W.Va. Senate Passes Bill Restricting Race, Identity Teaching

Originally Published on WV Public Broadcasting

The West Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 498 on Wednesday that would prevent the teaching in public K-12 and higher education schools that any race is superior to another or that students should feel guilty because of their race.

The Republican majority greenlit the legislation 21-12, despite objections from multiple Democrats, including the body's only Black lawmaker, who said the policy was “a step backward.”

Similar legislation has advanced in other states — all led by Republicans — to block the teaching of critical race theory and other instruction centered around race and identity. The measures have caused confusion about whether teaching such topics as the lingering effect of slavery are acceptable in public school classrooms.

Democrats and organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia are opposed to the legislation because of concerns about limiting free speech and censorship in schools.

Democratic Sen. Owens Brown, who is the former president of the West Virginia NAACP and is the first Black man to serve in the state Senate, said there is no evidence that any teachers in West Virginia are teaching students that one race is superior to another.

He accused Republicans of using the bill as a "weapon or tool in their campaigns” and stoking unnecessary fear among citizens.

“It’s been told to you over and over again that it wasn’t taught in the public school but here we are still trying to say it’s being inserted into public schools for political purposes and for political gain,” he said. “And that’s not right, because you’re turning people against each other.”

Critical race theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

Brown, who is a retired developmental specialist with the West Virginia Education Association where he served as a human and civil rights coordinator, said West Virginia is more than 90% white and that it's important for children to experience diversity and be challenged in the classroom.

Democratic Sen. Mike Romano said the bill "opens the door for unfounded complaints against educators for saying the wrong words, or for making somebody upset.”

“There’s a more nefarious tone to this," he said…