Despite moves to push back against Critical Race Theory (CRT), it continues to be embraced from kindergarten through college.

• The Oregon Department of Education is training its K–12 teachers in "math equity" to combat "the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with respect to math."
• An elementary school in Philadelphia "forced fifth-grade students to celebrate 'black communism' and simulate a Black Power rally in honor of political radical Angela Davis."
• Public schools in Louisville, Kentucky are hosting anti-bias and pro-equity teacher training to "eliminate curricular violence" in mathematics education.
• Last fall, one Virginia school district spent $24,000 on Ibram Kendi books, pushed as "required reading" for U.S. history classes.
• A high school in Minnesota now begins all of its staff meetings with a commitment to dismantling "processes that benefit whiteness."
• In September, a high school in Washington canceled a 9/11 tribute because it could be seen as "racially insensitive."

At Union County College, N.J., the Associate Dean of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) explains that her "research interests are in critical race theory, and [she] enjoys presenting on racial awareness and race conscious education practices." 

Furthermore, Union County College proudly displays a poster saying it is the recipient of the Aspen Institute award for being one of the top 150 community colleges in the country.

Yet the Aspen Institute (A.I.) receives financial support from George Soros's Open Society Institute.  The Institute was founded in 1950 by Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke.  The organization pursues these objectives by way of seminars, public conferences, issue analysis forums, and young leader fellowships.

Moreover, "[e]ncompassing a broad range of issues, many of AI's policy-work programs are rooted in the belief that the United States is a nation whose history amounts largely to an unbroken narrative of injustice; that government intervention frequently represents the best remedy for social and economic problems; and that America's deep-seated 'structural racism,' while 'harder to see than its previous incarnations,' is just as likely as its forerunner to 'perpetuate racial group inequity.'"

The first black American commissioner of education in New Jersey and now the first black president of Kean University, Dr. Lamont O. Repollet, explains that the "recent public uproar over Critical Race Theory and the banning of certain books and even terms across several states points us to the question of how we understand and teach our shared history. Kimberle Crenshaw, one of the legal scholars who created the framework for Critical Race Theory, explains that it 'is based on the premise that race is socially constructed, yet it is real through social constructions. Crenshaw and other scholars examine our society and history through a lens that acknowledges how race becomes realized through the systems we construct as the foundation for our society."

Repollet explains that "[o]ur diversity is our greatest strength and ... an honest examination of our shared history strengthens our nation rather than depletes us. We must deconstruct the myths that have developed around Critical Race Theory to ensure students have access to the texts that capture our histories."

To those unfamiliar with Kimberle Crenshaw, here is some background:

Crenshaw is a foundational figure in the field of Critical Race Theory, a radical legal framework founded by the late Derrick Bell, which maintains that because the entire structure and history of America are founded upon racism and oppression, the nation's laws and legal institutions are necessarily unjust, invalid, and undeserving of nonwhite minorities' respect. 

So what is the uproar surrounding CRT all about, and why has this theory insinuated itself at every level of education in America?

Christopher F. Rufo in the March 2021 issue of Imprimis explains that

critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s, built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. Relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, over the past decade it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs, and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks, and school curricula.

There are a series of euphemisms deployed by its supporters to describe critical race theory, including 'equity,' 'social justice,' 'diversity and inclusion,' and 'culturally responsive teaching.' Critical race theorists, masters of language construction, realize that 'neo-Marxism' would be a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds non-threatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality. But the distinction is vast and important. Indeed, equality—the principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the Civil War, and codified into law with the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965—is explicitly rejected by critical race theorists. To them, equality represents 'mere nondiscrimination' and provides 'camouflage' for white supremacy, patriarchy, and oppression. 

In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA Law Professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines. Critical race guru Ibram X. Kendi, who directs the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, has proposed the creation of a federal Department of Antiracism. This department would be independent of (i.e., unaccountable to) the elected branches of government, and would have the power to nullify, veto, or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently 'antiracist.' 

One practical result of the creation of such a department would be the overthrow of capitalism, since according to Kendi, 'In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist.' In other words, identity is the means and Marxism is the end.

An equity-based form of government would mean the end not only of private property, but also of individual rights, equality under the law, federalism, and freedom of speech. These would be replaced by race-based redistribution of wealth, group-based rights, active discrimination, and omnipotent bureaucratic authority.

Thus, "critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution." 

How does CRT manifest itself?

In Cupertino, California, an elementary school forced first-graders to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities and rank themselves according to their 'power and privilege.' In Springfield, Missouri, a middle school forced teachers to locate themselves on an 'oppression matrix,' based on the idea that straight, white, English-speaking, Christian males are members of the oppressor class and must atone for their privilege and 'covert white supremacy.'

Perhaps the most important point that Rufo makes is that the writers and activists who "speak out against critical race theory have tended to address it on the theoretical level[.]  They fail to force defenders of this revolutionary ideology to defend the practical consequences of their ideas in the realm of politics" (emphasis mine).

For example, do Critical Race Theorists support the following?

• public schools separating first-graders into groups of "oppressors" and "oppressed"?
• mandatory curricula teaching that "all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism"?
• public schools instructing white parents to become "white traitors" and advocate for "white abolition"?

Do they want those who work in government to be required to undergo this kind of re-education?  How about managers and workers in corporate America?  How about the men and women in our military?  How about every one of us?

In fact, "[n]o parent is against teaching the warts and sins of our nation's history, and any [person] suggesting otherwise is patently false.  But the problem with CRT is it teaches that all white people are evil oppressors, divides students based on skin color, belittles, and demeans students of color as incapable, and demands that the only solution is reverse discrimination and equity of outcomes." 

Is that what your taxes and tuition dollars are paying for?

A.J. Pushback is a pseudonym.

Image: Tony Webster via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.