Happy Wednesday, Show Mo Facts supporters! In today’s blog post, we’ll evaluate and fact-check an advertisement that supports Missouri State Senator Justin Brown. Brown is the current State Senator for District 16, located in Rolla, Missouri. Brown won the Republican Primary to continue his re-election campaign. The advertisement was created, paid for, and distributed by JB PAC.
Claim: “Justin Brown will ban critical race theory in our classrooms”
Fact: In Missouri, there is little to no evidence that critical race theory is being taught in schools. Only one school district in the whole state has claimed to be teaching about CRT, which is Kansas City Public Schools, a district over three hours from where Brown currently represents.
In January of 2022, a bill was brought to the Missouri House attempting to ban critical race theory in K-12 schools, and give parents and guardians more control over what their children learn. This bill was drafted by Nick Schroer, who our last blog post is about, who proposed that schools should be banned from using any curriculum that “identifies people or groups of people, entities, or institutions in the United States as inherently, immutably, or systemically sexist, racist, biased, privileged, or oppressed.”
Brown adamantly supported this bill, which did not pass, so he introduced his own bill, SB676. Brown’s version states, “Under this act, it shall be the policy of the State Board of Education not to promote or allow divisive concepts, as defined in the act, in public school curricula or instruction". On August 28, 2022, SB676 passed in the Missouri Senate.
Although the advertisement has been circulating prior to his bill passing, it’s clear that Brown will continue to fight against CRT being taught in Missouri schools. Which, as mentioned earlier, isn’t even happening. It’s important to note this because, simply put, what is the point? Missouri conservatives are fighting a quite literal, invisible fight. We question if the fight against CRT is a distraction, allowing the Missouri Board of Education and lawmakers to avoid putting any money towards real education. Missouri is ranked 49th in education funding, obviously one of the lowest in the United States.
So, what is critical race theory, and why should you care about Brown’s claims? Brown does not define it in his ad nor in his bill, leaving voters to just trust that CRT is bad and shouldn’t be taught in schools. This framing works all too well, as a majority of average Missourians are scared of CRT, meaning they vote red and keep the people who they think are fighting this horrible thing, in office. This fear mongering is not only damaging to parents, voters, and the students in school, but also democracy as a whole.
CRT is as the name states, a theory. It is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies (Stephen Sawchuk, Education Week). For a more simple break down of CRT, check out the infographic below, provided by the California School Boards Association.
Traditionally, CRT is taught in law school and higher education, not Missouri K-12 schools, like Justin Brown wants parents and constituents to believe. However, many educators support, to one degree or another, culturally relevant teaching and other strategies to make schools feel safe and supportive for Black students and other underserved populations, but they don’t necessarily identify these activities as CRT-related. This representation is extremely important for Black and other POC youths, Brown’s blatant and uneducated attack is not only dangerous for Missouri, but for the US as a whole.
Due to the false claim in the advertisement about CRT being taught in schools, we rate this advertisement HIGH on our Pants on Fire O-Meter. Not only is this claim untrue, but there is a lot of danger and adverse effects that are coming out of this false narrative being pushed by conservative Missourians.
Thank you for reading Show Mo Facts! Be sure to follow us on Twitter as well as like and comment on this post. Also, send us any ads that you see and would like us to cover through our Contact page. If you’d like to check out another blog from our class, we recommend Gateway To Facts. They are fact-checking the MO DNC. Find them here!
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