New York Times Magazine slammed for 'shoddy' essay on anti-critical race theory laws

Critics are slamming an essay published in New York Times Magazine this week that took aim at anti-critical race theory laws being signed into law across the country.

"This spring, memory laws arrived in America. Republican state legislators proposed dozens of bills designed to guide and control American understanding of the past. As of this writing, five states (Idaho, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas and Oklahoma) have passed laws that direct and restrict discussions of history in classrooms. The Department of Education of a sixth (Florida) has passed guidelines with the same effect. Another 12 state legislatures are still considering memory laws," Synder wrote.  He argued, "History is not therapy, and discomfort is part of growing up… Teachers in high schools cannot exclude the possibility that the history of slavery, lynchings and voter suppression will make some non-Black students uncomfortable. The new memory laws invite teachers to self-censor, on the basis of what students might feel — or say they feel. The memory laws place censorial power in the hands of students and their parents. It is not exactly unusual for White people in America to express the view that they are being treated unfairly; now such an opinion could bring history classes to a halt."