are in high demand. ♪ last couple years i've been way out of control. let me just take a break and relax. woke! >> no, no. don't pay attention. it's all just nonsense. >> anti-woke.

>> don't get caught up. this too shall pass. >> wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. >> are you even woke? >> culture is garbage. >> oh my god, so much yelling, so much fighting! >> against all things woke. this is where woke goes to die. >> getting critical race theory out of our schools is a matter of national survival. >> aren't things bad enough? do we have to fight about this word? >> woke. >> woke. >> woke. >> you are so woke. >> you woke the sleeping giant. >> critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie and it is every bit as racist as klansmen in white sheets. >> okay. i'm going to wade in and try to explain woke. all right. open my eyes, take a deep breath. oh, no. i'm in arizona.

♪ >> all right, this is where we're at in america, everybody. we have a new enemy, and it is "woke." not the word, the idea. actually, also the word. maybe mostly the word? >> putin ain't woke. he is anti-woke. >> i want florida to be known as the brick wall against all things woke. >> you heard 'em. wokeness, woke-lash, woke mob. somebody actually said wokesters. who says wokesters?

the woke eratty. you know, the woke illuminati? i just made that up. i'll keep work on it's. >> this is an elite driven phenomenon. >> and look, let me be clear. woke used to mean something. the phrase "stay woke" is one in a long line of slang that black folks invented to point the idea that america is dangerous, and we as black folks need to be careful and smart. do you know what woke is? how do you define woke? >> it's a great question in the sense that it's not even a dictionary definition of things anymore. it's become subject to interpretation. >> i think it's people who are enlightened to put down the definition. >> go woke, get broke. >> go woke, get broke! that's funny. in my career, i went woke and i got a tv show. where do i even start wading into this woke storm? oh, wait, the perfect place, arizona.

♪ >> so we have some breaking news for you. we are getting more election results out of arizona tonight. >> but this the past few years, arizona has changed-ish. >> we're going to key race alert right now. >> for only the second time since 1952, arizona turned blue in 2020. if you believe in, like, numbers and math and stuff. like a nerd. like all blue states, the blue is mostly concentrated in the urban areas. also, i wouldn't say that arizona's blue is even a deep blue. it's like a purplish-blue. like a bruise blue. and the bruise color is perfect because arizona is a battleground state. heavy on the battle part. don't take my word for it. ask a local. what is life like in this blue dot in the middle of this occasional blue state? >> i mean, it's a beautiful state, but i've definitely

learned to pick and choose who i engage with and what i engage about. >> this is dr. tara armstead, a teacher, gamer, former litchfield elementary school board member and a black woman. that last part is key to this story. do you feel that battleground when you're walking around the state? >> oh, definitely, yes. and education just tends to be right now the battleground. >> we know who you are. >> we know who you are. >> [ bleep ] you. >> if the fight over wokeness is our new civil war, then critical race theory, or crt is our gettysburg, i think. hold on, gettyburg. >> fight about nothing, racism. yes, crt is gettysburg. >> 37 states have introduced bills or taken other steps that restrict teaching critical race theory. >> and the whole country is inflamed. look at virginia's gubernatorial race. it was won and lost over crt and woke. >> teaching our children's to judge one another based on the

color of their skin? yes, that does exist in virginia schools today. and that's why i signed the executive order yesterday to make sure we get it out of our schools. >> it's ugly, and arizona is no exception. so in 2021, litchfield elementary school district in the heart of maricopa county was doing what a lot of schools around the country were doing, having a racial reckoning in a microsoft word doc. the ubiquitous post 2020. say it with me, equity statement. >> it was chaos. it was absolute chaos. >> that is inappropriate for a board member to hold up a sign that says not true while i am speaking. >> people coming in screaming and yelling at each other. >> you need to be banned. throw her out. >> people having to call the cops for assault. >> all right. let's check this equity statement out. we believe in equitiable policies. that can't be it.

