Critical Race Theory Goes to School

The fourth in a series . . .

2021 was the year of The Great Parent Revolt.

Parents en masse organized to protest the teaching of Critical Race Theory (and Critical Gender Theory) in America’s government schools. We’ve all seen the videos of school board meetings that erupted in anger as parents vented their frustrations with local school board officials. It’s clear from those meetings that the parents opposing CRT believe that the doctrine is racist both in theory and practice and that it is fomenting racial division and hatred.

In response to this burst of parental outrage, the Education Establishment and its lackeys in the mainstream media launched a PR campaign dedicated to mocking and dismissing the claim CRT was being taught in America’s classrooms. The Washington Post claimed that “critical race theory is not part of the local school systems’ K-12 curriculum, nor mentioned in the state’s Standards of Learning . . . There is scant evidence it’s taught anywhere – let alone everywhere.”[1] According to a headline in a NBC News report, “Teaching critical race theory isn’t happening in classrooms, teacher survey says.”[2] PBS New Hour declared “[t]here is little to no evidence that critical race theory itself is being taught to K-12 public school students.”[3] Speaking on behalf of the Education Deep State, The New York Times asserted, “Education leaders, including the National School Boards Association, deny that there is any critical race theory being taught in K-12 schools.”[4]

Interestingly, after denying that CRT is taught in America’s schools, most mainstream media articles on the controversy typically went on to suggest that even though CRT is not taught in America’s schools, it would in fact be a good thing if it were as a tool in the fight against racism. And then of course, the articles typically ended with the obligatory “Kafka-trap” in which it would be suggested that any claim that CRT was being taught in the government schools was itself evidence of racism, thereby proving the need to teach CRT. The Washington Post suggested, for instance, that Republicans were using CRT as a racist “dog whistle,” the purpose of which was to fan the flames of “moral panic.”[5]

And of course, Randi Weingarten, the always-talking-but-never-thinking President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), declared with a straight face, “Let’s be clear: critical race theory is not taught in elementary schools or high schools. It’s a method of examination taught in law school and college that helps analyze whether systemic racism exists — and, in particular, whether it has an effect on law and public policy.”[6] 

All of this, of course, is a very big 1984-level lie, and I will prove to you with overwhelming evidence that it is a lie. I’m going to dismantle, brick by brick, the absurd and dishonest claim put forward by the proponents of Critical Race Theory that this neo-Marxist ideology is neither used nor taught in America’s government schools. Put the other way ‘round, I will prove that CRT is as ubiquitous in America’s schools as its defenders say racism is in America. My goal is to make CRT deniers “cry uncle!”

Why Are They Lying to Us?

We know Critical Race Theory is being taught in America’s government schools because, as I showed in “The CRT-Industrial Complex,” the Education Deep State has demonstrated conclusively that it is all in for CRT. The evidence is clear and overwhelming that America’s K-12 schools are using and applying CRT as the theoretical framework for the subjects they teach.

We know this with certainty because: 1) the nation’s “ed” schools explicitly teach CRT to America’s future teachers; 2) the nation’s leading teachers’ unions have explicitly called on their members to use CRT in their classrooms; 3) CRT is often smuggled into the schools via various “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” or “Ethnic Studies” programs; 4) the nation’s curriculum designers and textbook publishers are using CRT in their materials; and 5) teachers around the U.S. have admitted publicly and repeatedly that they teach CRT to America’s children both directly and indirectly.

Still, the dishonesty of the Education Establishment on this question is really quite breathtaking. Take, for instance, just this one magazine headline, which bursts the lie: “Teachers Union President Claims Critical Race Theory Isn’t Taught After Her Organization Bragged About Teaching It.”[7] The article goes on to explain how Randi Weingarten claimed publicly that CRT was not being taught in America’s government schools, while her union openly defended teaching CRT!

Sometimes you just can’t make up this stuff.

