The Oklahoma House on Thursday voted to ban public schools and universities from teaching critical race theory in civics and history classes.
After hours of discussion and debate, the GOP-controlled House voted 70-19 in favor of the bill, HB1775, which now heads to Gov. Kevin Stittâs desk to be signed into law.
It would prevent a number of topics, including that âone race or sex is inherently superior to another,â and that âan individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive,â from being taught in the state.
The sponsor of the bill, Republican state Rep. Kevin West said in a statement that students are being taught that because theyâre a certain race or sex, theyâre âinherently superior to others or should feel guilty for something that happened in the past.â
âWeâre trying to set boundaries that we as a state say will not be crossed when weâre teaching these kinds of subjects,â West said.
Democrats argued that the bill was a waste of time and addressed a problem that doesnât exist.
Critical race theory has gradually proliferated in recent decades through academia, government structures, school systems, and the corporate world. It redefines human history as a struggle between the âoppressorsâ (white people) and the âoppressedâ (everybody else), similarly to Marxismâs reduction of history to a struggle between the âbourgeoisâ and the âproletariat.â It labels institutions that emerged in majority-white societies as racist and âwhite supremacist.â
Like Marxism, it advocates for the destruction of institutions, such as the Western justice system, free-market economy, and orthodox religions, while demanding that they be replaced with institutions compliant with the critical race theory ideology.
In February, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York condemned critical race theory, describing it as an outgrowth of the European Marxist school of critical theory that interprets American social and political life through the lens of a power struggle between the race of the oppressor and that of the oppressed.
Proponents of critical race theory have argued that the theory is merely âdemonstrating how pervasive systemic racism truly is.â
In one of his first executive actions in the White House, President Joe Biden rescinded his predecessorâs ban of critical race theory in federal workplaces. Former President Donald Trumpâs September 2020 executive order declared that diversity and inclusion training for federal employees should not promote âun-Americanâ and âdivisive concepts.â
Biden instead issued an executive order stating that the federal government must pursue âa comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all.â
News of the Oklahoma vote comes days after Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill, H 377 (pdf), that would prevent the teaching of critical race theory in the Gem Stateâs public schools and universities.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month denounced critical race theory as hateful.
âThereâs no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory,â he said, announcing that the stateâs new civic curriculum will explicitly exclude critical race theory. âTeaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.â
Elsewhere, Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, and West Virginia have said that they aim to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools, workplaces, and government agencies.
Gov. Stittâs office didnât immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.