It’s curious that organizers of the recent anti-critical race theory panel (“Community event on critical race theory gets heated”) are worried about indoctrination in Summit County schools but admitted they have no idea whether critical race theory is being taught here. Spoiler: It isn’t.

Scaremongering about critical race theory and Marxism tends to mask a different agenda: trying to make sure schools teach a whitewashed version of U.S. history that ignores this country’s decidedly checkered record of inequality in how people of color are treated. Rather than attempting to obscure our past out of deference to some hazy notion of American exceptionalism, we should be spotlighting our mistakes, including white supremacy, in an effort to avoid repeating them.