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Listen | Craven County Commissioners pass anti-‘Critical Race Theory’ resolution

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Caitlin Trombley speaks at the Craven County Commissioners meeting in New Bern on Aug. 2, 2021. Mattie Holloway/EducationNC

At their Aug. 2 meeting, the Craven County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to remove “all divisive theories, such as ‘Critical Race Theory,’ ‘Action Civics,’ and ‘The 1619 Project’” from “all Craven County Schools curriculum.” The resolution further states that “the State of North Carolina prohibit its use in any educational setting.” Listen to the full story below.

Although county commissioners don’t directly control what is taught in schools, many North Carolina county commissions provide local funding to public schools. According to the 2021-22 Craven County Budget Book, the county commission provided the local school district with more than $26 million this fiscal year. 

A large crowd from the community spoke at the public comment portion of the meeting. Some spoke for and some spoke against the resolution, while others questioned its relevance all together.

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The commissioners ultimately voted in favor of the resolution 5-2. However, it’s unclear what the actual impact of the resolution will be.

Here is the full resolution that was passed at the Aug. 2 meeting:

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founding critical race theorist and a law professor who teaches at UCLA and Columbia University, described critical race theory this way:

“Critical race theory is a practice. It’s an approach to grappling with a history of White supremacy that rejects the belief that what’s in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it.”