In 2021, an affluent suburban school district in Texas gained national attention

when parents and local conservative activists accuse the district of indoctrinating students

with critical race theory.

That drew the interest of Republican figures across the country

and sparked a Christian movement beyond the district's borders

to restrict what children are being taught in schools.

Laura Burone Lopez has that story for our bookshelf.

Mike Hicksen-Bah has been at the forefront of covering the events in South Lake Texas.

What started as an earnest effort by the Carroll Independent School District

to confront racist rhetoric and bullying devolved into a battle about much more.

Conservative parents and activists turned a district

cultural competence plan into a fight over protecting their quote traditional

way of life. The result, books and classroom discussion about race, slavery, and sexual orientation

were effectively banned.

In his book, they came for the schools released in May.

Hicks and Baw details how this school district became a blueprint for Republicans across the country

and expose their ambitions which go well beyond controlling what version of American history

makes it into high school textbooks. I'm joined now by the

author and senior investigative reporter for NBC News, Mike Hicksenbaugh.

Mike, thank you so much for joining us. When you started investigating you discovered that there were a number of

racist incidents at the schools in South Lake, some that go back decades, but in particular in

2018 when a video of white students saying the N word went viral and the

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