He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Sometimes I get a swirling feeling down deep in my gut. (No, that’s not an overshare.) It’s a feeling of unease. It’s a feeling of wrongness. Call it discernment, if you’d like. It’s often accompanied by anger. Anger at people being hurt or treated cruelly.

When I was a child, I believed that things like racism and hate crimes and prejudice were things of the past. Things of the time of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. These mistaken beliefs were grounded in two errors of thought. One, that "the past" is not all that long ago. Ruby Bridges, famous for being one of the first Black children to integrate in a white school, is in her late sixties. If Martin Luther King, Jr., were alive today, he would be not much older than my parents. It's not like we're talking about ancient history here.

Two, how much those things still do exist in our culture, in our systems, in our politics... everywhere.

According to a report from the FBI, hate crimes are increasing in our country. Hate crimes are criminal acts motivated by the offender's bias towards someone's race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. The report has statistics included, but since hate crimes are often underreported, they are probably much higher. About two thirds of reported hate crimes were racially motivated, with Black or African Americans the most targeted. Another twenty percent of reported hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.

What makes us hate people who are different from us?

Since my childhood, I've learned a lot. I've learned, for example, that the fact I could go through childhood thinking racism was a thing of the past is a sign I grew up with privilege. White privilege. Those without privilege likely did not grow up with this level of ignorance because they experienced it personally. I've also learned a great deal about how the very systems of our country were built to benefit certain groups of people while oppressing other groups. Those certain groups (mostly white men) still benefit from these systems most of the time, whereas others... do not. I wrote more about this, here.

A word which gets thrown around a lot but is often misunderstood is "woke". The term apparently originated in activist circles, especially as related to the Black Lives Matter movements, to signify being aware of or attentive to racial disparities in America.

I think the word is incredibly apt to describe my personal experience. I didn't know. I had a blind eye to the racism around me. I likely participated in it through my own privilege and bias. But once you know, once you become "woke", you suddenly see it everywhere. It's like your eyes are opened. It’s not that it didn’t exist before, but that you never recognized it. 

We shouldn't be afraid of "wokeness", unless we are afraid to see the truth of what others live with daily. Unless we are afraid to see our part, implicit or not, in the broken system within which we live - and possibly benefit from.

Another term which is thrown around a lot and often misunderstood is Critical Race Theory. People are up in arms about this one, even though I don't believe the majority of people even know what it is. 

Critical Race Theory** has been around since the 1970s, but has recently caught attention due to wokeness, really, and more attention being given to race issues. At its basic form, Critical Race Theory maintains that the historical roots of racism and maltreatment of our BIPOC* communities continue to affect many of our laws, systems, institutions, and social structures, creating systemic racism that works against those communities while benefiting white people.

In simple terms, CRT teaches that our history affects our present.

There shouldn't be anything frightening about that, either. Unless we don't want to believe that our country still deals with racism and prejudice. A belief only the truly privileged are able to hold.

Which circles me back to that yucky internal feeling. That feeling that something is wrong… I just don’t know what I can do about it.

Today I found out disturbing news about the superintendent of the Arizona Department of Education, who oversees all of the schools in Arizona. He is, by no coincidence, a white male. He created an "Empower hotline" that parents can call to file a report or "complaint of immoral or unprofessional conduct" by teachers (as if teachers don't already have enough to worry about).  The hotline encourages parents to report things such as lessons "that focus on race or ethnicity, rather than individuals and merit, promoting gender ideology, social emotional learning, or inappropriate sexual content." While it doesn’t specifically say LGBTQ+ teaching or inclusivity, it is rather implied from the language, is it not?

On the Department of Education website, he goes even one step further, specifically targeting Critical Race Theory. He notes key words that parents should watch out for, words and terms like, "oppression", "white privilege", "white supremacy", and pretty much everything else I've written about in this post. If you should hear any of those words, he tells parents, you might be hearing CRT, and you should report it!

Then there's a disclaimer, basically stating that it is allowed to teach history. So,... we can teach about racism that happened in the past, just not how that past affects us today and certainly only in a way that makes white people look good.

We’re in 2023... how are we still dealing with this? We understand so much more now about historical and generational trauma, and the trauma that we have committed as a country on our Black communities, on our Native American communities, on our Spanish communities, and so forth, which continues to have lasting impact on millions of people. We understand more now about how racism and prejudice and bias continue to affect the major laws and systems of our country to this day. And yet, there are many who want to keep their heads in the sand. They want to stay asleep. And the fact that they can - is their privilege showing.

What's even more weird about his own privilege and bias leaking all over an official government page, is how he included "social emotional learning" under Critical Race Theory. He states that it’s a "Trojan horse" to sneak in other ideologies. Which is fairly ridiculous, and a complete misunderstanding what social emotional learning is. How does he think the two are not even related?

It sounds like he's decided "social emotional learning" is the same as teaching about gender diversity. That's a gross misunderstanding of what that term means. A misunderstanding that has large groups of parents angry at social emotional learning efforts in local schools.

Here's what social emotional learning actually is: promoting and encouraging the growth and development of social and emotional skills. Skills such as social engagement, communication, positive coping, decision-making, problem-solving, and conflict management. Social emotional learning also helps teachers create an atmosphere where children feel safe, which is essential for learning.

Is that truly scary? Don't all parents want their children to feel safe? To be able to manage social situations? To be able to handle difficult emotions? Don't kids need that as they move into adulthood?

During COVID, a lot of kids fell behind in social emotional learning because they were isolated and stressed. Mental health and behavioral issues in schools have sky-rocketed since returning to in-person classes. Social emotional learning helps teachers support kids so that they are more able to learn. It's an important function. 

Many PBIS schools are based upon social-emotional learning principles. One of the 5 Protective Factors for Strengthening Families - a model used in programs all across the United States - is the social-emotional competence of children. Social-emotional learning is important.

It concerns me that the superintendent of the entire state doesn't know this. It concerns me that he wants to cut funding to these types of programs. 

Obviously, I have some strong feelings in this area. I get frustrated when my gut is telling me something is wrong, but I don't know what to do about it. Or worse, I feel like there is nothing I can do about it. 

The Bible tells us to seek justice. To do justice. But what does that mean? What does it mean to seek justice in a broken system like ours?

Activist Angela Davis was quoted as saying,

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”

I have that quote on my mirror and I look at it every morning.

I am tired of shaking my head at a broken system, sending "thoughts and prayers", and moving on with my day.

I am tired of things not changing while good people sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

I want to be a change-maker.

I'm still figuring out what that means, or looks like, but I feel it in my gut. 

Something has to change.

*BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, People of Color

** For more resources on Critical Race Theory or our country's history with racism, check out:

"The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein

"The Color of Compromise" by Jemar Tisby

"Discrimination and Disparities" by Thomas Sowell

"How the Word is Passed" by Clint Smith

"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria" by Beverly Daniel Tatum

"America's Original Sin" by Jim Wallis

What else should be on this list?