NTF ISSUE PAPER: CRITICAL RACE THEORY INFECTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

NTF issue paper: edmon51.doc. 6-21.
NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM ISSUE PAPER:
CRITICAL RACE THEORY INFECTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BACKGROUND
. A radical Harvard U. professor created the critical race theory (CRT), expanded by 4 leftist attorneys, who wrote a book in 1995 alleging a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of blacks created and maintained in the U.S. They decried the unfair distribution of political and economic power and urged minorities to become race conscious in our oppressive social order. CRT identifies that these power structures base on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the subordination of people of color. They claim racism embedded in our laws, education, employment, economy, and social treatment. Their followers and promoters, particularly in the fields of education, are Marxists and leftwing activists.

ITS ELEMENTS
. CRT fuels racial division and victimization. One facet of CRT is the 1619 Project, referring to the year when the first African slaves reached Virginia. Its content lambasts all Whites as responsible for slavery. Among the tenets of CRT is racism as commonplace. Progress for underrepresented groups encouraged only to the extent that changes benefit the status quo, that concepts such as color-blindness and meritocracy are myths worthy of dismissal. CRT includes concepts such as diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training, social justice activism, and multicultural education curricula. Americans must become actively anti-racist in order to correct for inequity, even if it means discriminating against Whites.

BIDEN SUPPORT
. The Biden Regime Dept. of Education, with a blessing by the president, introduced a rule that uses the 1619 Project and CRT to guide its federal grant criteria for American History and civics education. Over 30 GOP senators sent a letter to Sec. of Education Miguel Cardona asking him to withdraw the proposal and invest in American history programs that will empower future generations to continue making our nation the greatest force for good in history. “This is a time to strengthen the teaching of civics and American history in our schools. Instead, your Proposed Priorities double down on divisive, radical, and historically-dubious buzzwords and propaganda,” the letter states. A similar letter originated from House Republicans. President Trump repeatedly targeted CRT during his term. Past members of his administration continue to encourage conservative lawmakers to reject CRT and to promote a patriotic education for students. The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal in North Carolina echoed Trump that the use of discredited and divisive works in the CRT supporting narrative, the failure to provide research quality, and the failures to define terms and to account for student developmental levels all fatally poison this education department rule.

CONSERVATIVE CRITICS
. Conservatives plainly expose this theory as racist, that it portrays a wholly negative picture of America, designed to make students feel guilty about their country. CRT promotes fractiousness among racial and ethnic groups and weakens the bonds that allow for wholesome civic engagement. America is not a racist country, and our tax dollars should not fund indoctrinating our children to believe that falsehood.  We should allow our local schools to teach our students how to think objectively and critically. Glenn Beck called CRT “the knockout punch for America.” Tucker Carlson names it a “noxious lie.” CRT is anti-American propaganda, a cult and a virus. It is an imminent and credible threat to America and democracy, a “malign ideology,” as former President Trump said, that could reverse decades of progress in race relations. The idea that we live in a completely racist society that requires complete change is a form of mass hysteria. CRT has infiltrated mainstream America partly because whites feel guilty about what Blacks and other minorities have suffered, Whites increasingly asked to confess their “white privilege.” Another threat posed by CRT is that it is profoundly at odds with the principles of individual liberty at the root of our Constitution. It is destructive and rejects the fundamental ideas on which our constitutional republic based. Scholars who have studied Karl Marx recognize the ideology underlying CRT as essentially revolutionary Marxism, with race replacing class. CRT is the complete rejection of the best ideas of the American Founding Fathers. This is dangerous philosophical poisoning in the national blood stream (Angela Sailor, VP at Heritage Foundation). The Heritage Foundation is one of the top campaigners against CRT, also the Manhattan Institute. Conservative media like the New York Post, Daily Caller, Federalist, and Fox News provide citizens with a steady stream of outrage about the threat of CRT. The 1776 Commission reconvened to voice opposition to the federal regulation forcing schools to promote CRT and to call for states and localities to establish their own similar panels to promote accurate American history and advance this great work of American renewal as we prepare for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in July, 2026.  It was the commission first meeting since Biden killed it as a presidential advisory panel 4 months after President Trump created it. The Constitution leaves education to the states and localities and denies the federal government authority to impose national curriculum standards. The Biden Regime should not circumvent this tradition by using federal funding to bludgeon states and localities to adopt curricula it wants taught in U.S. schools. This is a dangerous and divisive ideology, one that assigns moral value to people on the basis of their skin color. Most people know that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, but it also protects freedom of conscience, the right to hold our personal thoughts and beliefs free from government intrusion. A poll from Parents Defending Education found that 58.3% of respondents said they did not believe students should learn that the country “was founded on racism and remains structurally racist today.” CRT is a conceptual apparatus of a leftwing activist political movement seeking to replace the American social order, using state power to promote envy and fractiousness among racial and ethnic groups.

IN CONGRESS
. Conservative Rep. Burgess Owens (UT.) introduced a House bill, HR 3235, that accuses CRT of preserving racist thinking and undermining civil rights. 30 GOP representatives co-sponsored the Rep. Dan Bishop (N.C.) Stop CRT Act, which would ban federal employees from receiving racial equity and diversity training. Conservative Rep. Jim Banks (IND.), leader of the GOP Study Committee, condemned CRT for teaching pupils to become ashamed of our country, judging each other based only on race. Conservative Rep. Rick Allen (GA.) declared that CRT aims to indoctrinate Americans into believing our nation inherently evil.

