Assemblyman Colin J. Schmitt (R,C-New Windsor) at a press conference Monday announced he is introducing legislation in the State Assembly to ban critical race theory and its concepts from being taught in New York State Schools.

Critical race theory (CRT), as defined by Wikipedia, is a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States that seeks to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race and to challenge mainstream approaches to racial justice. The basic tenets of CRT include that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing and often subtle social and institutional dynamics rather than explicit and intentional prejudices on the part of individuals.

“I will be introducing legislation in the Assembly that will ban Critical Race Theory and any of its concepts from being taught in New York Schools,” Schmitt said. “ I have heard from many concerned parents, families, and educators across the Hudson Valley and across the state worried about our students, what they could be taught, and what it means for the future. After a year of students learning from home and parents seeing firsthand what their children are learning, they have grave concerns over these concepts and what is being incorporated into their education. Critical Race Theory is uniquely un-American. It is an indoctrination of students that seeks to destroy the core fundamental principle that has been universal for all Americans — the pursuit of the American Dream.”