“This law does not prohibit critical race theory, and courts generally are not looking to the index to interpret a statute,” said Yvette Theresa Butler, a professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law and the only person in the state who focuses an entire class on critical race theory.

But the code section itself does not use the term “critical race theory.” A general index for the legal code does say, “Critical race theory, prohibition,” and then cites the code section. The bill created a new section of law at 37-13-2 in the legal code. Tate Reeves, Speaker Philip Gunn and others have touted that Senate Bill 2113, passed during the 2022 session, prohibits the teaching of critical race theory. The new law’s language reads no university, community college or public school “shall direct or otherwise compel students to personally affirm” that “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior or that individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” On the campaign trail and during recent speaking events, several Republican officials have since boasted their hard work and focus on the issue.īut the recently updated Mississippi Code, the state’s book of laws which reflect bills passed during the 2022 legislative session and will soon be distributed across the state, does not include the term “critical race theory” - or even language banning its teaching, experts say. They passed it after brushing off the emotional objections of every Black lawmaker and the fact that no state K-12 classroom taught the academic theory. Mississippi lawmakers spent more than seven hours in early 2022 debating a bill that they said would ban the teaching of critical race theory.

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