In a school board meeting on November 9, Dr. Nikolai Vitti, the superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), urged the board to oppose a ban on Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools in Michigan.
Vitti urged the board to oppose a bill passed by the state House banning certain aspects of CRT, saying DPSCD is “very intentional” about embedding CRT: “Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English Language Arts and the other disciplines.”
At the 1:53 mark in the almost three hour meeting, after the end of the public comment period, Dr. Vitti takes the mic to discuss agenda items, including Michigan House Bill 5097, which would ban certain aspects of CRT from public instruction. Vitti said:
Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English Language Arts and the other disciplines. We’re very intentional about creating a curriculum, infusing materials, and embedding critical race theory within our curriculum.
Vitti’s full statement:
Critical Race Theory, unfortunately, has passed the House, in order to be banned from schools, and if schools do use it, by memory, it would bring a financial penalty to the district. Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English Language Arts and the other disciplines. We’re very intentional about creating a curriculum, infusing materials, and embedding critical race theory within our curriculum. As was stated by many speakers today, it’s because our students need to understand the truth of history, to understand the history of this country, to better understand who they are, and about the injustices in this country. We have led a process of 81 letters written to the legislature opposed to the legislation, that was mainly done by our teachers. When critical race theory passed the House, the Democrats walked out, because they were not able to give public comment, or comment opposing the legislation. Right now the legislation is headed to the Senate. Based on what other states have done in legislatures controlled by Republicans, this looks like it may pass. I think our best strategy politically is to lean on the governor to veto it, as she has done with other legislation that has passed in Michigan over the past couple of years. I don’t believe the Senate …. we might be able to convince the Senate not to pass it, but this looks like a pure Republican feature of legislation for this year.
This isn’t the first time Villi has spoken about white America and white privilege. In an interview with the American Black Journal with Detroit Public Television in June 2020, Villi said, “You can’t do this work, I can’t be me, if you’re not dealing with issues of race.” He then said, “But I think for our country, there’s an awareness, there’s a conversation that normally doesn’t happen in a white community. I have seen this knee jerk reaction to the conversation about race specifically to the issue of whiteness and white privilege. It’s clear that White America views this conversation is a zero sum game.”
H.B. 5097 has moved to the Senate, which has a 22-16 Republican majority. If the Senate passes it, it seems impossible to imagine it being singed into law by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
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Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds, and on Gab at @RealJeffReynolds.
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