this is "nightline." >> tonight, critical race theory. communities becoming battlefields. >> people were screaming. they were cursing. they were throwing things at the school board. >> at issue, what's being taught in our schools. >> patriotic education doesn't look the same for every race. >> but not everyone wants race history in the classroom. >> instead of focusing on math and science, they are putting a little extra political ideology into the curriculum. >> why so many people are so angry. >> shame on you! hitting the road. the real-life "nomadland." >> we fell in love with the wide-open spaces. >> the van life inspiring people to leave their worries behind

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but it's now at the heart of a fiery debate. on the heels of last year's racial reckoning over how the nation's racial history is going to be taught in our schools. we welcome abc's alex presha to "nightline" with this report. >> you could be arrested! >> reporter: across the country -- >> enough, enough! >> reporter: school board meetings have turned into battlegrounds. >> the meeting had to be paused at one point due to an outburst in the audience. >> people were screaming, they were cursing, they were throwing things at the school board. >> reporter: as parents, teachers, and administrators clash over the use of critical race theory to teach racism -- >> both my 8-year-old and 16-year-old sons have been targets of racial hate. >> reporter: and education more equitable for all. critical race theory is an academic framework that was sm white supremacy rs ag

institutions. >> black lives matter! >> reporter: the debate reignited during the racial reckoning that followed the death of george floyd. flames further fanned by former president trump before the 2020 election. >> this is a marxist doctrine, holding that america is a wicked and racist nation. >> reporter: and republican lawmakers across the country have joined the fray. >> the democratic party doubled down on what i consider this shameful history. by replacing the racism of the past with the racism of the critical race theory. >> reporter: the controversy fueled by conservative media. >> this is a toxic ideology. >> reporter: fox news alone has mentioned critical race theory over 1,800 times this year. up from 132 in 2020. >> critical race theory has become a catch-all, a real bogeyman under which we can lump ideas of race and racism. but also under which we can censor, broadly censor, any kind of conversation around race, around racism, around

inequality, around diversity. >> reporter: for students like 14-year-old chris johnson of aledo, texas, our nation's racist past is still a present reality. earlier this year, chris and a fellow black student were targeted by classmates who set up a slave auction on snapchat. screen shots from the group that initially called itself "expletive auction" show the group pretended to auction the boys. one of them for $100, and another for $1. a week later, community members found flyers posted around town with the words "great sale of slaves" written on them. chris shared his painful story at the local school board meeting. >> if you think this has affected you and your job, imagine how we actually feel. when will we make the changes to ensure all of us feel treated fairly and safe? i spoke up to stand up for myself and every kid in aledo to show that's not okay and we shouldn't be treated different. >> reporter: chris wants the

school board to take action to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> we're not going to just listen to everything they're going to say, we need to see them take initiative and change it. >> a lot of times when we take them to exhibits or we take them to marches or we take them to vigils of people who have been wrongfully murdered, we always kind of instill in their head, it could be us. and we looked up, and it was our family. >> reporter: chris' mother, myoshi johnson, says talking about racism and this country's history is crucial. >> the division comes from not knowing, not being aware. you know, not having someone to, you know, tell you or teach yo. when you take that away you have instances of teenage boys saying, slave trade, slave auction, slave farm. because no one's taught them. >> reporter: the superintendent of the district says in a statement to parents, i am

deeply sorry that a few of our students engage in racial harassment of two of our students of color. it was totally unacceptable to all of us and it should not have happened. the school disciplined the students involved and outlined multiple steps to address the problem in the community. >> it is a responsibility of our education system to include the entire story. >> reporter: but texas is now one of at least 26 states that have proposed or passed laws restricting or banning classroom discussions of concepts relating to race and racism that republican lawmakers say are divisive. >> when you look at these states that have banned critical race theory, they're banning the study of race and racism in america. and they are banning anything that essentially upsets this idea that america is this perfect, united place. >> you need to be arrested! >> reporter: but perhaps nowhere else has the issue of race and education been more explosive than loudoun county, virginia. patty minders and her husband

have a blended family of six boys. three went to school in loudoun. >> we are here because we care. we care about our children. >> reporter: she's now on the front lines fighting the steps the district is making to address inequality in its schools. >> i love the school system here. there was so much emphasis on preparing these students for college or life. and over the last two years, i have seen a change in the curriculum here. >> what's changed? >> the political ideology is what's changing the curriculum. instead of focusing on math and science and english, they are putting a little extra political ideology into the curriculum. >> reporter: that change began in 2019 after elementary school students were told to pretend to be runaway slaves in a p.e. class and escape to freedom through an obstacle course. the school district apologized saying it trivializes something that is important, there was an error made here, slavery is not a game. the naacp filed a complaint,