On July 6, 2021, Weingarten tweeted, “Critical Race Theory is not taught in K-12 schools.” In another tweet, she said “We don’t teach critical race theory in grade school. We teach history.” She also blamed the charge that CRT is being taught in the schools on the “right’s culture warriors.” Apparently, Ms. Weingarten missed or forgot that her union had tweeted a few weeks earlier that one of the union’s leaders was going on ABC’s TVs Good Morning America show to talk about “how teaching critical race theory allows educators to ‘give our students the opportunity to understand the full breadth and depth of the American society’.” In another tweet from the AFT, the union claimed that “Critical race theory isn’t ‘divisive.’ It’s an irreplaceable lens with which we can view our difficult history.”[8] I’m pretty sure that means the AFT knows that CRT is being taught in the government schools and it is fully behind that fact.

The simple truth is that Randi Weingarten lied about CRT, but she is not the only person in the Education Deep State to do so. There seems to have been a poorly executed but coordinated attempt to cover-up the truth about CRT.

Consider the following three examples from California that demonstrate both the lies that school officials tell and their incompetence in covering up their lies.

The Office of Human Relations, Diversity & Equity of the Los Angeles Unified School District (the second largest school district in the U.S.) told its students in a PowerPoint presentation that Critical Race Theory is not being taught in L.A. schools at the same time that it was claiming its fealty to CRT in other PP presentations to students. For example, the LAUSD presentation titled “Critical Race Theory and Racism in K-12 Education” and others like it deny that CRT is being taught at the same time that it promotes lesson plans that are infused with CRT and that encourage teachers to “challenge whiteness.” The LAUSD lesson plans also encourage teachers to speak with students about “power, privilege, oppression, and resistance” and to encourage the kids to engage with various far Left, social-justice movements.[9]

In Salinas, CA, the superintendent of schools stated publicly that Critical Race Theory was not taught in the district’s schools despite that fact that a whistleblower teacher came forward to reveal that school’s “Ethnic Studies” class was rife with CRT “all throughout the lessons, from start to finish.” Despite the claim by school officials that CRT was not being taught in Salinas schools, it turns out that students were required to sit through a presentation on CRT and then they were required to analyze and rate their own school via “critical race theory.” One of the CRT modules recommended that students create an “intersectional rainbow,” where students “rank their various identities [e.g., race, gender, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation] with corresponding colored strings to create intersectional rainbows.” Students in the Ethnic Studies course were also encouraged to take a “privilege quiz” that asked them to “rank themselves based on their marginalized status or lack thereof.” According to the whistleblowing teacher, the “kids don’t even want this stuff.”[10]

And then there are laughably dishonest claims of school officials at the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) in southern California, who claimed publicly and repeatedly that CRT was not taught in the local schools despite the fact that it was being promoted on the RUSD website. The blatant lies of RUSD school officials were later revealed when it was discovered that the school district had spent $942,103 on programs promoting CRT. Four-hundred RUSD administrators were required to attend a presentation in which schools officials were told that they must reflect on their “own mindset on race and privilege” and that true champions of equity must explore “the Permanence of Racism through Critical Race Theory.”[11]

Why has America’s Education Establishment been lying to the American people about Critical Race Theory? What is the Education Establishment trying to hide from the American public?

Is Critical Race Theory taught in America’s government schools?

The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that not only is Critical Race Theory taught in America’s schools, it is ubiquitous. It is everywhere in the schools, and it is deeply embedded in our classrooms. And in some schools, it’s all CRT all the time.

For those of you who remain skeptical that CRT is being taught in America’s government schools, let’s take a deeper dive into the nation’s classrooms to see what’s really being taught.

***Warning!

I am now about to hit you over the head with a CRT sledgehammer. Here are 15 examples from around the United States demonstrating the extent to which CRT has infected America’s government schools. What I present here is just the tip of the CRT iceberg.

