Critical Race Theory: You’re being lied to by teachers and the mainstream media, it’s coming to a classroom near you whether you like it or not

The largest teachers’ unions in America finally reveal the truth by voting to bring CRT and anti-racism into classrooms around the country and funding it with tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, even as a recent survey of teachers claims none of this is happening.  I guess we’re not supposed to believe our lying eyes.

For the past several months, the mainstream media and liberal-leaning pundits assured us repeatedly that any concern over teaching Critical Race Theory in schools was overblown at best or a completely manufactured issue purely to gin up outrage at worst.  For example, earlier this month, NBC dutifully reported that “Teaching critical race theory isn’t happening in schools, teachers say in survey.”  “Despite a roiling culture war that has blown up at school board meetings and led to new legislation in statehouses across the country, the responses from more than 1,100 teachers across the country to a survey conducted by the Association of American Educators, a nonpartisan professional group for educators, appeared to suggest that the panicked dialogue on critical race theory made by lawmakers and the media does not reflect the reality of American classrooms.”

The survey was conducted from June 24 to June 29 and included 1,134 responses from teachers, the overwhelming majority from public schools.  Over 96% claimed their schools didn’t require them to teach CRT and only 45% said that teachers should have the option to add it to their lesson plans if they choose.  “We’re saying, ‘What is the fuss about?’” explained Lynn Daniel, a ninth-grade English teacher in Arizona. “We don’t get it. This objection is being pushed upon us, and it’s not even happening in our classes. I don’t understand it.”

Further, the Association of American Educators claims the discussion over CRT in classrooms is having a “chilling” effect on teachers.  The executive director of the association, Colin Sharkey, explained, “Teaching is a hard job on a good day.  There’s a lot that can go wrong, but there are teachers who want to help have a productive conversation about race in America with their students, and now they’re worried about whether they might say the wrong thing.”  “I have teachers who are already leery of teaching race issues,” echoed a Detroit-area teacher who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Creating laws about this is only going to make them quieter and make teachers even less relevant to high schoolers who are working through ideas.”

In support of this position, close to 78 percent of teachers surveyed said they believed the prevailing rhetoric around CRT is “interfering with a productive and necessary discussion regarding race in America.”  Ms. Daniel explained, “I really wish we could all just sit at a roundtable and have teachers talk this over with all the educational stakeholders, the community, parents, lawmakers and researchers who really know this topic before we made sudden decisions.”

Less than a month later and the very same educators are saying not so much:  Critical Race Theory is coming to a school near you, whether you like it or not, and the very same educators that claimed this wasn’t happening voted for it.

The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest teacher’s union in America.  At their annual meeting last week, some 8,000 educators, 88% of the delegates, created a task force just for that purpose.  According to the NEA, the new task force will identify “the criteria for safe, just, and equitable schools, including exploring the role of law enforcement in education.  This work will also support campaigns that eliminate the school-to-prison and school-to-deportation pipelines; seek to remedy economic injustices, which include housing insecurity, food insecurity, and limited or no access to health care and childcare; and advocate for funding that addresses resource disparities based upon race, income, and geographic wealth patterns—plus other work required to reduce social and economic barriers that limit students’ academic and economic progress.”

To ensure there is no mistake regarding the goals of this task force, the press release from the NEA continues.  “At the forefront of educators’ professional lives and their students’ education are recent attacks on teaching the truth in classrooms.  Politicians in at least 25 states have passed or are considering passing laws that would restrict what educators can and cannot teach to students about race and racism, denying them the right to a truthful and honest education.  Despite a legislative push to restrict what is taught in classrooms, educators are committed to helping students examine these harmful systems and help build a better future for everyone.”

For good measure, they quote Eric Brown, a high school science teacher from Illinois and an Executive Committee Member who sponsored the initiative.  “The actions required to transform our public education system into one that is racially just, safe, and equitable demand all our best thinking—and they demand we unite for a better future for our students, our educators, and our communities.”  He added that the task force aims to “address the issues that politicians have sought to divide us over, but more importantly, it will define what we mean by ‘just, safe, and equitable,’ and it provides the supports our members, locals, and states need to continue to lead on racial justice in spite of those politicians.”

Completely gone from the discussion is any mention of the parents or the opinions of the broader community.  Now, all of a sudden and without any warning, the educators themselves will “unite for a better future for our students.”  They will “address the issues that politicians have sought to divide us over” and they will “define” what it means to be just, safe, and equitable.  Perhaps, someone should inform these upstart educators that they work for the parents, are paid by their tax dollars, and governed by some of the very politicians they loathe so much.

