Virginia’s Anti-CRT Vigilante Bill, Funny If Not So Frightening

By Alan Singer

Wren M. Williams, one of the new Trump legislators elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, just introduced a bill to amend Virginia education law to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory and other divisive concepts. On his website, Wren, age 32, describes himself as an Eagle Scout, a proud Conservative who opposes abortion rights, supports school vouchers, and provided legal support for Donald Trump’s bogus claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Wren graduated from Patrick County High School, Hampden–Sydney College, a private men’s college in Virginia, and earned a law degree at Samford University, a private Christian school in Alabama. In high school, college, and law school, Wren apparently did not learn much American history. Williams, not surprisingly, is also white.

According to the bill submitted by Williams, teachers will not be permitted to “Teach or incorporate into any course or class any divisive concept” and school districts can not require teachers “to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of sex or race.” To prevent teaching about contemporary examples of racism in the United States or the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol Building, the law mandates that “No public school teacher or other instructional staff member shall be required to discuss any current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs” and any teacher “who chooses to discuss any such event or issue in the scope of his instructional duties shall, to the best of his ability, strive to explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives, without giving deference to any one perspective.” The bill does not spell out what would be a “contending perspective” on slavery or racism. Williams’ perspective is that the 2020 was stolen from Donald Trump. He describes January 6 as a “riot” by a small group of lawbreakers, something that his supporters are not concerned about.

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Source: Daily Kos