• In the state of Washington, the Democrat-controlled legislature passed a trio of bills in 2021 mandating CRT training for all teachers in the government school system. The bill codifies what has been taught in Washington schools for several years. Teacher training must include lessons on “identifying and removing bias and systemic and institutional barriers that create marginalization”; organizing “Racial Equity Teams” to review all decisions affecting the curriculum and school policies through the lens of racial “equity”; and holding annual struggle sessions where white teachers are required to confront and admit to their complicity in white privilege and systemic racism.[12]

• In Detroit, Michigan, school superintendent Nikolai Vitti, admitted publicly during a school board meeting that Critical Race Theory was deeply embedded in Motor City schools. According to Vitti, “Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English, language arts, and the other disciplines.” He continued: “We’re very intentional about creating a curriculum, infusing material and embedding critical race theory within our curriculum.”[13]

• In San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), teachers were forced to attend mandatory “white privilege” training workshops, where they were told, “you are racist” and “you are upholding racist ideas, structures, and policies.” Teachers were further told that they must commit themselves to becoming “antiracist” in their classrooms.[14] In one training session, white teachers were told by the out-of-the-closet communist consultant, Bettina Love, that they had engaged in the “spirit murdering of Black children,” that “[w]hiteness reproduces poverty, failing schools, high unemployment, school closings, and trauma for people of color,” that “white educators must take responsibility” for America’s racism because they unintentionally uphold and derive privileges from a “white supremacy culture,” and that they must therefore undergo “antiracist therapy for White educators” so that they might forever eradicate their racism and history of harm to black Americans.[15]

• In Cupertino, California, a class of third-graders (i.e., eight-year-olds) was forced in their math class to create an “identity map” that required them to self-identity via race, class, gender, religion, family structure, etc., and then they were required to “deconstruct” their racial identities and then rank themselves on the ladder of “power and privilege.”[16]

• In Seattle, teachers were required to attend a training workshop at which they were told that the United States is a “race-based white-supremacist society,” that white teachers must repent and “bankrupt [their] privilege in acknowledgement of [their] thieved inheritance,” that they must accept responsibility for the “spirit murder” of black children, and that white teachers must openly reject their “whiteness” and dedicate themselves to being “anti-racist educator[s]. As if that weren’t enough, white teachers were also told that if they disagreed with being denounced for their “whiteness,” this was prima facie evidence indicating a “lizard-brain” mentality.[17]

• In Springfield, Missouri, middle-school teachers were required to attend a mandatory diversity training workshop in which they were forced to locate themselves on an “oppression matrix” that divided America into “privileged” and “oppressed” social groups (e.g., white heterosexual males vs. women, minorities, transgender, and LGBT people). Consultants told the teachers that the “privileged” class is responsible for all that is bad in the United States, e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, etc. Teachers were told that they must affirmatively promote “antiracism.” Failure to do so would be an admission of one’s guilt as a white supremacist.[18]

• In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an elementary school required (i.e., forced) ten-year-old fifth-grade students to celebrate “black communism” and to organize a Black Power demonstration at school in honor of Angela Davis, the former Black Panther and twice the vice-presidential candidate for the Communist Party USA.[19]

• In Arizona, the state Department of Education created an “equity toolkit” asserting that babies beginning at the age of three months demonstrate signs of racism and that white children by age five “remain strongly biased in favor of whiteness.” The Arizona DOE then encouraged schoolteachers to develop teaching strategies that “change what it means to be white” and to instill in their students an “antiracist white identity.”[20]

• In New York City, one school sent parents a survey asking them to identity their level of “whiteness.” The survey included a graphic (a “whiteness” meter) that outlined eight, color-coded stages of white identity development: the lowest or worst category (color-coded red) was “white supremacist” and from there it ascended through “white voyeurism,” “white privilege,” “white benefit, “white confessional,” “white critical,” “white traitor,” and then reached the highest or best category (color-coded green), namely, “white abolitionist.” A white abolitionist is a white person who actively works to dismantle “whiteness.”[21]

• In Albemarle County, Virginia, school officials adopted an “Anti-Racism Policy” that took as its goal the elimination of “all forms of racism” in the local schools. The Albemarle policy calls on teachers to play a “vital role” in promoting “equity” and “dismantling educational systems that directly or indirectly perpetuate racism and privilege through teaching, policy, and practice.” To that end, the school-system now requires that CRT be integrated into all core subjects, including math and science. Albemarle schools now teach children to look at each other as enemies. Each class of five- ten- or 15-year-olds is divided into fighting categories such as “privileged vs. unprivileged” or “oppressors vs. oppressed.” These binaries are always based on the color of a child’s skin.[22]