let's see farther down. equity, racism, diversity, sounds fine to me. oh, ex-kex-kendi quote. one confronts racial inequities as an anti-racist. there is no in between safe space of not racist. that's it? that's the smoking gun? i think they're just mad his middle name is x. around all this is when tara became a member of the litchfield elementary school board. there is going to be a lot of sighing in this episode. >> so i got appointed in march. and my first meeting was in april. >> so april of 2021? >> yes. >> so even the first board meeting i went to, have i people asking me what do you believe about critical race theory? what do you think about equity? are you really a doctor? >> they were still interviewing you? >> exactly. so the assumption was i'm going to come here and say i'm pro

black, i can't say anything else. i told them on day one, i'm here to advocate for the students who are not getting what they need. >> and what did you that the students needed that they weren't getting? >> they weren't getting a voice. all these issues with equity and critical race theory. i hear what students are saying, yet they're not being heard. students need to know the whole history of this country. >> uh-huh. >> that's what critical race theory, telling the whole history. it's not exactly about race. >> yeah, yeah. >> and they're well, that's not what it is. >> what do they think critical race theory is? >> they believe we're going teach students that white people are the oppressor, black people or people of color are the oppressed. we're not doing that in the classroom. >> okay. so let's quickly clear this up and get an exact definition of crt. this is professor kimberly crenshaw. she and her colleagues invented critical race theory. >> critical race theory is the study of how law has

historically facilitated racial projects of subordination liken slavement, like genocide, like colonialism. and how it continues to embed itself in our contemporary world. >> great. well done, professor crenshaw. we'll come back to you a little later. >> so i felt like i was placed on there not because of my credentials, but we need someone who looks like you to sit here while we're talking about critical race theory and equity. >> be the black face amongst the white case faissts. what would you say the breakdown among the races is? >> 60%. >> how many. >> five seats. >> any other minorities? >> nope. >> so 20% of the minority. but 60% of the district is minority. >> right. which is very uncomfortable. i even did a backpack school

supplies drive. and i did it with the intention of showing what equity was. i got the community together. we ended up with over 400 with supplies. this is equity. everybody doesn't need a new backpack. everybody doesn't need supplies. but why not help those that need it. >> did they like the fact you did it? >> i actually got hate for doing. >> for doing a backpack drive for schools? >> yeah. i got to the point i wasn't sleeping at night. so i penned my resignation letter, gave it to them, and there was a woman that came up to me and was crying. she said i just moved here a couple of months ago and i've seen what you've done in a short amount of time. it's not right. >> "united shades of america" is sponsored by ally. do it right. go to dc universe.com/milestone to learn how ally and d.c. are championing the next generation

of black and diverse comic creators. >> when my friends teamed up to create a whole new universe of inclusive heroes, it's because we wanted to show the world how big they could dream. they were the ones we wanted to see when we were growing up. >> to be clear, we have never been accused of being flashy, sexy or lit. >> we're definitely not lit. for booking accommodation. we love booking stuff! and we're just here to help you make the best of your vacation. ow... hi... booking.com booking.yeah

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it might surprise you that despite the fact that it's basically my job to be woke -- god, i hate that word -- i hadn't given critical race theory much thought until recently. probably because until recently, critical race theory was mostly discussed in graduate classes at your better universities, and i dropped out of college. >> critical race theory says every white person is a racist. >> i've never figured out what critical race theory is. >> critical race theory says america is fundamentally racist. >> we banned critical race theory. >> critical race theory seeks to turn us against each other. >> that's immoral to teach that because it's wrong. >> and if someone has a different color skin, seeks to make us hate that person. >> we are not spending taxpayer

dollars to teach kids to hate each other or to hate this country. >> but if we're going talk about critical race theory, then we need to distinguish between this -- >> until white people get smart, black people can't get free. so one of our main tasks is doing whatever is possible to try to get whites to see today what their -- what they and their predecessors haven't been willing to see for 300 years. >> reporter: which is actual crt and this. >> right foul there is arguing about should we teach kids a more accurate history of theory. >> race theory? >> what did you say? here we go. >> race theory? >> what are your thoughts on that. >> you can teach it without having an opinion. >> it is okay if your teacher says i think slavery was bad. is that okay? >> no. no. >> nazi is not good? >> nothing is bad. >> nothing is bad? >> and if the latter is how you heard about it first, then i'm not surprised you're confused, which is why i grind my teeth

