NC "Anti-racist" and CRT in schools proponent honor at White House
NC "Anti-racist" and CRT in schools proponent honor at White House
Ronda Taylor Bullock was invited by the vice president as an "emerging Black leader."
According to a report by ABC 11, the leader of a group promoting Critical Race Theory use in K-12 schools was honored at the White House by Vice President Kamala Harris as an "emerging Black leader."
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Durham educator and non-profit leader is being recognized on the national level.
Ronda Taylor Bullock, executive director of "We Are", was invited to the Vice President's house last week to honor her as an emerging Black leader and to close out Black History Month.
ABC11 met with her on International's Women Day, a global effort to celebrate the cultural, economic and political achievements of women.
The group "WE ARE" fights systemic racism.
"It just validates that there are people who value anti-racism work in this world and we have to be as loud as the voices who do not," Bullock said.
She snapped pictures just about everywhere she could, including with the Vice President and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Her whole family wasn't invited to the event but they did get to come to DC and tour the White House.
WE ARE stands for Working to Extend Anti-Racist Education.
The ABC 11 report was light on the details for WE ARE and Bullock.
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As previously reported on this Substack, Bullock held a town hall decrying parental pushback on Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the state’s K-12 public schools as “gaslighting.”
The only gaslighting evident was that of Bullock and her colleagues who suggested that CRT was just a theory taught in law school, while the reality is the core principles of CRT are being infused into K-12 lessons by teachers trained in the controversial theory.
During that town hall event, Bullock also said pushback on CRT was tied to “white supremacy” and “stoking racial fears.”
In a nutshell, CRT’s core principle is that racism is inherent in all (white) people and throughout societal institutions and that it can’t be corrected. CRT espouses that certain individuals (whites and sometimes Asians) are oppressors or oppressed simply by their race or sex and that meritocratic societies are racist.
Legislation has recently been reintroduced in the NC General Assembly to combat CRT and similar ideologies from being forced on K-12 students.
WE ARE has been called out in the past by Senate Leader Phil Berger for its summer camps which target young children.
WE ARE says it uses a “three-pronged approach to dismantle systemic racism in education by offering summer camps for children in rising 1st-5th grade, professional development for educators, and workshops for parents & families.”
In her CRT town hall commentary, Bullock talked about a conference called “Let’s Talk Racism” conference which took place in March of 2022. This event was co-sponsored by We Are, North Carolina Central University’s School of Education, and Ben & Jerry’s of Chapel Hill.
Bullock said that the conference’s theme was “Seeing Critical Race Theory in our schools from theory to praxis.” By praxis, she means “in practice” in K-12 classrooms.
The purpose of this event is to give K-12 educators and pre-service teachers an opportunity to engage in sessions centered on the impact of systemic racism and ways of dismantling it in our schools,” according to the conference description. “A CRT framework helps us achieve this goal. While educators are the target audience, we welcome all community members to participate.”
“While most teachers, by and large, are not explicitly teaching a Critical Race Theory in their schools; they are not explicitly teaching the theory,” Bullock said summarizing what she called a “main takeaway” from the CRT Town Hall.
She went on to add, “However, we do have educators who are embodying Critical Race Theory ideas and tenets in their classroom, in their curriculum, and what we want to say about that is this is a good thing.”
“If a school or an educator or a school system is utilizing a Critical Race Theory framework that is forward-thinking, it is rooted in truth,” said Bullock. “It is rooted in telling a holistic history of our country; it’s rooted in critical thinking.”
She also said, “these are the things we want our schools to do.”
She added this has “not been the norm” because it has “traditionally made people uncomfortable” and “we tell them to lean into that discomfort.”
Bullock reiterated that if they found a teacher, school, or district teaching “CRT Pedagogy” that was a “good thing,” and those educators or schools “need more resources” to do more of that type of work.