Bryan Cranston doubled down on his belief that critical race theory should be taught in schools during his appearance on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” and explained how Donald Trump’s catchphrase “Make America Great Again” can be perceived as a “racist remark.”
Wallace brought up Cranston’s recent debate on “Real Time With Bill Maher” as a “tussle” — a term Cranston seemed to find inaccurate — and asked the “Breaking Bad” star for his thoughts on media’s influence in political discourse. Cranston responded with a deeper explanation of why he believes American education must take a harder look at the prejudices and racist systems that led to inequality in the US and connect them to the roots of inequality in today’s society.
“I think that Germany has looked at their history in involvement in the wars — one and two — and embrace it and say, ‘This is where we went wrong. This is how it went wrong. This is why it can’t go wrong again,’” Cranston explained. “And I think they have done a very commendable job in doing so. But the United States really hasn’t. You present it and say, well, 400 years of slavery, yeah, but…we’re moving on. No, let’s really discuss it. How did that happen? How did we get to a point where we treated other human beings as slaves?”
Cranston connected this to Trump’s ubiquitous campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” and argued to Wallace that the phrase could be “construed as a racist remark.”
“Just ask yourself, from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American? When was it great?” he said. “It’s to teach us in the woke world to open up and accept the possibilities that our privilege has created blind spots for us.”
“Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” airs Sundays on CNN and streams on HBO Max.
