Critical Race Theory is not taught in schools. College professors say it is an overarching theory researched in college-level courses.
That has not stopped the Republican party from using the term to excite its base about perceived threats.
When you’re explaining, you’re losing!
“Republicans have done a very good job of essentially using it as a very short sound bite for things that are wrong or what the left is doing in schools that are bad for children,” said Mark Jones, Ph.D., Political Science Fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. “It’s much tougher for Democrats to fight back against it because it requires a more long form explanation and there’s the old phrase when you’re explaining you’re losing.”
Jones is a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers and gives more insight into the politics of race and the Department of Justice lawsuit against the state of Texas for perceived racially biased gerrymandering.
500 thousand Houstonians live in food deserts!
Houston City Council Member Edward Pollard pushed for and got a unanimous vote by council to support a food insecurity board. The representative of District J used the above statement as one of the reasons for establishing such a board.
“Over 700-thosuand people in our city have little to no access to healthy foods so that’s about a third of our population that’s having these problems,” he said.
So what will that board be tasked to do and what teeth will that board have? He provides answers this week.
Pandemic continues long term negative impact on early education
Dr. Bob Sanborn, Ed.D. is President & CEO of the nonprofit organization Children at Risk that is dedicated to understanding and addressing the root causes of child poverty and inequality.
He says the pandemic’s impact on children continues to be far reaching.
“We had a lot of childcare facilities in our state shut down during the pandemic and a lot of these are mom and pop operations,” he said. “A lot of times people don’t realize this is the foundation of academic learning and success in our state. We need to bolster those up.”
Sanborn says solutions are in sight, but time is not a friend.
- For More Information on all of the topics this week:
- · Mark Jones, Ph.D., Political Science Fellow, Baker Institute, Rice University
- · Edward Pollard, Houston City Council, District J
- · Bob Sanborn, President, CEO, Children at Risk,