When I received the call asking if I would write a column as a counterpoint to critical race theory (CRT), I was flabbergasted. My friends and colleagues Dr. Louis and Heatherlyn Hoffman had been over to my house the weekend before celebrating my birthday and one of the dinner table topics was critical race theory!

Also read: POINT | Critical race theory betrays MLK’s dream

We discussed CRT being maligned by politicians and pundits based on inaccurate information and deceptions. My emotions were further piqued by the news later that day of the Senate passing a bill declaring Juneteenth (aka, Emancipation Day) a federal holiday, which is of itself a positive move towards racial equality and a serendipitous segue into the question at hand: Should Colorado schools teach CRT?

It is crucial to understand CRT prior to entertaining and/or establishing policies against or in support of it. Many who use the term do not understand it. According to Politifact, “Supporters describe critical race theory as a collection of ideas, not a single doctrine, that explain why racial inequality and disparities persist long after civil rights laws and court rulings barred discrimination,” whereas “opponents use it as a blanket label for any discussion of white privilege, and they have encouraged local school districts to forbid the teaching of anything that addresses systemic racism.”

Over 40 years ago, CRT emerged out of a framework for legal analysis called Critical Legal Studies (CLS) as an academic concept created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others. The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and not just merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.

CRT holds adamantly to the premise upon which our Declaration of Independence is predicated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” It, therefore, transcends a Black/white racial binary and recognizes that racism has impacted the experiences of various people of color, including Latinx, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. CRT challenges white privilege, a primary factor for its resistance, and exposes deficit-informed research that ignores, and often omits, the scholarship of people of color. Contrary to what is often stated, CRT does not suggest any “racial” group is inherently inferior or biased, which would contradict the foundational premise that race is a social construction.

To raise the question if CRT should be taught in our schools is asking if the truth of America should be taught to those who hold our future, or should they be bamboozled with distorted information, such as being taught that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.

We are disillusioned if we believe or act as if racism has had no part in the shaping of America. As Blair Imani stated, “If Black children are old enough to experience racism then White children are old enough to learn about it.”

Teaching CRT in our schools will only benefit our children as in the adage ‘knowledge is power.’ However, it is not going to be comfortable because the truth sometimes hurts. Nevertheless, not teaching CRT in our schools helps perpetuate the lies that continue to keep us as a people divided. We claim the moniker “home of the brave and land of the free,” but unless we confront the lies, we are not brave at all; and, until we accept and teach the truth, we will never be free. For you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free!

Nathaniel Granger, Jr., Ph.D., is the past president of APA Division 32 Society for Humanistic Psychology, adjunct professor at Saybrook University and Pikes Peak Community College and is the founder and director of Be REAL Ministries in Colorado Springs.