Ilhan Omar denies critical race theory is being taught in schools, blames GOP for 'false narratives'

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Amid a nationwide GOP push to ban critical race theory –  a controversial academic framework that examines systematic racism in the U.S. – Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar denied Saturday that the doctrine is even being taught in public schools. 

“Republicans love to create outrage over things that aren’t actually happening,” she wrote on Twitter. “People should be asking them, what elementary, middle and high school is teaching Critical Race Theory and why they are spinning false narratives.”

The Minnesota Democrat’s comments come just one day after Wisconsin Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman introduced a bill that would ban Washington, D.C. public schools from teaching the controversial subject.  

His bill, which was introduced on the first federal Juneteenth holiday, is just the latest in a series of legislative pushes to ban critical race theory from public schools and universities.

Supporters of the education-based movement believe there needs to be a larger discussion surrounding how racism is a social construct, rather than a result of individual bias, embedded in social policies and laws. 

But opponents of critical race theory believe its core concept does not merely show how historical policies have perpetuated “race-blind” practices, but in fact, creates further division amongst races.

Grothman argued that critical race theory teaches children “to hate each other and hate their country.”

“In other words, students being taught that they are defined by the color of their skin, not the content of their character,” he said in a Friday statement.

Nearly two dozen state lawmakers have introduced bills that seek to bar critical race theory from being taught in public schools, including Grothman’s home state of Wisconsin.

Five Republican-controlled states — Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and Iowa — have passed legislation banning the subject.

It is unclear how many public schools actually teach critical race theory as a part of their curriculum. However, multiple parents have sounded the alarm over assignments their children have been given, which use terms such as “White privilege” and casting minority students as oppressed individuals. 

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