Second Critical Race Theory Ban Enters Ohio House!

FEATURED PHOTO: OHIO REPRESENTATIVE DON JONES R-95TH DISTRICT INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Patch.com, By Susan Tebben-OHIO CAPITAL JOURNAL, Posted June 4th 2021

A second bill seeking to ban critical race theory in Ohio schools entered the Ohio legislature last Tuesday.

State Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, brought the bill to prohibit critical race theory — an academic concept focusing on the effects of race on all aspects of American society, particularly as systems were created that negatively impacted communities of color — along with “action civics” from the state’s K-12 curriculum.

“Students should not be asked to ‘examine their whiteness’ or ‘check their privilege,'” Jones said in a statement. “This anti-American doctrine has no place in Ohio’s schools since we passed our founding documents curriculum mandating the Declaration of Independence, Northwest Ordinance, Ohio Constitution and the U.S. Constitution be taught to all students.”

Jones said critical race theory “flies in the face of all of these documents.”

The bill would also prohibit students from “being forced to advocate and lobby for specific positions at the local, state or federal level.”

Under the bill, no state agency, school district or school could promote teaching concepts that say:

  • One race or sex is “inherently superior” to another race or sex
  • An individual is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” by virtue of that individuals race or sex
  • An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, “bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.”
  • “With respect to their relationship to American values, slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of or failures to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.”

Jones’ bill is the second bill to enter the House on the topic. State Rep. Diane Grendell, R-Chesterland, introduced a similar bill earlier this month. That bill would prohibit “teaching or advocating divisive concepts” on race, color, nationality or sex, and ban the assigning of “fault, blame, or bias” on the basis of those elements.