Idaho is now the first state in America to pass a bill banning Marxist critical race theory in the classroom. The Idaho Senate passed the new legislation with a 28-7 vote after the House of Representatives passed it with a 57-12 vote, meaning it is now on its way to Republican Governor Brad Little's office for his signature.
The controversial H.B. 377 aims to prevent public schools and universities from teaching Marxist critical race theory, which hinges on the idea that America and the Western Civilization are inherently racist.
According to WND, Idaho is the first state to pass such a legislation, with several other states hoping to follow suit soon. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and West Virginia are all considering similar legislation that limits the teachings of Marxist critical race theory to the youth.
H.B. 377 is set to ban teachings that say "any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior" and that "individuals, by virtue of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin," Newsweek reported.
The bill serves as a resistance to growing reckoning on how race and racism influences the different aspects of American life, Idaho News reported. A number of Republican lawmakers in the state are concerned that federal authorities may force belief systems such as the Marxist critical race theory onto unknowing students through school curricula.
They believe that ideologies in Marxist critical race theory are mostly "contrary to the unity of the nation and the well-being" of Idaho.
Republican Sen. Carl Crabtree, who sponsored the bill, reassured the public, however that H.B. 377 "does not intend to prohibit discussion in an open and free way." Instead, it is a "preventive measure" that acknowledges how there is a "rampant problem in Idaho." But the problem isn't only in Idaho.
Just this month, Paul Rossi, a whistleblower teacher from Manhattan was barred from teaching for the rest of the school year after he released an essay criticizing Grace Church School's administration for including ideas of Marxist critical race theory in their curriculum by "stifling dissent and fixating on race," the New York Post reported.
Even more shockingly, school principal George Davison was caught on tape admitting that the school was "demonizing kids, we're demonizing white people for being born." Davison admitted that he agreed with Rossi, saying "there has been a demonization that we need to get our hands around in a way in which people are doing this understanding."
Conservatives are concerned that more Marxist critical race theory ideologies will make their way into school classrooms especially after President Joe Biden proposed federal funding to support the teaching of the "1619 Project," a New York Times series that narrates America's history through the viewpoint of slavery, calling it as a "defining characteristic of the American experience," WND reported. The Department of Education claims that this will help combat systemic racism in the country.
