Democrats lying about critical race theory in schools
It has become a refrain on the left and its media echo-chamber following Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race: Critical race theory is not being taught in schools. Those who say otherwise, we are told, are “dishonest,” hyping a “fake CRT threat,” promoting an “imaginary” issue to “manipulate low information people,” engaging in “race-baiting lies” and blowing a “racist dog whistle.”
This is demonstrably false. Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools — ground zero in the debate over the role of parents in education — paid $314,000 for coaching for its teachers from the Equity Collaborative , a consulting firm that turns critical race theory into practices for “building more equitable learning environments.” In its “Introduction to Critical Race Theory” the firm instructs teachers that racism is “an inherent part of American civilization” and attacks “ideas of colorblindness, the neutrality of the law, incremental change, and equal opportunity for all” for maintaining “whites’ power and strongholds within society.” It questions “the idea of meritocracy,” which “allows the empowered … to feel ‘good’ and have a clear conscience” and concludes with a session for teachers to discuss “How might you use CRT to identify and address systemic oppression in your school, district or organization?”
One Loudoun parent filed a public record request to obtain a set of talking points used by the Equity Collaborative to train Virginia teachers. They were encouraged not to “profess color blindness,” but rather to admit their own “racist, sexist, heterosexist, or other detrimental attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and feelings” and acknowledge that “addressing one’s Whiteness (e.g., white privilege) is crucial for effective teaching.”
It’s not just Loudoun County. In 2019, Virginia superintendent of public instruction James F. Lane sent a memo to all districts promoting critical race theory training As Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo notes, “Right now, on its website, the Virginia Department of Education recommends ‘Critical Race Theory in Education’ as a ‘best practice’ and derives its definitions of ‘racism,’ ‘white supremacy,’ and ‘education equity’ explicitly from ‘critical race theory.’”
This is true in other states as well. In New York City, school administrators were required to undergo training sessions where they learned that “objectivity” and “individualism” were elements of “white-supremacy culture.” In California, students as young as six are being taught CRT-inspired lessons in white privilege and structural racism.
The left’s CRT denial is intellectually dishonest. Just because grade-school students are not studying academic treatises on critical race theory does not mean it is not being taught in schools. Children are being instructed by teachers trained in CRT to see everything through the prism of race; to believe that the United States is systemically racist; and to believe that society is divided into two classes — oppressors and oppressed — and that which you are is determined by the color of your skin. That is critical race theory.
Democrats are telling parents not to believe what they see with their own eyes. Before the pandemic this might have worked. But during last year’s lockdowns, millions of parents saw for the first time what their kids were learning in the classroom. Many did not like what they saw. Nor did they like being told that the promotion of CRT is a figment of their imaginations. So, they rose up to demand change.
Yet even after their electoral shellacking, Democrats still denigrate parents for raising legitimate concerns. Sorry, parents know critical race theory is a real problem. If Democrats continue telling parents their concerns are imaginary, they will continue to pay a price at the polls.