when i sleep. >> it's total manipulation and manufacturing of crisis. >> who is manufacturing it? >> the democrats. it's always a race card. i get so sick of it. we need to teach children to compete. when the chinese probably know more about american history than we do. >> so we should teach better american history here? >> well, yeah. >> like the history of america. >> slavery, genocide native americans? >> well, no. >> not that stuff? >> well, not the whole thing. >> we're talking about the idea that some people say that wokeness has gone too far. america's gotten too focused on being woke. >> okay. is that a question? >> i'm sort of afraid to ask it now. it's not my question. they made me do it. i already have my answers to. this has america gotten too soft? >> i'm super high right now. you're blowing my mind. >> that's what i'm here to do, man. i'm not even here. this is a part of the sim simulation. enjoy your evening. go have a good night. thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. >> some of the responses that you got about what is critical race theory are insane. they have nothing to do with the

work that we are doing. they do, however, have everything to do with the historic use of racism as a political bank account that a faction of our society can always draw from. >> kimberly crenshaw is academic royalty. a professor at ucla law and columbia law, she has degrees from harvard, cornell and the university of wisconsin. you know that word intersectionality that you like to throw around? she invented it. and as we've already covered, she is a pioneering scholar of crt. >> so critical race theory is a prism. it is a way of making sense out of the continuity of racial ineq inequality, but making sense out of it in order to do something about it. it's not an effort to say all white people are bad. >> and as a bonus, because i love you, we are joined by

randall kennedy, a rhodes scholar and harvard law professor. known as a small c conservative voice, he thought at law when professor crenshaw attended so, the back and forth they're having today has been going on for years. and they haven't always agreed, but look. they keep it respectful. take note, internet. >> i'd add that the people that complain that crt and other progressive voices are painting american history in a one-dimensional misleading manner. i didn't hear any of this talk when you had people who were going to school and learning in their history books that slavery was actually not so bad. when people say critical race theory today, what they're talking about is a boogieman that has been created by people who want to vilify, besmirch,

demonize any sort of thinking that they perceive as progressive thinking about race. >> so the very fact that this time last year, very few people had heard of critical race theory. but suddenly overnight, critical race theory is that thing that you have to come out and protect your children against. it's a great boogieman. and we think we can make it run. and so far they've been right. >> yeah, yeah. every now and again certain forces in this country come up with a new bogeyman that is a thing that they use to say your america is being taken away. >> uh-huh. >> if you actually follow the money, you'll see tens of millions of dollars have been spent to create critical race theory as the bogeyman. >> it's a slogan. it's a category of thought that has been put to polemical and partisan use, and that's actually what critical race theory in quotation marks has come to mean today.

>> we can teach? >> sure. even the history of slavery is complicated. i'm part irish. we were treated worse than slaves. >> really? worse that slaves? >> they called us the dirty irish and they only lived to age 19 versus slaves lived to 36. >> thank you. a clump resistant, caring formula now infused with floral oil. take your lashes to paradise. new lash paradise mascara from l'oreal paris. we're worth it. covid-19 moves fast, and now you can too by asking your healthcare provider if an oral treatment is right for you. oral treatments can be taken at home and must be taken within 5 days

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getting critical race theory out of our schools is a matter of national survival. the fate of any nation ultimately depends upon the willingness of its citizens to lay down, and they must do this, lay down their very lives to defend their country. >> look, the only time "lay down your lives" is appropriate to talk about in a school setting is when you're teaching about black kids trying to integrate schools, or teaching about school shootings. as we all know, once the debate turns into this -- >> i am disgusted by your bigotry. >> productive conversation over. brenda killhoffer, a parent with a child in arizona's litchfield school district, had seen enough. my oldest daughters ride horse. >> what kind? >> brown horses, sometimes black horses. you ask too many questions.

>> well, we've got all kinds of colors. >> who is this? >> this is jeremiah. >> hi, jeremiah. >> so jeremiah is actually the kiddo that's home schooling now because he was part of litchfield district. and we just weren't confident this year was going to be a year that offered a lot of stability there. >> okay. >>. so. >> brenda's son attended litchfield elementary at the height of the crt battle. so seeing the debate spilling over into mayhem, brenda did what any caring 21st century mom would do, she rolled up her sleeves and went viral. >> in 1933 adolf hitler and his nazi regime introduced racism education into german schools. reforming germany's education system is the way to indoctrinate youth and train them as activists. >> if you're a regular watcher of the show, you know this is what i did. have conversations with people i don't always agree with. but take note. it's respectful, no yelling, no one got hit with a chair.

