People often ask me if the West Virginia Legislature will ban teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our public schools. Maybe.

CRT is not now being taught, and has not been taught, in the elementary or secondary public schools of West Virginia or any other state. I doubt that any state plans to do so. With that in mind, might banning the teaching of CRT be trying to solve a non-existent problem?

As I understand it CRT is a complex theory taught in law schools and graduate schools, as well as to college undergraduates in history, political science and sociology. It’s taught there alongside capitalism, socialism, democracy, autocracy, Christianity Judaism, Islam and other ideas about government, religion, philosophy and economics.

Some think CRT asserts that I should be ashamed of being Caucasian. Nonsense. I glory in my Celtic heritage (Irish, Scottish and Welsh, in descending order of percentage). But I understand that those with black or brown skin have been given a place at the starting line a few feet back from mine.

Skin color has played a critical role in how our nation has developed over time. Note I didn’t say “the” critical role, I said “a” critical role. I really don’t see how anyone could argue that race isn’t very, very important to the understanding of American history.

Jefferson County has a rich Civil War history. Many American lives were lost to save our union and free those who had been enslaved. Why would we not be proud of that heritage, and teach it to our students?

Blacks suffer from the vestiges of that legalized slavery. Native Americans have faced attempts at ethnic cleansing. Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other dark-skinned people confront hate-inspired violence and various arbitrary barriers to opportunity. Some have overcome, with great effort.

There are other aspects of our history that I also think “critical.”

The idea of democracy had taken root among intellectuals in Europe at the time we Americans struck for our independence. We wished to be free of a government 3,000 miles away, and to be governed by those we elected, not by hereditary kings or queens. Is the belief in free speech and free elections “Critical Democratic Theory?”

Many American immigrants had come from Europe to escape government sanctioned religions. Because of this, an absolute ban on an establishment of a state religion was placed in the First Amendment. Perhaps the belief that freedom of religion is foundational to our republic is “Critical Religious Theory.”

Our nation was founded in the same year as that bible of capitalism, Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” was published. He argued that the economic system in Europe at the time (mercantilism) stifled initiative to favor that continent’s crowned heads. One argument in favor of American independence was that encouraging entrepreneurship would mean a healthier economy. Is this “Critical Economic Theory?”

Were we to ban teaching race, democracy, religion and economics, we’d know nothing about our country’s history. All are critical to understanding the United States of America.

John Doyle is a delegate for the West Virginia District 67. He can be reached at johndoyle@wvhouse.gov.