Even in Guilford: Shadows on 'The Covenant'

In early 2021, Guilford, Connecticut residents never expected an intellectual race riot to sweep across the region and gain national attention. However, after a group of mostly White Christian conservatives accused Guilford's secondary school district of adding Critical Race Theory to its curriculum, racial anxieties began to plague this typically quiet town. Tensions are still high two years later, and the ideological civil war rages on despite the town's harmonious history.

The town's founding document, "The 1639 Plantation Covenant," proposed that cooperation and assistance among all residents would inure to the benefit of each individually - and all collectively. If a race-based conspiracy theory can cast shadows over the foundations of Guilford, Connecticut, then it can happen anywhere.