triggering an investigation, which prompted the district to create a comprehensive equity plan and the action plan to included creating equity ich - ambassadors and allowing for anonymous reporting of bias incidents. >> i'm here to do the best that i can for students. my students are telling me that they're having racially charged incidents in our schools. and that tells me i need to do something about that. >> shame on you! >> reporter: but those changes led to an explosion of anger and legal action. minders and four other plaintiffs are suing the school board, claiming the district expects students to speak, act, and think in line with a particular ideology. any dissent from that ideology can be labeled as bias and anonymously reported to the speech police. and in the name of dismantling systemic racism, lcps has implemented explicit racial distinctions between its students. >> our lawsuit is based on two fundamental promises of the constitution. that all of us have a right to

free speech, including our students. and that all of us have a right to equal treatment under the law. >> reporter: the school board says it doesn't comment on pending litigation. do you think this is something that loudoun county public schools, the adults, the administrators, the school board, needed to address? >> we need to address race. what we need to do is include all races. not just exclude others. >> reporter: loudoun was one of the last counties in the nation to desegregate its schools. many believe the legacy of that is still apparent. last year the school board apologized to the black community of loudoun county for decades of unequal treatment. >> loudoun county has not had its reckoning. i would love to tell you about all the wonderful things in loudoun county. but we need to address the systemic racism that those of us who are white unfortunately haven't seen. >> reporter: teacher andrea

weisskopf believes loudoun county schools should do more to combat racism. when you say that loudoun county hasn't had its reckoning, what are you talking about? >> people like to think the civil rights movement is done. but we need to remember this started in 1619. and loudoun was built with enslaved la the 1970s there was public swimming pool in leesburg. and rather than integrate, the swimming pool, it was filled in with concrete. >> reporter: back in texas, chris and his mother are celebrating juneteenth, honoring their ancestors and their part in american history. those stories now harder to learn in his school. >> i want to see more cultural teachings in the classrooms, and just everyone on an even playing field. not people be better than other people. >> like, we should be

celebrating every ethnicity and culture that decides to move out here. and that not only starts in our community and acknowledging them and learning from them, but it also includes our schools. >> our thanks to alex. up next, leaving it all behind and hitting the open road. truthfully, it's frustrating to see how fast dust reappears. but dusting with a cloth is a pain. and dealing with a bulky vacuum.. . is such a hassle. uchhh!!! so now we use our swiffer sweeper and dusters. the fluffy fibers? they pick up dust easily. grabbing it in all those hard-to-reach places. gotcha!!! and for our floors, sweeper's textured cloths lock all kinds of dirt, dust and pet hair. unlike my vacuum, it sneaks under and around places. look at that!! dust free and hassle free. stop cleaning and start swiffering. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic®

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♪ you know, when most people think of their dream home, it usually doesn't involve something on four wheels and an ever-changing view. or the chance to just pick up

and move to the next town. meet the people living the van life and loving it. here's "nightline's" ashan singh. >> reporter: what if your backyard could look like this? or this? your commute to work, paying rent, all in your rear-view mirror. >> our living room turns into a dining room with just a simple slide of our table. >> reporter: trade it in for a metal box on wheels. >> anybody looking for an adventure, for an opportunity to explore, this is a great way to do it. >> reporter: this is van life. aka the real life "nomadland." where the open road beckons. for thousands of people, living simply is the only way to live. >> there's kind of a joke in van life, that you never really know where you're going to go more than a few days in advance. that's really very true. >> reporter: even celebrities like captain marvel herself -- >> can i put my hands down? brig

the movement. >> this is incredible. >> reporter: with a tricked-out nissan with fancy amenities. >> wow, this is so cool! >> reporter: but the real o.g., meet bob wells. he's the real-life van guru who played himself in this year's oscar-winning film "nomadland." >> i'll see you down the road. >> reporter: his current home, a 2011 chevy diesel engine ambulance. >> tilt your head back. there it is. >> right back there is my current vehicle. ambulances are really big, and built to very high standards. so it will last forever. >> reporter: decades before he hit the screen, wells lived in a van out of desperation. after a bitter divorce upended his finances. >> on my way to work i drove past this old box van. it was ugly but ran great, and i bought it. here i was doing exactly the opposite of what society told me to do. according to society, i was a total failure. >> how did your outlook shift

