by Kathy J Six
Parents fighting school boards to stop CRT from invading their child’s learning has become newsworthy. However, different news outlets seem to have vastly different takes on such news. Not that news should have a take, but unfortunately, our “alphabet soup” stations have decided they not only need to provide their take/opinions, but also tell you what your opinion should be.
Making sense of CRT requires an understanding of the ideology. Let’s start by examining the history of Critical Race Theory since it is what has laid the groundwork of CRT and what we know to be the framework of the teachings of CRT in classrooms around the country This article cannot possibly give you the full examination of the ideology of CRT, but there are multiple sources that can provide more thorough information. I will include some sources at the end and some must reads for your bookshelf.
To become more knowledgeable, one must know the historical development of the concepts from birth to the current appellation of CRT. CRT’s ideology was founded in the birth of Marxism. Karl Marx touted these early antagonistic thoughts that would morph into CRT in his book Communist Manifesto in 1848. His oppressed and oppressors groups were the rich against the poor but the parallels are easy to identify. One merely needs to lay the outline of CRT over Marxism and the homogeneity is impossible to miss.
In both theories, humanity is divided into two groups. One oppresses and the other is oppressed. One should not spend any time considering the possibility that we act as individuals and are intermingled within these defined groups. All oppressors fall under the designated class and therefore, all authoritarian structures built upon the oppressed groups must be destroyed. The oppressed then take their place at the top and a new world order that remedies all that ails society.
Today CRT has taken on multiple euphemisms such as equity, social justice, diversity, and inclusion. None of these words equate to what is essentially defining humans by the color of their skin, placing them into a socially constructed box whether they fit or not and then giving them no avenue of escape. Finally, to “pin the tail on the donkey”, pit them against one another to create antagonism and strife, fear and confusion so neither group is able to cross the proverbial bridge of "in between" that fall somewhere near reality.
In the current CRT movement, the push is skin color for defining the groups and racism as the overlying principle. One oppresses while the other is oppressed and individual circumstances will have no bearing on the social construct. As guru Ibram X. Kendi stated on multiple occasions, racism is in every aspect of life whether we know it or not. He purports that white people are inherently racist and when they deny it, they are even more racist. He ties absolutely everything to racism including corporate money and greed even though he, himself is a prolific capitalist. Ibram has had some trouble defending his ideology when presented with truth regarding both historical and current information that counters his claims, yet CRT has still grown roots in our country and is moving throughout
the US primarily in the educational system. This includes not just institutions of learning, but also places of training in certain fields and even the military. People are being forced to sit through CRT training even if there is no history or behavior that indicates there are racial issues where it is being pushed.
As a teacher, I fear CRT ever being even suggested in my school district. In our district, we teach children what they need to learn to be productive, knowledgeable citizens that will either enter the workforce from high school or go on to an institution of higher learning and then enter the workforce. Some will choose stay at home parenting but all will leave us with the ability to make choices about their future, and not one of them is to decide whether they are inherently racist because they are white or oppressed because they are black.
Why does CRT frighten me? The whole premise that people born with a particular skin color automatically have an advantage over another color and others have had a disadvantage due to their skin color is ludicrous. We all have experienced situations or life circumstances that defy this logic. We feel in our gut how wrong it is because we live each day and witness how and why this all flies in the face of common sense.
But wait, there’s more, so much more. This goes beyond the underpinnings of Marxism. CRT has elevated the ideology to a whole other level of consciousness. It invades sexual identity, proposes atonement by whites to blacks, and places people into intersectionality from which they may never escape.
The following video provides us with horrifying examples of how complex adult concepts about sexuality, social identities, power and privilege are being presented in a classroom of eight year olds.
CRT further “trashes” the core values of our socio-economic rules where hard work pays off and the historical record where our founding fathers laid out a path of equality for all so that we would always be striving toward excellence. The racial political identity promoted by CRT denies that historically we have always moved closer to equality. It denies that, since our beginnings as a country in 1776, we have overcome great adversity such as slavery, antisemitism, segregation and Jim Crow laws. No other country has made such amazing strides in so short a time.
In the article Critical Race Theory: What It Is and How to Fight It by Christopher F Rufo, the author points out that we are already experiencing an
injection of CRT in multiple facets of American life. He states that CRT..
…”has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs,
and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human
resources modules, public policy frameworks, and school curricula.”
Are we then helpless to combat this monster of Marxist converted ideology in America? Absolutely not. We have the power to stop the machine that drives CRT forward. It begins with our refusal to participate and our voices to declare foul when it invades our communities. There is always the fear of speaking up particularly for white males, since the expected response from anyone other than other white males is judgement. There is the fear of all white persons to defend their non-racist life only to be told that denying that you’re a racist only confirms all the more that you are. This logic is merely a circular argument to deflect from truth. Proponents of CRT set out on fishing expeditions of confirmation bias.
Our job is to point out these biases and do so while suppressing our fear of being called a racist. After all, the majority of citizens not only aren’t but would rather not be called a racist. Therefore, to oppose CRT, we have to accept the following premises. First, that speaking up that you are not racist, does not make you a racist. You can turn that back on the accusers by stating their same circular logic. Ie, "If you think I’m racist when I say I am not and cannot identify anything in my own character or behaviors to defend your argument, then you yourself are making a racial judgement. So are you racist?"
Second, we can speak out publicly against training or educationally injected CRT lessons in schools. This can be done by attending board meetings, sending letters to government officials or the state school board and even speaking up at your own place of employment. Are there risks in speaking up? Absolutely! But I ask you, what are the risks if we don’t?
If we all fear for the consequences of speaking truth, we all become subject to the lie. Pay attention. Some schools, and gratefully not mine, have begun sliding it into the curriculum without parents even being aware it’s happening. Pay attention to what your child says they learned in school. If buzz words from CRT crop up, ask questions. Speak to the administration. Ask them about teacher training. If all else fails, move them to a school that doesn’t teach this outrageous curriculum of lies. And before you enroll in the new school, require evidence that the school does not teach any form of CRT. The most important thing we can do is speak up. Remember, it is much harder to ignore a large scale movement of Americans crying out for truth and righteousness than a few dissenters whose voices are lost in the divisive movement that is CRT. There would be a large group of Jews in the late 1930's-1940's who wished for the chance you have right now, speak and act before the opportunity to do so is lost.
Sites and books to further explore understanding of the inherent problems of CRT:
The Enemy Within by David Horowitz
Debunking Critical Race Theory by Tarl Warwick
Critical Race Theory VS God's Divine Law: Making a Choice by Dr. Mary L. Dodson
