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Comedian and podcast host Bill Maher has clashed with actor Bryan Cranston over the controversial issue of critical race theory, after the Breaking Bad star said awakening should be taught in schools.
The pair were debating whether CRT should be taught in schools on Maher’s podcast. Random Club.
The issue came up after the couple discussed slavery, in which Maher expressed his belief that historical figures such as former presidents should not be “written off” for having owned slaves.
Maher said that he felt former presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington should not be punished, as it was not uncommon to keep slaves at the time, both at home and abroad.
Actor Bryan Cranston, pictured, stated that he believes critical race theory in schools is essential to understanding systemic racism in the country.
But Bill Maher, pictured here, argued that CRT is a catch-all term and that teaching children that they are oppressive is introducing ideas that are not age-appropriate.
Cranston argued that critical race theory is “essential” in schools, as it examines how race, racism, and the slave trade have affected government and social activities.
“It’s been 400 fucking years that we’ve dealt with this, and our country still hasn’t taken responsibility or accountability,” Cranston said.
‘So that?’ Maher asked.
‘Because of the history of systemic racism in this country.’
‘What should we do more?’ Maher asked.
‘Well, I mean, on the one hand, critical race theory, I think it’s essential to teach.’
“It depends on what you mean by that,” Maher said.
Teaching CRT in schools has proven controversial, often leading to protests (file)
“I mean, teach how racial commerce and racism is systemic in everything we’ve done in government, in social activities,” Cranston responded.
“It’s like, for example, why does the Second Amendment really have to do with, in a country where you kept hostile people in chains, you needed weapons to keep control over that. So that has a lot to do with why other countries don’t have a Second Amendment like we do,” Maher said.
Maher said he felt that critical race theory is a “broadcast term” and that the notion that the United States is irredeemable is incorrect.
‘Critical race theory, I mean, it’s just one of these general terms, if you mean we should honestly teach our past, of course, if you mean more of what the 1619 book says, which is just the gist of it. from United States. and that we are irredeemable, that is wrong.’
“Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Cranston said. ‘But even showing our past and being honest, and acknowledging who we are as a country and history?’
“Most schools are doing that,” Maher said.
The 1619 Project aims to reframe American history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the national narrative. The project was developed by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, pictured above.
“In Florida they want to kill critical race theory, and in a lot of other states, because sometimes it gets sidetracked into things that really aren’t appropriate in schools,” Cranston said.
Maher expressed concern about teaching children that they are oppressive, suggesting that it is effectively “introducing ideas about race that are inappropriate for children of that age who cannot understand it.”
Maher noted that common sense is “missing in this country.”
Despite their disagreement, both Cranston and Maher agreed that some “awakened” subjects should not be taught in schools.
Critical race theory is a way of looking at how race and racism affect society, and how they intertwine with other forms of oppression such as class and gender, to maintain systems of power and privilege.
It is a framework that emerged in the 1970s as a critique of traditional approaches to civil rights, which focused on individual discrimination and legal equality, instead CRT looks at the ways in which racism is embedded in structures themselves of society.
The 1619 Project, to which Maher refers, is a New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning initiative that aims to reframe American history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the national narrative.
The project was developed by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and published in August 2019, on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in British colonies.
The project includes a series of essays, poems, photographs, and a podcast that examine the long shadow of slavery in the United States, including the economy, politics, education, and culture.
The project also makes the case that the true founding of America was not in 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but in 1619, when the first enslaved Africans were brought to the colonies.
The 1619 Project will continue to spread in media circles with the debut of a six-part documentary to stream on Hulu later this year, produced by Oprah Winfrey.