

especially in instances where those opinions have nothing to do with the job” that they’re asked to do. Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters after the vote that Republicans “think that it’s important to have the right, or at least have in statute, the protection of people’s rights to their own opinions. Warren Daniel, a Burke County Republican and one of the employment bill’s primary sponsors, argues it’s designed to prevent hiring discrimination and protect new employees from “indoctrination.” Neither bill explicitly mentions the framework. Republicans earlier this year applauded the same list of restrictions, which also appears in an education bill passed by the state House, for “banning” critical race theory, a complex academic and legal framework centered on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation’s institutions, which perpetuate inequality.

Other restricted concepts include that the United States was created for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex and that the government is “inherently racist.” 1, anyone entering a state government workplace, such as a private contractor or a diversity trainer, would be prohibited by the bill from compelling employees to believe they should feel guilty or responsible for past actions committed by people of the same race or sex.