STATE ACTION
. Follow the trend across the country as legislature bills absolutely forbid teachers from offering instruction that suggests that the U.S. is fundamentally racist or that encourages students to feel guilty for past actions by White people. Lawmakers in over 15 states have introduced bills seeking to prohibit teachers from teaching CRT (Education Week, 5-21). In Idaho, Governor Brad Little signed into law a measure banning public schools from teaching CRT, which it stated will “exacerbate and inflame divisions on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or other criteria in ways contrary to the unity of the nation and the wellbeing of the state of Idaho and its citizens.” The bill, HB 377, also prohibits lessons stating that individuals are inherently responsible for racial actions committed in the past by members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin.” The state lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, established a committee to examine indoctrination in Idaho education and to protect its youth from the scourge of CRT, socialism, and communism. 20 state attorneys-general demanded that the Dept. of Education withdraw its priority to force teaching CRT in classrooms. Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas already passed legislation against CRT. The Texas bill does not mention CRT by name. Instead, it bans teachers, administrators, and employees of state agencies, school districts, and open-enrollment charter schools from teaching students that one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex or that an individual is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive because of race or sex. Tennessee schools that violate the law will lose state funding. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, both potential presidential candidates in 2024, also condemned CRT. Noem started a petition on her website to keep it out of classrooms. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sent a letter to the State Board of Education opposing the teaching of CRT in Georgia schools. In Montana, Attorney-General Austin Knudsen viewed how the Biden Regime proposed rule could create a race-based hostile environment in Montana schools in violation of state and federal law. His main concern is that CRT is racist ideology that directly contradicts the founding principles of our nation. “Montana will not stand for anti-American indoctrination that turns our schools into training grounds for fringe political activism and violence,” Knudsen declared. The Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction also is taking action to ensure that racist curriculum not implemented in the state classrooms and that parents are aware of the dangers that the Biden federal proposal poses. He does not want schools to teach debunked theories that twist and distort our history and fringe philosophies that Americans have consistently rejected. “I have heard from countless families statewide in recent weeks specifically about what one of those fringe ideologies — critical race theory — would mean for Montana, and what it would mean for their children. They are rightfully concerned that this kind of thinking could be coming to their schools’ classrooms, and they want their voices to be heard.” (Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist)

SCHOOL BOARD ACTIONS
. CRT is dominating local school board meetings and legislative debates in America. Parents angry about CRT infiltration mobilized in Texas and scored victories against this insidious curriculum by winning landslides of 70% or more for their anti-CRT school board candidates. Parents across America are fighting back against CRT in their school districts, using the Texas wins as their blueprint to block this curriculum. Conservative parents and educators around the nation are confronting leftists determined to implement CRT in our schools.

STUDENTS MALIGNED
. Under the guise of inclusion and diversity, CRT insists school districts root out micro-aggressions by White students against Black students, making insults, slurs, and jokes part of student discipline offense histories in their academic records. This Orwellian conduct fuels racial division and victimization and causes White students to feel ashamed of their race. A number of school districts refuse to implement a diversity, equity, and inclusion program as a response to student horseplay.

CURRICULUM
. CRT requires mandatory diversity and inclusion curriculum and training for students in all grades and as a requirement to graduate high school. All school employees must undergo training on unconscious bias and dismantling racism. A hotline for reporting violations. Classes teach that the U.S. is systematically racist, cured only by CRT training that applies guilt to Whites. The curriculum uses taxpayer $$ to peddle a leftist version of U.S. history. It would force every school student club to undergo equity audits and force each district to hire a director of equity and inclusion to force teachers to undergo equity and inclusion training. It requires districts to create a public relations campaign with ads and videos to feature equity messages. Students expected to accept the view that our nation is fatally flawed and inherently racist, that society must treat minorities better than whites for equity (Dana Loesch Show on the Radio America Network). At a time when racial tensions are at a boiling point, we should not burden our kids with guilt for racial crimes from the distant past. CRT makes young students feel ashamed of their own skin color or their so-called privilege and creates the sense that opposition to CRT will attract a racist label. CRT teaches children racial disharmony and places blame on White people. Parents are discovering that elementary school teachers have read their kids “a book about whiteness” that teaches kids how much “color matters” and encourages them to confront “the painful truth” about their “own family” e.g., that their parents are racists. Families believe their children are being indoctrinated.

SPEAK UP
. Do not allow leftist bullies to coerce your school district into adopting CRT. Do not allow CRT supporters to label you a racist for opposing CRT. Parents should organize at meetings and online to endorse anti-CRT school board candidates and promote patriotic materials. Launch a social media campaign. Speak out in defense of your children and other children. American history, civics, and historical literacy are a crucial part of education in schools across NE and the country. Reframing those studies through the flawed and harmful lens of CRT is a disservice to NE students.

TAKE ACTION NOW
. First, contact your congressman and Sen. Fischer to sponsor or co-sponsor federal legislation to ban mandatory CRT in American classrooms. Secondly, contact your state senator to sponsor or co-sponsor a bill in the 2022 Legislature to prohibit the teaching of CRT in NE classrooms. Email netaxpayers@gmail.com for contact information. Next, contact your school board member to introduce a resolution to forbid CRT curricula in your schools. Join with other NTF members in your school district to lobby and monitor your school board members. Using the information above, write a guest editorial to your local paper or call in to a local radio talk show. The NE general public must become aware of this insidious leftist curriculum and stop it.

Research, documentation, and analysis for this issue paper done by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. This material copyrighted by Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, with express prior permission granted for its use by other groups in the NE Conservative Coalition Network. 6-21. C

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