I’ll say it. People have lost their effing minds.

Let’s discuss.

You know how some folks’ Instagram accounts are beautifully filtered snapshots of them living their best life? Clothes or travel, fitness or beauty, lots of oh isn’t that incredible posts floating by. Mine? Not so much.

My Instagram account is more like a steady feed of social justice/allyship/politics/fight the patriarchy/elevating Black voices with a sprinkling of pet photos for levity. I don’t publish a lot of original content there. It’s mostly reposts from other accounts or issues that catch my attention. Like this:

This migrated over from Twitter and, seeing as I feel strongly about the Draconian education legislation popping up all over the country, I posted it on my account. My comments are usually a pretty quiet place — sometimes agreement, sometimes conversation, almost always with people I know.

I’ll say it plain. I’m an Instagram Nobody so it’s unusual for someone to come out swinging on me.

Apparently the Hayes Brown repost hit a nerve, though, and this guy dropped into my public comments.

S25: CRT shouldn’t be taught in a k-12 setting. It’s illiberal and indefensible.

Yes, I changed his user, I’m not a cad. To be fair my account is public, though, so any of y’all can pop over to check things out.

I decided to reply but since I like to be prepared with, y’know, facts I hit up my trusty friend Google. Well, Duck Duck Go ‘cuz privacy, but you get the point. This is where things get squirrelly.

All I wanted to find was an example of a CRT course offered. A course of study, a description of the academic theory, a university professor commenting, anything from a legitimate source telling me where one might find an official example of this thing called CRT.

My first search? “Where is CRT taught?” This produced an array generally falling under yes they’re teaching CRT in public schools, track where CRT is being taught in schools, they’re brainwashing your kids, and we fact checked and CRT is NOT being taught in school. Then there was a link to a Cornell Law School professor’s website tracking 200 colleges and universities “promoting critical race theory” — a resource he made available so parents can find out if CRT will be “forced” on their college aged kids. Sigh.

The second search was “CRT and advanced education.” This yielded results like advance school choice not CRT, Critical Race Theory The New Intolerance, objections to changes in various state programs, and several entries related to advanced degree requirements in fields unrelated to CRT.

My third and final search was “CRT and university.” That landed results like a piece from Fox News (need I say more?), how to identify university indoctrination, and programs that had been blocked in various states. Way down the page I stumbled onto a site described as one for parents and teachers interested in learning more about CRT. That sounded promising until I checked it out and found “I write to you with a sense of alarm. Our nation is under attack from within by people and groups who seek to tear down our society. You know it. I know. And they know it.” BLESS IT ALL.

And this is why I say people have lost their effing minds. They broke the internet with their stupid conspiracy theories and determination to uphold white supremacy. I simply cannot with the insanity.

Anyhoo, back to Instagram. Without a specific source to cite I had to lean on logic.

laura.rftm: CRT is not taught in any k-12 setting; it’s advanced theory studied in university settings. We need accurate and complete history taught in k-12. People who holler about CRT seem uncomfortable with the idea of students learning *all* the facts about what white people have done.

S25: I know what CRT is. And many “anti racist” ideas that are taught in k-12 schools are lifted directly from CRT. It’s also true history needs to be taught unvarnished. Completely. But that’s entirely separate from CRT. CRT is illiberal toxicity and it’s important for those of us on the left to say so without hesitation.

Now, S25’s account is private so I’ve been unable to confirm the “us on the left” assertion. His follower to following ratio leads me to believe he’s out there trolling hard on the ‘gram but the teacher discourse instinct runs deep in me…I thought hey, why not go back to basics. Maybe we have a elemental misunderstanding in our terms. Maybe I’ll get radical AND SIMPLY ASK.

laura.rftm: Could you give me an example of an “anti racist” idea taught in k-12 lifted from CRT? And also a definition of CRT?

I’m still waiting.