NBC Southlake

The town of Southlake, Texas is an idyllic suburb that seems to have it all: stately homes, manicured lawns and parks, intense civic pride, and above all, terrific schools. So when a video surfaced in 2018 showing Southlake high school students chanting the N word—and when Black residents came forward to share stories of harassment and bullying—the school board vowed to make the town’s schools a more welcoming place for all. That commitment was the match that lit the firestorm in Southlake. Ever since the school board unveiled its “Cultural Competency Action Plan” last summer, Southlake has been engulfed in a bitter, neighbor-versus-neighbor feud over how to talk about race, culminating in a dramatic school board election this spring. Along the way, Southlake became the poster child for the new conservative crusade against so-called “critical race theory” and the supposed threat of “wokeness” in schools. Hosted by NBC News national reporter Mike Hixenbaugh (host of the hit podcast Do No Harm) and NBC News correspondent Antonia Hylton, Southlake follows students and families trying to figure out the painful new reality in the place they called home—and what it truly means to belong.