It was one of the more awkward conversations we had during our stay in Vail. Our hosts Jack and his wife had invited two couples from Houston to share drinks and maybe dinner in a nearby restaurant. I was sitting next to this rather loud and opinionated woman who decided that the real risk to America was wokeness.
After about 10 minutes I figured out that for her, wokeness meant anything she didn't approve of, which was a lot. Then she started with how here elementary school children were exposed to critical race theory. My first question was what kind of school were here kids in, where urban policy is discussed, because when I got my master's in history, it was the first time, and only time that CRT was ever discussed.
She, who had a bachelor's degree in marketing was furious that I would doubt her understanding of CRT, I only had a master's in history from Balliol College. Choosing to not understand her sarcasm, I said that CRT was a minor segment of teaching that discussed how racist policies were used in America and then in South Africa to create man-made barriers between different racial communities. As an example, building a viaduct, to stop the encroachment of black middle-class suburbs from encroaching white suburbs in Los Angeles in the 1950s.
I explained that it had few adherents because it required a total disregard for the community makeup, geography, and growth patterns -- taking only one element and making it the sole reason for the implementation of urban policy.
She decided to dig a little deeper and started going off about school libraries and the inappropriateness of books that were available to her children. By then I had the attention of the room, so I asked about what books were inappropriate, and she came out with some rather mainstream stuff, that I was surprised would be even available in a primary school (5-11). Then I mischievously asked if she had problems with bestiality and murders and dismemberment. She said, of course, I was prepared, so you would remove Shakespeare and the bible then.
She looked at me with questioning. I said Midsummer's Night is rather racy, and ask any 12-year-old boy in bible school, he will find the the fun passages in the bible in less than a minute. Her husband started laughing.
Let's just say that this couple decided that they were otherwise engaged that night. Everyone els thought it was rather funny.
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