Republicans in the state Senate, distressed that Connecticut children are learning about the nation’s legacy of systemic racism, endorsed an amendment Monday that sought to bar public schools from teaching “divisive concepts.”
Sen. Rob Sampson, a Republican from Wolcott and the measure’s chief sponsor, said he grew alarmed when constituents told him students were being taught the Founding Fathers were “were nothing but racist white men.”
The amendment went down on a party-line vote, despite winning the support of every Republican senator. Democrats hold a 12-seat advantage in the chamber and control the agenda.
Sampson said he has no problem with schools teaching that many of the founders were slave owners. But declaring that the state or the nation is “fundamentally racist or sexist” is a different matter, he said.
Pressed by Sen. Mae Flexer, a Democrat from Killingly, for an example of such teaching, Sampson said he would not provide specifics. “It’s been happening all across the country,” he said.
The debate on the Senate floor came one week after the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, and following a year when many institutions in the U.S. are grappling with the roots of slavery, segregation and institutional racism.
Republican state lawmakers across the nation have seized on the issue, citing concerns that “critical race theory” was infusing the teaching of history at the elementary and secondary levels.
Critical race theory asserts that racism is embedded in American institutions from policing to education. The term was not mentioned during the debate in Connecticut, but it has become a flashpoint in other states, such as Texas, which recently passed legislation barring its teaching in public schools.
Sampson and Republican legislators in statehouses across the U.S. are pushing back against what they say is an implication that the nation is fundamentally a racist country.
Sen. Matt Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown, said he believes students should not be shielded from learning about the historical implications of racism and its lingering effects on Black Americans and other minority groups. “The purpose of education is in fact to challenge students, to talk about our country, our history and to engage in sometimes challenging material,” he said.
Sampson said he is not trying to dictate that teachers avoid educating students about the nation’s difficult history. But, he said, “we should not be teaching to children that one race or sex is inherently superior to another.”
The amendment defined “divisive concepts” as teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, that the state or the nation is “fundamentally racist or sexist or that an individual, by virtue of their race or gender, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
It also sought to prevent teachers from telling students that an individual, by virtue of their race or gender, “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.”
Daniela Altimari can be reached at dnaltimari@courant.com.
