About two weeks ago, I wrote that the voters of Los Alamos have the right to know what the positions of the school board candidates are as related to affirming or banning Critical Race Theory, CRT, from Los Alamos school system, and what is their understanding of CRT.  Couple candidates who can be identified as Republican have responded.  All current school board members and all candidates who can be identified as Democrats have not disclosed their positions.  In their defense, it has been said by others it is not being currently taught, a distraction among more important issues, don’t talk about it.  It was also said CRT is a college level course.  Unfortunately, the issue of teaching CRT is not about the past or even the present, it is about the future of how the children of Los Alamos will be taught.  I have purposely avoided defining CRT, so the candidates would have the opportunity to define their own understanding, and to defend their positions not only if CRT should be taught, but also how, and grade level appropriateness.  The votes of the community will decide whether the topic is a distraction.

Perhaps to get some more meaningful conversations started, I would make the following  statements/questions: 1).  Do we have Systemic Racism problem in our community and this country? 2).  Systemic Racism in our country is founded on “White Supremacy Culture” and 3). Is the previous statement a tenet of Critical Race Theory?

I hope the above statements/questions will stimulate meaningful discussions by the candidates and the community, especially in the context of promoting anti-racism environment for our school system.

Kenneth Lee