Tugging at the Veil: Critical Race Methods for Analyzing Educational Gag Orders

Abstract

Key educational and political players have been publicly engaged in contentious discourse regarding policies that restrict discourse on race, gender, and topics like meritocracy. This article critically analyzes four educational gag orders, with a distinct emphasis on the falsification of critical race theory (CRT) present. Whiteness as Property and Racial Realism provide analytic frameworks for calling attention to how our contemporary political climate reflects historical trends of continued epistemic oppression and injustice that seek protection for the collective White American consciousness. Concluding discussions advocate for the explicit utility of counterstories for tugging at the veil of majoritarian narratives of racial justice and equity.