Politician wrong about critical race theory
I am writing in response to Rep. Don Jones’ remarks regarding HB 322 and his comments on critical race theory. Rep. Jones stated that students should be able to think for themselves on an issue such as slavery and not be told that you “must think a certain way.”
Does his view of critical thinking include showing students pictures of slaves on an auction block, with metal collars around their necks and shackles around their feet? Does it show slaves weeping in anguish as their children are sold as property and torn away from them? Does it include teaching about the Green Book so that students understand that African American families had to endure the humiliation of finding hotels and lodging that would allow them to spend the night, but that their white counterparts had no such difficulty?
Lastly, does it include photos of the “strange fruit” of men hanging from trees?
Jones states that he taught animal rights classes and allows students to think for themselves. With all due respect to the animal kingdom and our beloved pets, subjects including slavery, the struggle for civil rights and the Holocaust involve human beings. Not property and not animals.
Please stop the mealy mouth language of “think for themselves” and call out these repugnant chapters in human history for what they are: a stain on humanity that does not have “two sides to the story.”
Rachel Belenker, Columbus