and you kind of became proud of the way you chose to live? >> i fell in love with it. i fell in love with the freedom, the choices. i fell in love with how cheap i could live. everything about my life improved. >> reporter:ce beco van life's biggest evangelist. >> this is all my clothes -- >> reporter: his youtube channel "cheap rv living." >> this is full of extra stuff. cold-weather clothes, we turned real cold all of a sudden. >> reporter: encouraging others to find the freedom he's found. >> you can come, you can go, you can be anywhere you want, any time you want. what would you do differently? everything in your life would change. >> since we are traveling with our dog, we built this custom wall for storage for his crate. >> where are you right now? >> chatfield state park just south of denver. beautiful state park. nice and sunny and open skies here. >> reporter: after six years of working as tech consultants in washington, d.c., corey and jennalin said good-bye to

writing rent checks and joined van life. >> we fell in love with hype oaf spa spaces. in the pandemic, we were living the opposite life. >> reporter: in august 2020, the couple bought this 2003 mercedes sprinter on craigs list. they knew it needed sprucing up. how did you guys actually take the steps to build this van out? >> once we bought it there were changes we needed to make, did the work ourselves, taught ourselves everything we needed, from solar electricity and battery power to plumbing to vehicle maintenance. >> reporter: 25 states and counting. nine national parks. documenting it all on their instagram. for those who aren't do it yourself people, enter dave walsh, owner of denver-based vanlife customs. he'll bring your van life fantasy to life for a price.

>> bring us an empty van, we turn it into your adventuremobile. it's a big investment. having that plan and being set on it before you sign on the dotted line and commit to a build slot is really important. >> reporter: the cost for dave's average buildout starting at 70 grand. walk me through the process of a build. >> we're going to talk about your hopes and dreams. we're going to talk about layout. we're going to figure out everything from what lights you want in it, to where you want your switches. do you want a heater, a fan, an air conditioner? even during the covid shutdown, we were still receiving inquiries, more than ever, folks that are saying, we want to social distance in a van. this is the time to do this. we have a long backlog. we're just swamped right now. >> reporter: it may seem like it, but van life isn't just a permanent vacation. natalie and abbigail rodriguez have been out and about since 2019. >> come on in. when you walk in, our kitchen.

we wanted a galley kitchen, so we've got i orter:heset out for year of exploring, but that wasn't enough. now they live in their van full-time and make ends meet. >> i'm a photographer. natalie is a chef. we pick up gigs whenever we can. we have little side hustles online, we have our youtube channel, we have a website. all of these things bring us a little bit of income. and a little bit goes a long way. >> absolutely. it has allowed us so much freedom. it has allowed us tom more intentionally and really think about what it is we want in life. >> reporter: their home, 82 square feet of ingenuity. pure diy magic. >> if you flip around, we've got this custom-made storage that we did. it's got a secret door here. abby woodburned this beautiful art on it. when you open it, some of our stuff. >> reporter: for corey and jennalin, they never left their jobs. 9 to 5 east coast time, their van doubles as their office.

>> our number one priority was maintain our jobs. we use our cell phones and a wi-fi hot spot to give us service. the further west we go, the earlier we start. >> we've had to navigate taking phone calls at the same time, so we split up in the van. one might sit in the front seat, one person in the back. >> reporter: every van lifer will tell you, it's not perfect. those insta-worthy moments come with its struggles. but it's all worth it. >> there's always tough toughness around the chores. doing laundry isn't fun. doing the dishes isn't fun. sometimes you can't escape it. >> reporter: whether taking a break from society or looking to redefine your life, these nomads will tell you, the open road awaits. >> we've been able to travel and see and do so much and experience so much along with our pets. it has been just the ride of our lives. >> here's to the open road.

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when jeff bezos blasts off in his own rocket next week, he won't be alone. going with him, three passengers, including 18-year-old oliver damon. >> i am super excited to go to space. >> damon, whose father is the founder and ceo of a private equity firm, will be the youngest person ever in space. his father had bid in the auction but lost out to the highest bid of $28 million. that person can't go because of a scheduling conflict. blastoff. that's "nightline." you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right b