Key Findings

1. Lawmakers are considering three bills to impose Critical Race Training on Washington’s public education institutions.

2. Much of the Critical Race Training curriculum required by these bills is untrue, false, and destructive.

3. Critical Race Trainings require people to publicly profess their racial and sexual identities, and then be labeled as either “oppressors” or “oppressed.”

4. According to Critical Race Training, all white heterosexual men are “oppressors” and certain minority groups are “oppressed.”

5. These bills violate Washington’s Civil Rights Act, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Washington State and U.S. Constitution.

6. The bills violate workers’ First Amendment rights by compelling speech or by suppressing their legitimate views and opinions.

7. Critical Race Training undermines the friendship and trust that make a caring and tolerant society possible and would make the problem of racism worse.  

Introduction

Lawmakers are considering bills to mandate Critical Race Trainings; SB 5044, for staff of K-12 public schools, SB 5227, for staff of public colleges and universities, and SB 5228, for students at Washington’s public medical schools. In addition, SB 5228 would establish illegal quotas for admission to medical school based on race.

At public hearings, lawmakers received the following analysis about these bills.

• Prominent black, Hispanic, and Jewish leaders are speaking out against this racial training curriculum as harmful to their children. 

• The bills violate the Washington Civil Rights Act, which provides: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

• The bills violate the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin.

• The bills violate workers’ First Amendment rights by compelling speech in mandatory training sessions, or by suppressing their legitimate views and opinions.

• The bills would create hostile work environments in Washington’s public schools, public universities, and public medical schools.

• The bills would promote feelings of fear, alienation, and rejection in students and teachers because official policy would judge them based on appearance rather than their work experience or abilities. 

Enacting a government policy of judging others by their appearance will likely lead to more conflict and legal challenges in the state’s public education system.

Read the full Legislative Memo here.