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An Alabama Republican who is trying to ban critical race theory was stumped when asked to define it

The Alabama State Capitol.
Julie Bennett/Getty Images
  • Alabama State Rep. Chris Pringle is trying to ban critical race theory from schools. 
  • But in a recent interview with AL.com, he struggled to define critical race theory. 
  • Critical race theory is a practice that examines America's history of racism and how it still impacts the country today.

A Republican lawmaker in Alabama who's trying to ban critical race theory from being taught in schools struggled to define the concept when asked by a political commentator at AL.com.

Critical race theory is a practice that examines America's history of racism and how it still impacts the country today — and Alabama State Rep. Chris Pringle is among several republicans trying to ban it from schools.

But when asked about the concept by AL.com columnist Kyle Whitmire, Pringle struggled to clearly define it. 

As part of his definition, he said the practice teaches students "certain children are inherently bad because of the color of their skin."

When pressed to name a specific person claiming to teach that, Pringle responded: "Yeah, uh, well — I can assure you — I'll have to read a lot more," he said.

"These people, when they were doing the training programs — and the government — if you didn't buy into what they taught you a hundred percent, they sent you away to a reeducation camp," Pringle added without evidence.