so let's talk about this equity statement. >> so we got an email from one of the board members that was screaming, oh, they're doing this critical race theory, and i'd never heard of critical race theory. >> statistically, none of us had until recently. >> right. so i saw a social media post and an article about how bad this whole equity statement was. a day or two going to the meeting, the transformational equity work document fell into my hands. >> the transformation equity work document laid out a multi-year plan deviced to help the litchfield school district work towards equity in five specific areas. those were discipline, achievement, continued learning, diverse curriculum, and diverse staff. >> this is the document that was built completely by this committee that nobody knew about. so i thought anything that's not being transparent to the parents was concerning for me. there was a piece in there that they were going to reduce black

suspensions by a certain percentage. it wasn't suspensions across the board. they only wanted to reduce black suspensions. then there was a statement about statistics in hiring black teachers. and i went to that next meeting, and i said as much, that these were the things that concerned me about the document. and i really had no idea what kind of shit storm i had just put myself in the middle of. >> we can and should reject racism by repealing the statement and abandoning it and all supporting documentation. thank you. >> people can have different perspectives about the same event or the same activity or the same event. >> absolutely. >> when you say to me the school district wants to lower suspensions of black kids. >> what i hear from my perspective is that there have been studies that say that black kids get disciplined harsher than white kids. they get suspended more often. they get expelled more often. they get sent to the principal's more often. >> yeah. i've heard of it. >> it is a nationally known issue that black kids are

suspended at a higher rate. i would imagine well, that's one thing we can do is look at that. >> the biggest issue with the original trans formational equity document for most parents was that it had an ibrahim x. kendi quote, and really they felt was going to encompass a lot of those belief systems. and as you walk through it, it did. that's when it now becomes more of a religion. if you're going to teach critical race theory as a world view, then maybe you should be teaching christianity as a world view too. >> i've been black all my life. >> yeah. >> i got one of the most radical black moms. she leads the league in radical black thought. and i had not heard the phrase "critical race theory" until the last year. so i think the idea that it's some sort of embedded religion, it's not a thing black people are dealing with. >> right. >> we're skipping past should american schools do a better version of teaching an accurate, age appropriate version of history to our students. >> well, i think the challenge is the perception on the right side is that it's not about

adding to. it's about replacing and getting rid of and ignoring the past. which can talk about thomas jefferson all day long as far as i'm concerned and all the beautiful things he wrote and the declaration of independence. we also got to get into that also owned slaves and not teach a version of slavery that is about economics and about how every slave had three meals a day and free room and board, which some schools have done, and then leap to the "i have a dream" speech, and then skip from there to barack obama. now how do we get to this place where we can teach accurate histories of this country to students? >> where i'm at is yeah, do we have a problem, yes. i agree there is a problem. do i think that this critical race theory is the way to do it? no. i think it compounds the problem. >> can you define critical race theory for me? i think that's the other thing. i think a lot of people have different definitions. i just want to make sure i'm operating on your definition. >> for me it's that core belief and value that white is oppressor. black is a victim. and the fact that core value is

there in the middle of it is where the challenge is for me. i think there is this thing called critical race theory, and i think some people have used that buzzword to turn it into what you just said. >> my grandchild's black. i don't want him growing up being told shea victim. nor do i want my white kids told they're oppressors. people are fighting enough. why add more fuel to the fire to fight. >> did the equity statement mention critical race theory? >> the equity statement did not. it was all of the websites you went to. and all of the different little buzzwords that went with critical race theory. make sure you have your hand flat, otherwise it might end up in their mouth. >> here. there. >> you go. >> so that all of them, all five, jeremiah, got all five. there we go. those are my fingers. those are my fingers. yes.

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how would you define woke? >> it's like the advance generation of political correctness. >> do they do woke in canada? >> they absolutely do woke in canada, yes. >> i'm mexican. so i think ruchas. it means like -- >> the mexican way of saying woke? >> to me america is not woke enough.