• In the San Francisco Bay area, one school district announced that it was spending $40 million to create an Ethnic Studies curriculum based on CRT. The program spent $57,000 to train kindergarten teachers to learn how to teach five- and six-year-olds to “confront” and “disrupt” their whiteness.”[23] According to one report, California third-graders are now required to rank themselves on a racial hierarchy scale that reminds them of their “power and privilege.”[24]

• In Louisville, Kentucky, a local school district hosted a year-long teacher-training program on anti-racist mathematics that sought to “eliminate curricular violence and innovate mathematics education” through “anti-bias, anti-racist, and racially equitable practices,” and teachers took courses on topics such as white supremacy in mathematics and creating anti-racism lesson plans.[25]

• In Georgia, after the state Board of Education passed a resolution prohibiting statewide the use and teaching of CRT in classrooms, the powerful and influential Atlanta School Board responded by defending CRT, saying that “we will not change our focus” on “advancing equity and social justice within our schools.”[26]

• In the Prairie State, school officials at the Illinois Math and Science Academy (the top STEM school in the state) are now requiring all teachers to take a series of courses on CRT and to adapt the content for classroom use.[27] The school also circulated a PowerPoint to teachers that included slides announcing, “Math was never neutral” and that STEM subjects traditionally were dominated by “white male identity.” The solution to the problem of racist math is to humanize the subject by reimagining mathematics “free from dominance of Eurocentric and White culture.”[28]

• In North Carolina, one pre-school program teaches three- and four-year-old disabled preschoolers to “deconstruct whiteness.” According to Sloan Rachmuth of the Education First Alliance, “preying on disabled 3-year-old children – getting them to participate in a political movement, and to hate themselves based on skin color in the process, shows our public schools to be more morally corrupt than all others.”[29]

Still not convinced yet? Here’s the coup de grâce.

In Iowa, an investigative report found that teachers were intentionally doubling down on CRT in their schools but just calling it something else.[30] (Watch the video embedded in the link at the footnote.) In other words, CRT is being taught in America’s government schools even when it isn’t! What I mean is that given the negative public reaction to the teaching of CRT in America’s schools, some of CRT’s proponents have wised up and have simply smuggled it into the schools under various different names, such as “Multiculturalism,” “Ethnic Studies,” “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” “Culturally Responsive Education,” and “Social Emotional Learning” or just plain history! Remember: this is what the teachers tell us they are doing.

So, is Critical Race Theory used and taught in America’s government schools?

Only one rational and honest answer is possible: Absolutely, unequivocally, “yes!”

You are either dishonest, cognitively limited, or suffering from some kind of ideological psychosis if you think that CRT is not taught in America’s government schools. The evidence is overwhelming. In fact, CRT is so thoroughly ubiquitous in America’s schools that it’s impossible to escape it.

But let’s be very clear about what all of this is and is not. This is not education. This is State-sanctioned, State-supported ideological indoctrination. Brainwashing children as young as three-years-old to be social-justice activists is the immediate, short-term goal of America’s ideologically-driven educators. The long-term goal of CRT is to be one front in a multi-front war against the principles and institutions of a free society.

As I explained in “Critical Race Theory and the Long March Through the Institutions,” CRT is opposed to the core values of Western Civilization—namely, reason, logic, individualism, freedom, equality, rights, free speech, race neutrality, meritocracy, capitalism, and judging people by the content of their character. We know this because CRT’s proponents have openly and explicitly said so.

Conclusion

I would like to end this essay with two questions: first, what will be the long-term effects of telling black children that America is systemically racist and that it is rigged against them, and, second, what will be the long-term effects of telling white children that they are inherently racist by virtue of their “whiteness” and their “white privilege”?

