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If you are a faculty member in an institution of higher education in Texas and are involved in the preparation of teachers or administrators and you do so from a CRT lens, please consider signing this declaration of which I and University of Texas Curriculum and Instruction professor Dr. Noah DeLissovoy have authored. Special thanks to Noah for taking the lead on this timely declaration.
-Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.
A recent spate of bills across the country has targeted antiracist education and training for allegedly advancing the framework of “Critical Race Theory.” HB 3979 (https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB3979), passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Greg Abbott, is one such bill. It prohibits K-12 social studies course content that critically analyzes the notion of the U.S. as a meritocratic society, as well as content focusing on the centrality of racism to U.S. institutions. The bill also restricts consideration of the ways that privileges and discrimination that different people experience in the present are connected to race and shaped by historic structures of white supremacy. This bill, and others like it, are a direct reaction to progress made by the current racial justice movement, as well as to critical approaches to teaching and curriculum like Ethnic Studies, that aim to investigate and challenge inequity and oppression, especially with regard to race.
While the authors of HB 3979 misunderstand Critical Race Theory, an academic and scholarly tradition that is not taught in K-12 schools, it is clear that the aim of the legislation is to discourage important instruction on race, racism, and white supremacy. Above all, the bill discourages discussion of historic, systemic, and structural racism, including consideration of how it has shaped U.S. history from its beginnings. In addition to constituting a direct assault on academic freedom and First Amendment rights, HB 3979 is an attack on the purpose of education itself, which is to help students to understand the world and to participate in it in an informed and empowered manner.
Neither students of color nor white students are well served by a curriculum that would hide the truth—in this case, the truth that past and present white supremacist thought and action have fundamentally organized U.S. society and the freedoms and privileges that are—or are not—afforded to each of us according to race. Deep disparities in wealth, employment, and access to social services, as well as police harassment and violence directed disproportionately at people of color, not to mention daily incidents of racist discrimination and microaggressions, are clear evidence of the ongoing impact and pervasiveness of white supremacy. To investigate and teach about racism is not to seek to injure the sensibilities of white students or to promote “victimology” among students of color. Rather, it is to help all students understand and confront the challenges that we face as a society committed to freedom, peace, and justice for all.
As university-based educators of future teachers and school administrators, it is likewise our crucial responsibility to provide education professionals with the historical, political, and sociological literacy they need in order to understand the curriculum that they are charged to present, as well as the experiences of all of their students. This includes, indispensably, a thorough examination of systemic racism and white supremacy.
One important reason for this is that inequalities and oppression based on race have historically been enforced and reproduced through schooling itself, as students of color have frequently received curriculum, teaching, and facilities that have been inadequate, unequal, and even harmful to them and their communities. Therefore, a deep awareness of the ways in which racism is manifested, as well as the intellectual and pedagogical preparation to challenge it, is especially necessary for educators.
It is a basic responsibility of colleges of Education, throughout their programs and curricula, to equip future teachers and administrators with these understandings and pedagogical skills. This is also true for faculty and programs in other areas of the university involved in the training of educators. At the higher education level, we must unequivocally defend Critical Race Theory as a legitimate and useful framework that is crucial to our work since it offers key sociological principles, insights, empirical evidence, interdisciplinary perspectives, and ethical starting points for an informed consideration of race and racism, past and present.
This anti-racist work is neither political nor partisan. Nor is it supplementary to the main mission of teaching. Rather, it is central to our basic vocation as professionals committed to the growth and learning of our students, to dialogue and justice, and to the diverse children and youth of Texas.
For these reasons, WE THE UNDERSIGNED university-based educators of future teachers and administrators in Texas reaffirm the importance of teaching our students about systemic racism, as well as helping them to understand its fundamental role in shaping our past and present in the United States. FURTHERMORE, we will continue to prepare our students to recognize their responsibility to understand, confront, and challenge white supremacy as educators, as well as their responsibility to help their own students in schools to analyze structures and systems of racism, especially since these systems affect students’ own experiences and shape their identities.
