Rhode Island State Rep. Patricia Morgan set Twitter ablaze Tuesday when she blasted out a bizarre post claiming she’d lost a Black friend due to a recent conservative obsession: critical race theory.
In the tweet, the Republican lawmaker complained that her friend had become “hostile and unpleasant” towards her—simply because she’s a white woman.
“Is that what teachers and our political leaders really want for our society? Divide us because of our skin color? #CRT,” Morgan wrote.
ADVERTISEMENT
Morgan’s post was immediately flooded with responses, as thousands called out her tone deaf statement.
“Oof....the fact that you think this tweet is ok shows just how much you have to learn. It might be she was just too exhausted to be your teacher,” one Twitter user posted. “It’s not CRT...it’s you. Had you had access to CRT, maybe you wouldn't have alienated your friend.”
“CRT is about learning actual history and why people have an advantage for having white skin,” another wrote. “None of my friends are asking me to hate myself. That's not the issue. They want me to be aware/learn & do what I can to help.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Morgan refused to name the pal, but said they used to be close until the friend stopped responding to her phone calls and messages.
“I’m sad that she doesn’t feel like she’s my friend anymore,” Morgan said. “I know that she has become a real proponent of racial identity politics. And I’m pretty sure that’s the reason behind it. I’m sad that our country is going down that road. I think it’s bad for our country.”
In March, Morgan co-sponsored a bill in Rhode Island that would have banned the teaching of more than just critical race theory in public schools. The bill, RI H6070, failed to pass in June but was meant to prohibit the “teaching of divisive concepts” as well as mandate that “any contract, grant or training entered into by state or municipality include provisions prohibiting divisive concepts and prohibit making individual feel distress on account of their race or sex.”
Morgan believes that her support for the bill and banning critical race theory is what cost her the friendship. Despite the odd wording of her tweet, she claimed to have more than one Black friend.
“We fought these battles already against discrimination and against segregation [for] Martin Luther King’s goals for us to judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin,” Morgan told The Daily Beast. “[Critical race theory] shuts down conversations about other reasons for disparities and other ways that we could work to change those disparities.”
Morgan alleged—while offering little evidence—that critical race theory is already being taught to students in public schools in her area, a claim conservatives have repeatedly made.
“Teachers have reported it to me. I’ve seen it in the textbooks and some of the reading material that is being used,” she said, without providing the names of the textbooks or their publishers.
“[Critical race theory] is where you really want to center race in every conversation and every subject and every textbook,” Morgan asserted. “Getting around and having a conversation about race doesn’t help a child learn how to make change.”
Critical race theory is actually an advanced academic framework—developed in law schools in the 1980s—for examining racism in American institutions.
But without evidence, Morgan blamed critical race theory on a host of education issues, from not preparing kids for life after high school to poor scores on statewide tests. She pointed to an unnamed group of kids who could not make change or take orders while working the cash register at a part time job—and faulted critical race theory.
The former teacher also blasted educators for sharing the stories of less high profile Black leaders in lessons, insisting, “There’s only so much time in the day to teach history.”
She referenced Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe—the white woman who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin—as “born leaders” who students should learn about.
“And who was the person who created the Underground Railroad?” she asked at one point, referring to Harriet Tubman, who did not actually create the Underground Railroad.
As for her Black friend, Morgan said she was very hurt to lose a pal over “racial identity politics” and vowed to continue reaching out to her.
“I’m quite aware that she was Black, but that didn’t matter because I liked her. I still like her,” she said.
