LANSING - Members of the House Democratic Caucus spoke yesterday against House Bill 5097, legislation that bans the teaching of race and gender issues in Michigan's K-12 schools. Instead of addressing the multiple, real issues facing the state's public schools, bill supporters would rather prohibit the teaching of something that isn't taught in classrooms today.

Critical race theory, a concept that examines blind spots in fairness and equity in local, state and federal laws and that's taught in some universities, often at the graduate level, is at the center of this legislation. It does no...