>> this is your first time in phoenix? >> yeah. >> what's the deal with arizona, though? it's not really the south. >> no. i've been calling it desert florida. because florida is the same way. it's not really the south like the south. i think there is something about here that people of all sort of political stripes like to move here because the weather. >> like florida. >> yeah. >> i get it. even with everybody talking about wokeness, i'm not surprised that most people don't have a working definition of woke. but i know someone who definitely does, michael harriet is yet another writer i booked on the show whom i'm jealous of. author of the unwashed white story of america, he knows exactly how to make it plain while i'm just screaming into the void. i thought the idea of woke was black slang we throw around for a little while and go oh, that was fun and put it on the shelf. >> because white people find out about it. >> i really thought we were done with it.

and then to see the fox news of the world and even left wing media, wrestled with this idea of woke. i was confusing to me. no, we're done with that. >> yeah. there is the word woke. and then there is the concept of woke. so that concept has been around for years. the interesting thing about it is the first time we heard the word "woke" in history was in the 1920s with a blues player named hutty lead belly ledbetter. he heard about this case of the black boys in alabama who had been falsely accused of raping a white woman. and they were imprisoned, and he wrote a song about it called the scottsboro boys. now after he finishes playing the song, he waits for a second and tells everyone, you know, if you're black and you're going through alabama, keep your eyes open. you got to stay woke.

>> a creative way for one black person to say to another, hey, be smart. stay aware. america is dangerous. you know, keep your top eye open. keep your head on a swivel. let me pull your coat. for decades, woke sort of stayed on the bench of black vernacular, poke its head out here and there. then came 2014. the killing of michael brown in ferguson, missouri by a police officer heralded the rise of the #staywoke on twitter. even though black twitter is run by black folks, it's on regular twitter where everybody else can see it. and woke eventually became the battle him of latte lib rams. all of the sudden and everybody was woke. woke and namasted. woke in the dog park. woke at pilates. woke at the farmer's market. it was the ballot cry for general self-righteousness and reformative social justice campaigns. we just use it for fun now.

>> wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. >> but even though we tried to bury it, they found the body and frankenwoke was born. a mutant propaganda riddled abomination of the original meaning which is the very thing lead belly was warning us about in the first place. now as a catch ual for everything and anything that america sees as a threat. it's the war on christmas year round. so there is this idea of wokeness. and now the thing that it is mostly being used to do is being connected to crt, to then attack school boards. you know what i mean? we have to stop this woke mob because they want to put crt in our schools. >> and that will turn us into marxists. >> i think it's the floe chart. >> the flow chart. how to get from trans people to communism. >> yeah. >> regardless how you feel about america, you should want to perfect it. and that's why i don't understand the demonization of the effort to make this a more perfect union.

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mean that i am a racist, damn it. >> when filmmaker ken burns eventually does his 22-part documentary about the crt wars, this is how they'll be remembered. >> cynthia schwartz, you were on the edge of educational malpractice. >> but it will look better in sepia tone with that camera thing moving. >> thank you. your time is up. >> i'm going to finish. >> you're not going to finish. your time is up. >> we've lost friends over conversations. and we have one fellow in our community who is black. the other black people will not talk to him. >> yep. >> they won't talk to him. >> yep. >> come on, people. we got to be able to do better than this. can five adults with different viewpoints actually have a conversation? let's find out. cynthia schwartz, a pickle baller and advocate for getting back to fundamentals in education. shawn carter, not that one. creator of the barbecue becky hash tag. michael finnegan, a local crt retiree, and a voting rights activist from the navajo nation.

there are many things that have come out of the school board meetings that have been around the country the last 18 months. what is going on from your perspective? >> well, there are a lot of folks challenging what we call critical race theory in classrooms. >> uh-huh. >> and for me as a native american in this country, first peoples of this land, it's hard or the me to understand why we wouldn't want to educate our children about all of the history of this country, even if it's dark, even if it's hard to comprehend. >> crt is an academic term that came out of harvard. it's a theory. it's not been proven yet. >> like gravity is a theory? >> it used to be. crt i think stands for causes racial tension. i've seen it at board -- i've seen it at board meetings. and it's very divisive. it's not unifying, and it turns american values upside down. crt is using race because it's immutable.

