By centering white children—and failing to consider children of color who make up the majority of public school students—those attacking CRT demonstrate their true intent: upholding white supremacy. These critics fail to acknowledge or even consider the ways in which Black and Brown children are impacted by curricula that ignores, omits, and/or distorts the facts about their history, culture and experience. CRT attackers fail to care about the way Black children feel when told that affirming their lives is a “political stance” that is not allowed in schools. These protectors of the status quo are unconcerned with the inequities and resulting traumas children of color endure daily. They seek to uphold white supremacy at all costs, even purposefully withholding the truth from students to keep existing structures intact—regardless of the harm these exact upon innocent children.

Those who are resistant to structural change are laser-focused on schools, educators, and curricula because they recognize the power of education. Children have a keen awareness of fairness and are quick to call out injustice. Teaching the truth about societal injustices encourages students—white and those of color—to act. The police murders of Floyd and Taylor resulted in protests in racially diverse urban centers like Chicago and New York, as well as in all-white rural areas of Appalachia—led primarily by young people. This threat to White supremacy has instilled fear among those who seek to maintain America’s social hierarchy. Their fear is driving the attacks against CRT, voting rights, and First Amendment rights to peacefully protest.