CNN’s W. Kamau Bell said Friday “the right” was attacking critical race theory as a “distraction.”
According to Bell, the distraction was as they restrict “voting rights especially for brown and black folks.”
Host Laura Coates said, “Why is it that you think that so many folks are uncomfortable of talking about race in schools. You heard Governor DeSantis says there is no room in these schools in the education system for this? Why so uncomfortable?”
Bell said, “Because they don’t want to know the truth. I think a lot of people — not in my household or brought up in households where they are taught America was created by God and a perfect nation in every way. That’s not the truth. Also, let’s be clear the right is doing this as a distraction. This is no different than the war in Christmas or halal meat in New York street carts. This is just a distraction as a way to distract people from the things they are doing that are actually damaging us.”
Coates said, “The Georgia State Board of Education just banned critical race theory from school. They banned it. I see you’re shaking your head, but Governor Brian Kemp applauded them.”
She added, “Why are so many people casting it suddenly as being anti-American?”
Bell said, “Because it sounds like something. It is not about what it is. It is about what it sounds like. We all know, no child in elementary school was learning about critical race theory before this all went down. But guess what next year, more kids are going to be learning about critical race theory because you won’t stop talking about it. It is no accident that the governor of Georgia does not want to teach critical race theory but is also restricting voting rights, especially for brown and black folks. These are all the same thing. The distraction is critical race theory, and over here I’m going to restrict voting rights”
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