>> what do you mean it's immutable? >> you can't change your race. i mean, you're stuck. you are what you are. >> you said it's an academic term. isn't there a way they're observing race now at functions through the law in american society? >> i don't know. >> let me give you an example of something that crt might cover. for instance, red lining in the '70s. they would explain okay, the reason we have these huge disparities between black and white home ownership is they were red lining. >> red lines around black communities. >> now the idea that teaching that is divisive because what? we should instead just let people assume that it happened. >> those people in the black neighborhood just don't make good financial decisions? >> exactly. they didn't want to buy houses. the idea of crt is to say this is a historical thing happening covering tens of thousands of people over a long period of time. this is how we got where we are now. i'm trying to figure out why that's divisive, why that's offensive.

who gets hurt? >> critical race theory finds racism in everything. >> and so you're saying it finds racism where racism doesn't exist? >> it can. >> i think there is a lot of definitions. there is some fuzziness about it. it depends on who you talk to. and what blew up our district was the reference to ibrahim x kendi's anti-racism. children are made to feel that they're bad people because they're of a certain color. people are made to feel ashamed. kids are being told that they're inherently racist. people have gone to the extreme that this country is horrible. it's terrible. and that's all that we hear is negative, negative, negative. >> just to be clear, you don't have any kids in this school district? >> i don't really -- i get asked that a lot. >> for the purposes of this. >> i understand that. but i don't know why that matters. my tribe, the navajo nation is 27,000 square miles. >> yeah. >> the majority of the navajo nation is in arizona. i was in a school system that was very strict and traditional

that covered the history of my people in two paragraphs. for me, at least, i didn't really learn the full history of my own people until i was in college. for my future children, i want them to walk in a world where they're not thought of as inferior or savages or -- >> or only worthy of two paragraphs? >> exactly. maybe we wouldn't be there if we invested in critical race theory and it was an education that was taught. >> ideas have consequences. your view of history will affect your view of today. and your view of tomorrow. so these struggles over curriculum, these struggles over so-called divisive ideas, it's not just limited to the seminar room. it's not just limited to what little sally and what little jane and what little johnny write in a paper. this is about the constitution

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if you want a school with more crt and more gender ideology, i think you're nuts. >> what a novel concept, right, to make sure our kids aren't indoctrinated. >> in this show we've been talking about -- oh, god, i hate even saying it, wokeness.

but really, that's just a distraction from the actual struggles we always have in this country. it's a fight that black folks, indigenous folks and people of color know, especially if they're also members of the lgbtq+ community. >> you're teaching children to hate others because of their skin color, and you're forcing them to lie about other kids' gender. >> at the same time that schools are being used to attack crt, they're also being used to attack the lgbtq+ community. you've probably heard about the legislation unaffectionately known as the don't say gay bill in florida. that's just the beginning. heading into the 2022 midterms, republican legislators have proposed at least -- wait for it -- 325 bills that target the lgbtq+ community. oh my god, there is only 50 states. >> when they come after one group and everybody sits back and lets them do it, then they'll come after the next

group and the next group and the next group. and as the saying goes, when they came after me, there was nobody left. >> forget those legislators. i'm going talk to the kids who are actually affected by this. right now in the nation, as you all know, i'm sure, and as you're experiencing in your schools, there is a lot of america's gotten too woke. the woke mob is ruining america. i can talk to grown-ups about it who aren't actually in the classrooms. i can talk to teachers who are in the classrooms, but we really want to use the opportunity to hear from you all. erick mejia, victoria grace monroe, joey glenn, jamie laureano, and raymond duncan are a part of s.a.f.e., the student alliance for equality. also joining is autumn brown and organizer and theologian who works in reconciliation. i'm going to start taking her everywhere. what is woke? >> i don't know what that means. i can't answer either way. >> i feel old just hearing that word because honestly, i know -- >> did you say "i feel old just hearing that word"?

>> yes. >> i know. i'm only 16. yet i don't really understand. like some of the slang terms nowadays. >> so it's not a word that you're using. i'd be shocked if it was. >> yeah. >> but it's not a word y'all are using. >> no. it's a word used against us. it's oh, i'm sorry. i'm not woke enough to know what nonbinary means or any of that means to use your pronouns. i identify as an attack helicopter. i identify its pronouns. >> you're quoting people, aren't you? >> yes. >> you're not just making that up. >> nope. >> you're quoting people. >> directly. >> yeah. >> i wouldn't say like i use it at all. but i think of woke would be understanding current events and new concepts. >> that's what it was originally meant. but as you say -- >> yeah, it's kind of turned into insult. >> yeah. the people who use it the most are ironically are the people who are least woke. >> yeah. >> critical race theory. i've talked to a lot of adults, some parents, some concerned