#CriticalRaceTheory is not taught in K-12 schools. The right’s culture warriors are labeling any discussion of race, racism or discrimination as such to try to make it toxic. They’re bullying teachers to try and keep them from teaching the truth.  https://t.co/Plz2inkLke

— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) July 6, 2021

Alas, the NEA is not the only teacher’s union who believes parents and others need not interfere.  The American Federation of Teachers is the nation’s second largest, and they are in complete agreement with the largest.  In fact, they are planning a legal defense fund to protect teachers from these out of control parents, who, gasp, want some control over what is taught to their own children.  “The backlash [to teaching about race] that you see in these radicalized circles is going to hurt kids,” claimed AFT President Randi Weingarten. “I felt the need to make it crystal clear to teachers…that I honor their professional responsibilities and that their union will have their back.”  Nor is Ms. Weingarten above repeating the completely false claim that CRT isn’t being taught in schools, writing on Twitter “#CriticalRaceTheory is not taught in K-12 schools.”  Instead, she believes “the right’s culture warriors are labeling any discussion of race, racism, or discrimination as CRT to try to make it toxic.  They’re bullying teachers to try and keep them from teaching the truth.”  In her mind, teacher’s are only trying to tell “honest history.”  Mind you, this is after she praised Critical Race Theory just last month, claiming in an AFT tweet, “Critical Race Theory isn’t ‘divisive.’  It’s an irreplaceable lens with which we can view our difficult history.”

Critical race theory isn’t “divisive.” It’s an irreplaceable lens with which we can view our difficult history. https://t.co/FKpcUme33V

— AFT (@AFTunion) May 11, 2021

Either way, honest history requires union cash, apparently, money siphoned from teachers who are paid with your tax dollars.  According to Education Week, the NEA is spending tens of thousands of dollars on CRT.  “One such measure, introduced by the NEA’s board of directors, said the nation’s largest teachers’ union will support and lead campaigns that ‘result in increasing the implementation of culturally responsive education, critical race theory, and ethnic … studies curriculum in pre-K-12 and higher education.’ The measure is part of a larger $675,000 effort to ‘eradicate institutional racism’ in public schools.  NEA delegates also adopted a $56,500 measure to ‘research the organizations attacking educators doing anti-racist work so that members are prepared to respond. ’”

Nor did it slip past Education Week that the NEA isn’t exactly being truthful either.  “National Education Association President Becky Pringle has avoided using the term critical race theory in interviews, instead calling for educators to teach the truth about the most painful parts of American history.”  Incredibly, the NEA’s own press release about some of these initiatives links to the progressive news and opinion site Salon.com to support their contention that the right-wing politicians are the ones freaking out about absolutely nothing.  There, Senior Politics Writer Amanda Marcotte opines, “Yet with so many white people across the country in a total freak out over ‘critical race theory,’ it appears few, if any, of them could even explain what it actually is. That’s because, despite what Fox News is telling them, critical race theory — the actual academic framework that was developed in law schools to understand the historical reasons our legal system perpetuates racial inequalities — is not, in fact, being taught to 3rd graders or even 11th graders. Claims otherwise are a complete lie, ginned up by right-wing propagandists who are desperate to keep the GOP base whipped into a racist frenzy.”

Who’s lying now?

You might also consider why progressives feel the need to lie about it in the first place.  As they describe Critical Race Theory, all they really want to do is teach “honest history.”  Of course, no one has a problem with that.  Almost everyone in America supports curriculum that includes our troubled racial past, from slavery to Jim Crow, but that’s not remotely what this is about.  Instead, every time an example bubbles up, it boils down to what one educator described as “demonizing white kids for being born.”  This is the goal as they institute a new racial hierarchy with white people on the bottom.

You might also consider what is happening in education when teacher’s themselves are in on the lie and their unions are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to indoctrinate your children.  Incredibly, this is the policy they chose to pursue after refusing to teach in person during the pandemic, putting your children’s future at risk for their own benefit.  This is education in America today:  Lies, laziness, and indoctrination, bought and paid for by the teacher’s unions, and you’re simply supposed to sit down and shut up.

At the risk of repeating myself, someone should explain to them that’s not the way this works, not at all.