Critical Race Theory teaches black and white children (and all children in-between) to see the world through the lens of race, which means first and foremost that CRT is a new form of racism. It teaches children to see color first and foremost. A child’s skin color and not their chosen ideas and actions therefore defines who and what that child is. CRT defines whether children are metaphysically a victim (blacks) or an oppressor (whites) and therefore good or bad. In the end, though, CRT is not that much different from the old kind of racism. 

CRT is psychologically destructive as well. It teaches black children to experience feelings of anger, envy, and resentment, and it teaches white children to experience feelings of shame, guilt, and self-loathing. Neither experience is healthy for children.

Finally, CRT is a philosophy of hate. It teaches young Black children to hate white children; it teaches white children to hate themselves, and it teaches all children—black and white— to hate America. But a nation that hates itself cannot stand.

The inevitable result will be to divide America into two hostile camps that will eventually be driven toward violent conflict. How can this end any other way?

To describe Critical Race Theory as a dangerous ideology is to undervalue its moral obscenity. CRT is form of cognitive child abuse. It is a morally grotesque system of thought that hurts children and uses them to become child soldiers in an adult war.

Is this the future you want for America’s children? If not, the only real question now is: what are you going to do about it?

---

[1]. Editorial Board, “Younkin in using the critical race theory bogeyman to rile up the Trumpian base,” The Washington Post, September 25, 2021: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/25/youngkin-is-using-critical-race-theory-bogeyman-rile-up-trumpian-base/.

[2]. Phil McCausland, “Teaching critical race theory isn't happening in classrooms, teachers say in survey,” NBC News, July 1, 2021: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teaching-critical-race-theory-isn-t-happening-classrooms-teachers-say-n1272945.

[3]. Bryan Anderson, “Critical race theory is a flashpoint for conservatives, but what does it mean?,” PBS News Hour, November 4, 2021: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/so-much-buzz-but-what-is-critical-race-theory.

[4]. Stephanie Saul, “Energizing Conservative Voters, One School Board Election at a Time,” The New York Times, October 21, 2022: https://archive.ph/qUt6A (emphasis added).

[5]. Editorial Board, “Younkin in using the critical race theory bogeyman to rile up the Trumpian base,” The Washington Post, September 25, 2021: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/25/youngkin-is-using-critical-race-theory-bogeyman-rile-up-trumpian-base/. 

[6]. Randi Weingarten, “A Safe and Welcoming School Year for All: Remarks to the AFT TEACH Conference,” July 6, 2021: https://www.aft.org/press/speeches/safe-and-welcoming-school-year-all.

[7]. Spencer Lindquist, “Teachers Union President Claims Critical Race Theory Isn’t Taught After Her Organization Bragged About Teaching It,” July 8, 2021: https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/08/teachers-union-president-claims-critical-race-theory-isnt-taught-after-her-organization-bragged-about-teaching-it/.

[8]. Ibid.

[9] Spencer Lindquist, “Los Angeles Public Schools Host Critical Race Theorist to ‘Challenge Whiteness’ While Saying They Aren’t Teaching Critical Race Theory,” TheFederalist.com, November 30, 2021: https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/30/los-angeles-public-schools-host-critical-race-theorist-to-challenge-whiteness-while-saying-they-arent-teaching-critical-race-theory/.

[10]. Robbie Soave, “Hispanic Students Were Forced To Learn Critical Race Theory. They Hated It,” Reason Magazine, January 31, 2022: https://reason.com/2022/01/31/critical-race-theory-taught-in-classroom-california/.

[11]. Spencer Lindquist, “California’s Riverside School District Lies About Teaching Critical Race Theory,” TheFederalist.com, January 5, 2022: https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/05/californias-riverside-school-district-lies-about-teaching-critical-race-theory/.

[12]. Jason Rantz, “Washington State Mandates Critical Race Theory In All Public Schools,” TheFederalist.com, June 3, 2021:  https://thefederalist.com/2021/06/03/washington-mandates-critical-race-theory-indoctrination-of-students/.

[13]. Hannah Grossman, “Critical race theory curriculum in K-12 schools is going ‘horribly wrong,’ teachers say,” FoxNews.com, May 2, 2022: https://www.foxnews.com/media/critical-race-theory-curriculum-k12-schools-horribly-wrong-teachers.  

