In the wake of nationwide protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer, calls for racial equity led to changes in workplaces, neighborhoods and schools, including Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, an independent Catholic girls school in Miami’s Coconut Grove.
Ahead of the current school year, the school took note of complaints about its culture, adopting an inclusion policy and an amended mission statement to include a commitment to denouncing discrimination and tackling structures that perpetuate racism.
But the steps the school took led to a backlash: More than 150 parents and alumni — including former Florida House Speaker José Oliva and Coral Gables Vice Mayor Vince Lago — signed an 11-page letter addressed to Carrollton administrators and board members stating that the school’s efforts to address racism were incompatible with its Catholic foundation.
“What we are seeing time and again is that what is being shared in Carrollton classrooms is, at the very least, controversial political rhetoric and often extends to anti-Catholic indoctrination,” states the Oct. 23 letter, which began to circulate in recent weeks and was shared with the Miami Herald.
The tension between the school’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the pushback from parents comes as Miami grapples with issues of racism, religion and a deep-seated belief among a wide swath of Miami that the ongoing movement for racial equity is rooted in socialist teachings.
Echoing a conservative viewpoint, the letter stated that phrases such as “systemic racism” and “racial equality” stem from critical race theory, a philosophical offshoot of a German school with a foundation in Marxism. The letter also says students who express Catholic viewpoints on abortion and euthanasia, among other topics, are “targeted and ostracized” by their teachers.
Read the complete article at: Miami Herald
Also Read: How systemic racism shaped Floyd’s life and hobbled his ambition