Initial signatories:
--Noah De Lissovoy, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin
--Angela Valenzuela, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin
--Emilio Zamora, Professor, History, University of Texas at Austin
--Lilliana Saldaña, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
--Louis Harrison, Professor Emeritus, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin
--Melissa Martínez, Associate Professor, Educational & Community Leadership, Texas State University
--Francyne Huckaby, Professor, Curriculum Studies, Texas Christian University
--Terrance Green, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin
--James Jupp, Professor, Teaching and Learning, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Kevin Foster, Associate Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin
--Patricia Sánchez, Professor, Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
--Maritza De La Trinidad, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Dan Heiman, Assistant Professor, Bilingual Education, University of North Texas
--Monica Muñoz Martinez, Associate Professor, History, University of Texas at Austin
--Christopher Carmona, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Jesse Gainer, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Texas State University
While the authors of HB 3979 misunderstand Critical Race Theory, an academic and scholarly tradition that is not taught in K-12 schools, it is clear that the aim of the legislation is to discourage important instruction on race, racism, and white supremacy. Above all, the bill discourages discussion of historic, systemic, and structural racism, including consideration of how it has shaped U.S. history from its beginnings. In addition to constituting a direct assault on academic freedom and First Amendment rights, HB 3979 is an attack on the purpose of education itself, which is to help students to understand the world and to participate in it in an informed and empowered manner.
Neither students of color nor white students are well served by a curriculum that would hide the truth—in this case, the truth that past and present white supremacist thought and action have fundamentally organized U.S. society and the freedoms and privileges that are—or are not—afforded to each of us according to race. Deep disparities in wealth, employment, and access to social services, as well as police harassment and violence directed disproportionately at people of color, not to mention daily incidents of racist discrimination and microaggressions, are clear evidence of the ongoing impact and pervasiveness of white supremacy. To investigate and teach about racism is not to seek to injure the sensibilities of white students or to promote “victimology” among students of color. Rather, it is to help all students understand and confront the challenges that we face as a society committed to freedom, peace, and justice for all.
As university-based educators of future teachers and school administrators, it is likewise our crucial responsibility to provide education professionals with the historical, political, and sociological literacy they need in order to understand the curriculum that they are charged to present, as well as the experiences of all of their students. This includes, indispensably, a thorough examination of systemic racism and white supremacy.
One important reason for this is that inequalities and oppression based on race have historically been enforced and reproduced through schooling itself, as students of color have frequently received curriculum, teaching, and facilities that have been inadequate, unequal, and even harmful to them and their communities. Therefore, a deep awareness of the ways in which racism is manifested, as well as the intellectual and pedagogical preparation to challenge it, is especially necessary for educators.
It is a basic responsibility of colleges of Education, throughout their programs and curricula, to equip future teachers and administrators with these understandings and pedagogical skills. This is also true for faculty and programs in other areas of the university involved in the training of educators. At the higher education level, we must unequivocally defend Critical Race Theory as a legitimate and useful framework that is crucial to our work since it offers key sociological principles, insights, empirical evidence, interdisciplinary perspectives, and ethical starting points for an informed consideration of race and racism, past and present.
This anti-racist work is neither political nor partisan. Nor is it supplementary to the main mission of teaching. Rather, it is central to our basic vocation as professionals committed to the growth and learning of our students, to dialogue and justice, and to the diverse children and youth of Texas.
For these reasons, WE THE UNDERSIGNED university-based educators of future teachers and administrators in Texas reaffirm the importance of teaching our students about systemic racism, as well as helping them to understand its fundamental role in shaping our past and present in the United States. FURTHERMORE, we will continue to prepare our students to recognize their responsibility to understand, confront, and challenge white supremacy as educators, as well as their responsibility to help their own students in schools to analyze structures and systems of racism, especially since these systems affect students’ own experiences and shape their identities.
Initial signatories:
--Noah De Lissovoy, Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin
--Angela Valenzuela, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin
--Emilio Zamora, Professor, History, University of Texas at Austin
--Lilliana Saldaña, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
--Louis Harrison, Professor Emeritus, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin
--Melissa Martínez, Associate Professor, Educational & Community Leadership, Texas State University
--Francyne Huckaby, Professor, Curriculum Studies, Texas Christian University
--Terrance Green, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin
--James Jupp, Professor, Teaching and Learning, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Kevin Foster, Associate Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin
--Patricia Sánchez, Professor, Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
--Maritza De La Trinidad, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Dan Heiman, Assistant Professor, Bilingual Education, University of North Texas
--Monica Muñoz Martinez, Associate Professor, History, University of Texas at Austin
--Christopher Carmona, Associate Professor, Mexican American Studies, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
--Jesse Gainer, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Texas State University
Link to petition.
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