[14]. Christopher F. Rufo, “The Whitest Privilege: San Diego school district tells teachers ‘you are racist’,” December 3, 2020: https://christopherrufo.com/the-whitest-privilege/.

[15]. Christopher Rufo, “Radicals in the Classroom,” City Journal, January 5, 2021: https://www.city-journal.org/radicalism-in-san-diego-schools.

[16]. Christopher F. Rufo, “Woke Elementary,” January 13, 2021: https://christopherrufo.com/woke-elementary/.

[17]. Christopher F. Rufo, “Seattle Teaching Hate: Seattle school district claims education system is guilty of ‘spirit murder’ against black children,” December 14, 2020: https://christopherrufo.com/seattle-teaching-hate/.

[18] Christopher F. Rufo, “‘Antiracism’ Comes to the Heartland,” Janurary 19, 2021: https://christopherrufo.com/antiracism-comes-to-the-heartland/.

[19]. Christopher F. Rufo, “Bad Education,” February 11, 2021: https://christopherrufo.com/bad-education/.

[20].  Christopher F. Rufo, “Racism in the Cradle,” March 2, 2021: https://christopherrufo.com/racism-in-the-cradle/.

[21]. Selim Algar and Kate Sheehy, “NYC public school asks parents to ‘reflect’ on their ‘whiteness’,” New York Post, February 16, 2021: https://nypost.com/2021/02/16/nyc-public-school-asks-parents-to-reflect-on-their-whiteness/.

[22]. Alliance Defending Freedom, “Albemarle County School Board is Fighting Racism with . . . More Racism?,” March 18, 2022: https://adflegal.org/blog/one-school-board-fighting-racism-more-racism.

[23]. Spencer Lindquist, “Public School District Pays $57k For ‘Woke Kindergarten’ To ‘Disrupt Whiteness’,” The Federalist, January 14, 2022: https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/14/public-school-district-pays-57k-for-woke-kindergarten-to-disrupt-whiteness/?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated.

[24]. Spencer Lindquist, “Teachers Union President Claims Critical Race Theory Isn’t Taught After Her Organization Bragged About Teaching It,” The Federalist.com, July 8, 2021: https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/08/teachers-union-president-claims-critical-race-theory-isnt-taught-after-her-organization-bragged-about-teaching-it/.

[25]. Katelynn Richardson, Kentucky school district to host year-long anti-racist mathematics training program for teachers,” The College Fix, July 23, 2021: https://www.thecollegefix.com/kentucky-school-district-to-host-year-long-anti-racist-mathematics-training-program-for-teachers/.

[26]. Alveda King, “The Toll of Critical Race Theory on Our Children,” Newsweek, November 1, 2021: https://www.newsweek.com/toll-critical-race-theory-our-children-opinion-1643504.

[27]. “Math, Science & Critical Race Theory? Famed Aurora high school requiring teachers to study anti-white ideology,” Kane County Reporter, November 29, 2021: https://kanecountyreporter.com/stories/613463947-math-science-critical-race-theory-famed-aurora-high-school-requiring-teachers-to-study-anti-white-ideology.

[28]. Asra Q. Nomani, “Critical Race Theory Permeates New Student Survey in Fairfax Public Schools,” TheFederalist.com, October 21, 2020: https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/21/critical-race-theory-permeates-new-student-survey-in-fairfax-public-schools/.

[29]. Kendall Tietz, “CRT Program Teaches Disabled Preschoolers That ‘Whiteness Affects Everything,” Daily Caller, January 10, 2022: https://dailycaller.com/2022/01/10/critical-race-theory-disabled-preschool-whiteness-white-supremacy-north-carolina/.

[30]. M. Dowling, “School Staff Brag About Teaching CRT and 1619-Violating the Law,” Independent Sentinel, April 21, 2022: https://www.independentsentinel.com/school-staff-brag-about-teaching-crt-and-1619-violating-the-law/?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated.