Shee Covarrubias
Communications Coordinator and a member of the Board of Directors for the Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska • June 17, 2021 • Omaha, NE
"I would challenge anyone here who is a fervent detractor of any antiracism teachings like Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project about their understanding of these things. I would assert that the great majority are running on emotion, perceived as ‘facts’ that are provided to them by others or they are blinded by pure hatred. For clarity, no one is teaching actual Critical Race Theory in any K-12 schools, it is a college level academic theory. It’s not even a historical theory, it’s a legal theory about how laws have been written to institutionalize racism, hence systemic racism. No one is blaming any individual white person for being white. Ironically, by writing laws to ban the teaching of systemic racism, these states are in fact reinforcing the thesis of the very theory they’re trying to deny."
Bear Alexander
Organizer for the Revolutionary Action Party • June 17, 2021 • Omaha, NE
"After comments from our governor, I think it’s pertinent and timely to discuss these abhorrent statements. He said CRT was an attack on our American values and these sentiments resonate with the vast majority of people suffering from the venomous disease of white privilege. These American values that they boast in front of our face have to be the biggest hypocrisy and contradiction current civilizations have been subjected to, especially Black and Brown people. “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The absolute temerity that our founding fathers superficially obtained while confidently hoisting themselves on these premises while simultaneously owning humans should inevitably lead to the complete negation of these historical documents of fallacy and represent the broken moral compass our government relies on because it’s inherently racist. This moral compass holds as a dominant force in the obstacle CRT faces in flourishing into required learning. Callous malice from the suburbs rots away prospective prosperity with oppressed communities and while we struggle for truth, they struggle for silence. Like, “If you stick a knife in my back 9in in and pull it out 6, that’s not progress. If you pull it out all the way that’s still not progress. Progress is healing the wound and they haven’t even pulled it out. Let alone acknowledge it’s there.” This must be properly understood when combatting CRT. They claim progress with groundless evidence. What is progress when you haven’t even acknowledged that racism is a social construct and has been embedded and entrenched in everything that makes our society breathe?
If you can’t come to that revelation, after a myriad of evidence, you have no right to cower behind a term of progress and use it as a formidable opponent against CRT. The amount of opposition and the demographics of said opposition should be noted as a profound image called the epitome of privilege. Why would our opponents want to hide the truth from their children? Why wouldn’t we want to get to the root cause of our societal dismay? It becomes apparent when you start asking these questions that our opponents’ agenda is not sincere concern for their children, but a wretched scheme with the most nefarious plans to keep the status quo alive while citing our constitution claiming it’s impossible for our system to be racist.
“We said all people.” Yeah? Peel the red, white stripes back and you see Black and Brown bodies covered in blood. Pluck out the stars and you see ridden bullet holes of our dignity. This country was built on my people’s oppression and exploitation. It’s about time we start reflecting and teaching truth."