

“During the regular session this year, we had passed a bill,” Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray, told local TV station WVUE. “But I believe the governor has followed up with an executive order because it seems that just because we may put something into law doesn’t necessarily mean that the schools, in this case, would follow it or react immediately.”   

Amedee told Fox that some schools are still teaching the controversial race theory.  

“We had heard reports and have seen certain assignments from various schools around the state where there were teachers actually instructing students of different grade levels the basic principles, the basic tenets, of critical race theory, as I understand it,” Amedee said, “which would be that someone is either destined to be an oppressor or oppressed based on things like their skin color, or their national origin, for example. And that’s really got no place in schools. That’s… actually racism.” 

The order is also necessary, supporters say, in part because the parental bill of rights uses broad language: “that the school shall not discriminate against their child by teaching the child that the child is currently or destined to be oppressed or to be an oppressor based on the child’s race or national origin.”  

Landry’s order attempts to apply some specifics for district and school administrators, adding that all “departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the State of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to cooperate with the State Superintendent of Education in implementing the provisions of” the anti-CRT initiative.  

A count by The Lion shows at least 19 states have passed anti-CRT education bills, with another nine states looking at proposed bans.  

Wyoming, buoyed by several primary wins by the state’s conservative Freedom Caucus, most certainly will introduce legislation again to ban race-based curriculum.  

In places where anti-CRT legislation has passed but has been vetoed by the governor, such as Kansas and Arizona, more attempts to ban it are expected. 

Liberals have argued two seemingly contradictory positions on CRT: on the one hand that it is simply taught in graduate schools dealing with constitutional issues, but on the other hand that teaching it in K-12 schools is no big deal. 

“It is evident that the Governor does not understand what CRT even is,” John Guzda, a social studies teacher at West Jefferson High School in Harvey, Louisiana said about Landry’s order. “As educators, we cannot ignore uncomfortable truths of America’s past. The systematic killing of Indigenous peoples, the horrors of Jim Crow laws, the forced internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and other such events are integral parts of American history.” 

Conservatives counter that all the issues Guzda highlights have been taught for 50 years in schools. 

Many people object to CRT because it teaches that individuals bear guilt or are virtuous simply because they are members of a favored or disfavored group. 

“Racism, it preaches, is embedded in the ordinary business of society, and keeps the oppressor group (whites, males, Christians, heterosexuals, but also Jews, Asian Americans, or anyone else that generally meets with success) in power and wealth, while keeping members of victim groups subjugated,” noted Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.