Utah Legislature Moves To Ban Critical Race Theory From Public Schools

Utah has become the latest state to start the process of banning critical race theory (CRT) from being taught in public schools, with the state’s Speaker of the House convening an extraordinary session of the State House of Representatives to discuss the matter.

Utah House Speaker Brad R. Wilson sent a letter to legislatures on Tuesday, telling them to return to the state house on Wednesday to discuss two bills: A resolution to support Second Amendment rights for Utah citizens and another to urge the Utah State Board of Education to ban critical race theory from public schools.

Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, first reported Wilson’s letter, posting a copy on Twitter.

“[S]ince the adjournment of the 2021 General Session of the Sixty-fourth Legislature of the State of Utah, matters have arisen that require the immediate attention of the House of Representatives,” Wilson wrote.

The first item to be discussed is “a resolution that identifies the need for support in Utah statutes of the Second Amendment rights of Utah citizens and encourages continued discussion of how to strengthen state statutes, including discussion of designating Utah as a sanctuary state.”

Designating Utah as a sanctuary state would signal that it would oppose gun-control measures imposed by the federal government, similar to the way many Democrat-run cities have declared themselves Sanctuary Cities by saying they would openly flout federal immigration laws.

The second measure to be discussed Wednesday in the Utah legislature is “a resolution that strongly recommends that the Utah State Board of Education review standards for curriculum and prohibit the inclusion of critical race theory in curriculum.”

As The Daily Wire has reported, multiple states have made similar moves to keep critical race theory out of schools. As Chrissy Clark recently reported, educators have tried to conceal critical race theory by leaving the term and some of its associated phrases out of curriculum, but the central theory – that America is irredeemably racist and every interaction should be viewed through the lens of a racial power struggle – remains.

“Of course, curriculum designers do not insert the words ‘critical race theory’ in children’s curriculum — they put it into practice by generating lessons that introduce racial grievances and calls for advocacy in virtually every subject,” Clark wrote.

Other states have moved to ban the theory as well, with the Tennessee State House passing a bill that would ban critical race theory. Idaho’s Republican governor signed such a ban into law, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, instructed the state education department to ban critical race theory from public schools. As The Daily Wire reported:

DeSantis updated the public on his state’s new educational priorities in a press conference. The governor said that the state’s civic education should focus on “foundational principles” rather than narratives such as critical race theory that views all of history through the lens of race, and suggests that racism still infects almost every institution in the U.S. today.

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