Critical Race Theory Is On the Ropes

Protests against Critical Race Theory (CRT) are breaking out all over America. It may even be shaping up as a major election issue next year. Parents are protesting against CRT at school board meetings and with their local school administrations. It has become such a heated issue that even state and local governments are getting involved — and they’re not coming down on the side of CRT.

But CRT supporters are telling opponents that they simply don’t understand what it is. They claim they’re fighting racism by giving children a complete and well-rounded picture of the issue. They assert that opponents are denying the reality of history by not supporting CRT. But is that really the case? Are opponents just a bunch of ignorant rubes that don’t get it?

There are a number of books and papers on CRT which provide numerous philosophical interpretations. However, they all subscribe to five basic tenets.

Tenet 1 — Racism is a central component of American Life

Translation: Racism pervades everything that defines our American culture. Systems, institutions, and even our history are all compromised by racism. Buildings must be renamed and monuments removed. In Wisconsin, even a rock was removed because it was deemed a symbol of racism. The theory is that racism has corrupted everything in America.

Tenet 2 — CRT rejects the goal of color blindness

Translation: CRT does not subscribe to the notion that we should “judge each other by the content of our character rather than the color of our skin.” It teaches us to remain cognizant of each other’s melanin level at all times. CRT rejects “color blindness” because it views the races as engaged in a grand contest. Its proponents view attempts to create a “color blind” society as privileged whites trying the end the game while they’re ahead. They don’t want equality — equal opportunity. They want equity — equal results. The competition must continue until reparations (payback) for past wrongs have been extracted.

Tenet 3 — Anecdotal experiences of people of color are more valid than statistical or empirical evidence

Translation: It doesn’t matter what the data shows, if people of color (POC) feel oppressed, they are. If they feel targeted by police, it’s because of systemic racism. If they feel held back at work, it’s because of the color of their skin. If they think they heard a fan at a baseball game yell a racial epithet, it doesn’t matter that he was actually yelling “Dinger” at the club mascot. The content of the fan’s character is irrelevant, if someone thinks he’s a racist, he’s guilty. For proponents of CRT, perception is deemed more relevant than reality.

Tenet 4 — CRT challenges the lessons of conventional history

Translation: If history doesn’t comport with claims of systemic racism, history must be changed. America fought a civil war to end slavery and embarked on a civil rights movement to stamp out the last vestiges of actual systemic racism. But to accept those facts would be to acknowledge that there is something truly noble and exceptional about America. Such a historical perspective cannot be allowed to stand.

Hence, we’ve been treated to the 1619 Project, which asserts that America was not founded in 1776 as a beacon of liberty to the world, but rather in 1619 when the first slaves arrived in the western hemisphere. We’re to believe that this country was founded on the principle of human rights not for everyone, but only for the privileged few. The country was founded on the basis of a lie and is therefore irredeemable.

Tenet 5 — CRT is committed to a social justice agenda

Translation: There’s another word for social justice — payback. The jest of this tenet is that it’s not good enough to ensure fairness going forward. The scales must be tipped the other way to atone for past wrongs. Reparations are required even if it creates a new prejudice against non-PoC. It is immaterial that those who must pay the reparations have only a remote genetic similarity to those who committed the offenses. If Tommy breaks a window, we must punish Jill, even if it’s years later.

The problem with CRT is that it does nothing to heal our racial divide. It doesn’t promote harmony in our society. It creates divisiveness and balkanization. Its proponents are teaching our children to resent each other. Resentment leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. So yes — CRT really is as bad as opponents say it is. Parents across the country are fighting back. Politicians recognize that this is going to be a big deal. That’s why state and local officials are becoming involved.

But in the face of rising pushback, supporters of CRT are digging in. A teacher’s union in Rhode Island is even suing a mother for demanding information about what her children are being taught. One Minnesota school system had its students take a CRT equity survey — and instructed the children to not tell their parents about it.

An organization calling itself the Antiracist Art Teachers has even created a guide for other teachers, The Strategic Guide to Antiracist Teaching — Maintaining an Antiracist Lens and Empowering Educators in the Wake of Critical Race Theory Bans. The main focus of this guide is to continue teaching CRT in blatant disregard to the wishes of the community they supposedly serve.

The guide provides helpful advice such as:

• Don’t use the term “Critical Race Theory” — Say “examining history/current laws in relation to race”
• Don’t say “white supremacy” — Say “the belief that the dominant culture is superior”
• Don’t say “white privilege” — Say “structural advantages based on skin color”

They’re changing the subject and the terminology, but they’re not changing the lesson plan. They are recommending that teachers camouflage the tenets of CRT to hide it from those paying their salaries. They’ve staked their position. Like the Marxists they are, they’ve decided that they know better than parents what is best for the children.

They’re going to war with the communities for which they work.

But regardless of what they think, they work for us. Parents are winning this fight. State and local governments are taking action. In Rhode Island, one school board president and a superintendent have already lost their jobs over CRT. There will be many more in the next year.

Public school enrollment is down as parents are opting for other educational choices. One school district in Brooklyn New York has seen a 35% drop in enrollment over the past two years. Even more noteworthy, kindergarten enrollment is down by a shocking 49%. The number of parents homeschooling their children has doubled in only two years. Apparently, it hasn’t occurred to the CRT proponents that when enrollment goes down, so does their funding. If the schools don’t stop fighting their communities, they will soon find themselves out of work. The left is learning that you cannot jeopardize the cubs without getting mauled by momma bear.

The fighting will continue for a while, but the left has already lost the CRT battle. But will the fighting stop with CRT? Will parents simply stand down once CRT has been banned? Or has CRT inoculated the populace against leftism? Now that parents realize the schools have been indoctrinating their kids, will they remain vigilant for other forms of indoctrination? Using our children as fodder in a political fight was a line the left shouldn’t have crossed — but they did. Now they’ve triggered the immune system of the body politic. I can’t help but believe the left will come to regret picking this fight.

Photo is a screengrab from CNN.

This article was first published by American Thinker.