TAMPA -- Critical race theory is illegal in Florida schools and there's a push to make it against the law in colleges and workplaces as well. But a Tampa church plans to defy this trend by teaching CRT to high school students online.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa is staging an online event for students only November 13th. It's been recruiting signups with a TikTok video showing one of the church members offering CRT to kids, like a drug pusher.
The church's James Shaw Jr. insists there's nothing about their event that breaks Florida law. "The Department of Education has banned the teaching of (CRT) in schools by teachers, but they can't obviously control what churches do, and we are a church." Shaw insists teaching CRT is consistent with the church's mission. "One of the things Unitarians believe in is a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. There's a lot of misinformation out there so we felt like it was our religious duty to provide accurate information."
The webinar is being taught by Dr. Sacha Greer, a former professor who has taught CRT at the college level. She says the material will be "age appropriate", starting with a "critical thinking" primer and going into what she insists CRT "actually is", as opposed to what she refers to as "myths" about CRT, and answers what she describes as the "most common misconceptions". Greer insists that CRT is not about teaching that children are responsible or to blame for slavery or other evils of the past.
State Representative Randy Fine (R-Melbourne) has introduced a bill that would ban certain concepts tied with critical race theory from being taught in workplaces, or by state employees, including teachers and professors.
LISTEN to an interview with presenters of the "Forbidden CRT" webinar below:
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