In a discussion with Mark Lamont Hill, Republican Vernon Jones can not even describe what critical race theory is, or why it must be banned. Hill absolutely tears Jones apart for supporting a jargon-word ban on something that is not a thing.
"They ban things that aren't even an issue. There is no public school teacher in America who is attempting to put critical race theory in schools. Critical race theory isn't even taught in high schools. It's not even really taught in college. It is taught in law school and it has increasingly been taught in graduate school."
Hill directed his closing comments at Jones as a Black Republican—"You want to ban a theory that nobody is trying to bring in in the first place? That is a smoke signal to white America and really to white racists"—but that critique of the entire effort to ban critical race theory from schools holds true for all the white Republicans making a big stink about it as well. They are all trying to ban something that is not seriously being taught in the schools, because using a term that sounds a little jargon-y and advanced is a lot more palatable to the (white) general public than saying "we just want to ban schools from talking about the existence of racism or teaching about the contributions of anyone but white people." Which is actually what's going on here, to the extent that there's a real effort to influence school curriculum.