citizens who don't have kids in schools who say that you all are being indoctrinated with critical race theory. and that wokeness is run amok, and you're all proof of that. >> i'm curious when kamau asks if you're getting race theory, you laugh in this way the notion is absurd. >> we get taught the on it is. we get textbooks from the early 2000s where they still portray the civil rights movement in black and white, but reagan is in color. >> i bow down. >> i'm learning shakespeare right now. the last book i read was be beowulf. the most recent was "i know why the caged bird sings" which is why the only block in english i've read by a black person. everything we're taught is outdated. arizona only hazards. it doesn't have a curriculum. >> so i want to talk specifically to the lgbtq+ issues here that i hear the clubs and the clubs sound great. i also know that many of the politicians in arizona are

trying to do things like, for example, if you want to join a gsa type club you, have to get permission from your parents. >> that is a dangerous, dangerous thing because we've already had a student outed to parents in our pride club. and there was almost a physical altercation. school is sometimes the only safe place for students. at home is dangerous, and they can be out at school with their friends. the book bans that have been happening, the number one banned book in 2020 was "george", a book about a transgendered person. eight of the top ten banned books in 2019 were about lgbtq+ people. it is starting to shift the world around us, and soon enough it's going to come in on us. >> if you could figure out things that i would change this for the next generation so it would be better, what would that be? >> we need to learn a lot about racism and how it's affecting our country since i see people still in school, they are saying slurs. they are being really negative because they don't understand the history behind it. >> i think including more lgbtq+

topics would allow lgbtq+ people to learn where they come from, where their roots come from. not letting them be seen makes students feel like they're inferior, makes them feel like they don't belong. i think it's important to have a more inclusive curriculum where students feel like they are just themselves. >> wow. >> i think an lgbtq+ curriculum doesn't correctly is automatically diverse. >> oh, yeah. >> yeah. yes. so at the end of the day, is crt the problem? is teaching kids about the broad rainbow of humanity the problem? or is woke just being used to further divide us when we're already divided pretty well? like remember that equity statement in litchfield? in the summer of 2021, the school board approved a revised equity statement. it seems pretty similar to the first one. oh, wait, they took out the kendi quote. of course they did. but folks are still arguing at the school board meetings.

>> shut your mouth. you know what? i am talking about our schools. >> what's the solution? how do we get out of this? what's the path going forward? >> randy, what's the solution? >> there is not going to be one solution. there is no silver bullet. i think that our country is in tremendous peril, and all i can say is wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you're going to have to be attentive. you're going have to be alert. you're going to have to be mobilized, and i would urge everybody to do whatever they can to become active and knowledgeable and speak up and step up. it's all hands on deck. i have never felt more trepidation about the state of america than i have felt in the past few years and that i feel right now. >> i think we are in a political thriller in this country, and we don't know how it's going to end.

>> don't let the media confuse you, and i mean all the media. woke is not really a thing. remember those psas that just said "the more you know"? that's all woke is. it's the more you know. and the more you know, the better you're able to maneuver through this life and understand that the world is not all about you. and when politicians and the media and bad actors and elon musk and the muskettes and tucker carlson and the mother tuckers, when they use "woke," they're just trying to distract us from the fact this country is on fire. and only way we're going to put 80 out is learn how the fire started. the more we learn about the fires, the real ones, the historical ones, the better able we are to put the fires out. shout out, billy joel. and don't let them use kids as a shield. when people say think of the children, i say yeah, i am thinking of the children. my children. i want them to learn all about

this country. i want them to learn about slavery, algebra, january 6th, frank sinatra, great trans folks in history, janelle monae, science and much, much, more. you want your kids to learn much, much, less? yikes. video killed the radio star. now has the internet killed the record industry? >> napster is stealing from us. straight up. and i'm going to fight them to the death. >> ladies and gentlemen, the strokes! >> may i have your attention, please -- >> we got a movement! >> we're ashamed the president of the united states is from texas. >> the dixie chicks, they can say what they want to say. >> billboard's top ten all by black artists. >> rappers are the new rock stars. >> i don't please everybody with who i am as a person. >> i