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This blog will discuss one of the “woke” ideologies currently being forced on our school children. That is Critical Race Theory (CRT). (Others will be discussed in future blogs). Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a school of thought based on an individuals ethnic background. Children are taught of the wickedness of America by subjecting them to lessons about systemic racism and the evils of whiteness that CRT proponents say have been persistent since our founding. CRT isn’t new. It has existed at the grad level in colleges since the 1980s. I have read a raft of information about it. If you read how the original authors described it, you might think it is rational and reasonable. As with most government, and professor, spawned ideas the final product is nothing akin to its initial design. It has only been the last few years that CRT has found its way into our public K-12 schools. Now our students, as young as elementary age, are being shamed by teachers who were indoctrinated in CRT while in college, or by their unions. Third graders in California were instructed to “deconstruct” their racial identity and rank themselves according to their power and privilege in school. That is not appropriate for kids of any age! A mother is suing a school in Las Vegas over a course that mandated seniors list elements of their identity that would be regarded as privileged. Her son was compelled to participate in publicly professing his racial, religious, sexual, and gender identities. How invasive! An elementary school class in Buffalo, N.Y. was instructed to study a lesson centered on the Black Lives Matter “declaration on black villages”. The lesson’s intent: “We are committed to disrupting the Western prescribed nuclear family structure . . . ” Ridiculous! CRT’s dogma insists that everything in society is racist. According to some CRT theorists, everything that makes up American society is racist. This includes Christianity, free markets, traditional marriage, the rule of law, traditional family structures, and representative government. CRT strives to convince white students of their inherent privilege, which CRT says makes them racists. All white people are racists according to CRT. In so doing, children can be made to feel ashamed by the color of their skin. If they deny being racist, CRT proponents say that proves they are racist. Pointing out that white kids are privileged, by definition means that black, and other minority, children are inferior, and thus victims. CRT’s agenda fits the very definition of racism. If taken to its logical conclusion it could be called child abuse.

Teacher’s unions, school administrators, school boards, and teachers, continue to lie about the existence of CRT in our schools. They should be ashamed. We should be insulted. They hold us in such low esteem that they don’t think we are smart enough to recognize CRT when we see it. Superintendents and school boards are keenly aware that parents want their children taught the basic building blocks of education. Because they are failing miserably in these areas, the education establishment will do almost anything to keep parents in the dark. The two largest teacher unions in the U.S. are the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). They continue to deny the presence of CRT in K-12 schools. Randi Weingarten, President of the AFT, has said that no elementary, or high schools teach CRT. How could she know that? She followed that by saying the AFT has set aside $5 million to defend any teachers who defy state laws that ban CRT. Huh? She continued to obfuscate by saying: “There are legislators, mostly from the Republican Party, who are currently bullying teachers and trying to stop us from teaching kids honest history.” This is wrong on many levels. First, the bullying is being done by teachers, and their unions, pushing a harmful narrative on innocent students. Second, both of the unions have endorsed the 1619 Project sponsored by the New York Times and New York Times Magazine. It is a history paper that rewrote American history. Many prominent historians signed a letter expressing strong reservations about the project’s findings, and requested factual corrections. The letter was ignored. The unions didn’t care. The Project supported their CRT narrative that every aspect of the American experience is irredeemably tainted by racism. Becky Pringle is President of the NEA. She plans to assemble a team to teach CRT to union members. The NEA recently approved a resolution to promote CRT through its existing channels, and to work to fight back against opponents of CRT. Both unions are completely unmoved that the opponents they speak of with such disdain are parents. The people who ultimately pay all of their salaries.

The education cabal is locked and loaded. They are extremely militant and anxious to ignore the wishes of parents. It is no wonder that Weingarten prefers Democrats. The Democrat candidate for Governor of Virginia said in a recent debate: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they teach.” Democrats, and teacher’s unions, don’t believe that parents are capable of raising their own children. The 15th annual White Privilege Conference was held in Madison, WI. this April. One speaker told teachers they must be political in the classroom. They were told if a teacher doesn’t want to fight for equity, they should leave education. Another speaker, a former high school English teacher, said that teaching is a political act, and you can’t choose to be neutral. You are either a pawn, used to perpetuate a system of oppression, or you are fighting against it. “If you don’t want to work for equity, get the f**k out of education.” Pretty militant wouldn’t you say? Do we want teachers to be political?Equity is a word that CRT proponents use regularly. It gets used in lieu of the word equality. The two words don’t mean the same thing. Equality means that everyone is given the same opportunity for success. That is what freedom loving Americans believe in. Equity demands that everyone be given the same success. That is what Socialists believe in.

Parents, and their representatives, are beginning to show some pluck of their own. All over America they are showing up to support the best interests of their children. There are approximately 200 school districts whose boards are experiencing serious pushback from concerned parents. There needs to be more. There are about 20 states where laws have been passed, or are in the process of being passed, to outlaw CRT in K-12 schools. The Democratic Party, through the Department of Justice, just did the unimaginable. The National School Boards Association recently sent a letter to President Biden requesting federal assistance in protecting members who “are under immediate threat.” Somebody must have pointed a finger at someone. The letter equated concerned parents with “domestic terrorists.” Shamefully the Attorney General then issued a memo directing the Justice Dept. to collaborate with the FBI and federal, state, and local law enforcement to probe, and potentially prosecute, PARENTS for making violent threats . . . ” That memo probably fell on the deaf ears of the thousands of real patriots who are fighting for their/our kids. The threat just galvanized them. The real target was the parents who are contemplating entering the fray. It has had a chilling effect on our first amendment rights. There are almost certainly parents who decided not to get involved because of the threat of FBI involvement in their lives. Can anyone remember a time when the FBI was used as a tool to keep citizens from speaking? Regardless of your political affiliation this should scare you.

Once upon a time parents sent their children to school, confident they were going to learn the fundamental building blocks of education. The school day was chock a block full of reading, writing, arithmetic, English, science, history, and civics. We trusted teachers and administrators to do what was in the best interest of our kids. They had earned our confidence. We knew that teachers wouldn’t teach lessons that called our kids victims, or racists, or oppressors. We knew that administrators would never allow pornography to be displayed on the shelves of our school libraries. Lastly, we trusted that the adults in the room knew the difference in boys and girls. Those were the days when American children routinely scored at, or near, the top in global education measurements. Almost none of the above is true today. Our kids spend less time studying the core curricula mentioned above. They now languish in the second decile among their global peers. That is because teachers are now asked to do too many things other than teach the educational building blocks. They are now being told to include the many faceted “woke ideologies” being put forth by the far Left of the Democratic Party. Somewhere along the way teachers and administrators lost the courage to push back against these movements. They have let us down.

I’m going to close with a few words from one of my favorite public figures. Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, recently appeared on The View. She said: “Somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past. I don’t think that is very productive-or black people have to feel disempowered by race. I would like black kids to be completely empowered to know that they are beautiful in their blackness, but in order to do that I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white.” She also said: “We teach the good and we teach the bad of history. But what we don’t (shouldn’t) do is make 7-10 year olds feel they are somehow bad people because of the color of their skin. We’ve been through that and we don’t need to do it again.” To me it is just plain common sense that you can’t fix existing racism with a different form of racism.

CRT, or one of its surrogates, may not be in every public, private, and charter school in America. Yet! There are a few teachers who are stepping forward and speaking against this insidious program. A few more resigned as opposed to teaching CRT to innocent children. When these few brave instructors speak up, we must be there to support them. They too are American patriots. This is a very important topic for our children. Americans must become engaged with their local school boards. I hope you found this blog interesting and informative. If you did please tell your friends. Thank you, Bob