Following the 2020 protests of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd as well as the killing of Breonna Taylor, school districts began to introduce additional curricula and create diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-positions to address "disparities stemming from race, economics, disabilities and other factors."[1] These measures were met with criticism from conservatives, particularly those in the Republican Party. Critics have described these criticisms to be part of a cycle of backlash against what they view as progress toward racial equality and equity.[2]
Outspoken critics of critical race theory include former U.S. president Donald Trump, conservative activist Christopher Rufo, various Republican officials, and conservative commentators on Fox News and right-wing talk radio shows.[3] Movements have arisen from the controversy; in particular, the No Left Turn in Education movement, which has been described as one of the largest groups targeting school boards regarding critical race theory. In response to the unfounded assertion that CRT was being taught in public schools, dozens of states have introduced bills that limit what schools can teach regarding race, American history, politics, and gender.[4]
In the run-up to and aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, opposition to CRT was adopted as a campaign theme by president Donald Trump and various conservative commentators on Fox News and right-wing talk radio shows.[7] In an interview on Fox in September 2020, Conservative activist Christopher Rufo strongly denounced critical race theory.[8] After appearing on Fox,[9] Rufo was invited to a series of meetings with Trump. Trump then publicly denounced critical race theory in a speech on September 17, 2020, and announced the formation of the 1776 Commission to promote "patriotic education".[10] Trump also issued an executive order directing agencies of the U.S. federal government to cancel funding for programs that mention "white privilege" or "critical race theory", on the basis that it constituted "divisive, un-American propaganda" and that it was "racist".[11][12][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4] The most outspoken critics of CRT include Trump, Rufo, and Republican Party officials.[16][who?] According to The Washington Post, CRT became a "flash point" in the culture wars in the United States, and is used as "a catchall phrase for nearly any examination of systemic racism" by conservative lawmakers and activists.[17]
Elected officials
Trump's messaging during the 2020 U.S. presidential election campaign and its aftermath included strong messaging against critical race theory. In December 2020, Trump appointed former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant as a member of the 1776 Commission, which would to produce a report in response to The New York Times'1619 Project.[lower-alpha 5] On January 18, 2021, The 1776 Report was submitted in the form of a 41-page "national plan" for a "patriotic education" as a rebuttal to the 1619 Project.[18] The commission also criticized what they alleged as being CRT's theoretical underpinnings—Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, Herbert Marcuse, and the Frankfurt School, identity politics, and Howard Zinn. In contrast, the Trump White House described The 1776 Report as the "definitive chronicle of the American founding, a powerful description of the effect the principles of the Declaration of Independence have had on this Nation's history, and a dispositive rebuttal of reckless "re-education" attempts that seek to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one."[18] The commission was dissolved on January 21 in an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in his first day in office.[19]
Republican senator Tom Cotton introduced an amendment to the 2021 budget reconciliation package that would prohibit the use of federal funds in CRT promotion in Pre-K programs and K-12 schools in August 2021, which passed 50 to 49.[20] Cotton's Stop CRT Act was introduced in July 2021. Rufo praised Cotton's actions, saying that the "fight against CRT has gone national" and Cotton was "leading the way."[20]Jim Pillen won the Republican primary race for governor in the 2022 Nebraska gubernatorial election with an election campaign based on his opposition to critical race theory as well as his stance against abortion rights.[21] Republican candidates Glenn Youngkin and Jason Miyares have also campaigned against CRT.[22] On his first day as governor of Virginia, Youngkin signed executive orders barring the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.[23][24]
Advocacy groups
Opposition to what was purported to be critical race theory has been adopted as a major theme by several conservative think tanks and pressure groups, including The Heritage Foundation, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and organizations funded by the Koch brothers.[25] Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute,[26] has been one of the most active critics of CRT,[27] saying that it is anti-American, poses a "an existential threat to the United States", and had "pervaded every aspect of the federal government".[27] In 2021 he wrote on Twitter, "The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think 'critical race theory'"[28] and "We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans."[29]
The advocacy group No Left Turn in Education has been described by NBC News as "one of the largest groups targeting school boards" regarding critical race theory.[30]Media Matters for America has described No Left Turn in Education as one of the "leading groups fearmongering about the teaching of critical race theory in schools". The article said that the group and Elana Yaron Fishbein its founder, frequently "used toxic and bigoted rhetoric on social media and in right-wing media to downplay CRT".[22] In his 2022 book, How to Raise an Antiracist, American radical activist Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist described how Fishbein created No Left Turn in Education in the summer of 2020. Fishbein had pulled her children out of Gladwyne Elementary School and sent the superintendent of Lower Merion School District (LMSD) an email on June 18, 2020, challenging the LMSD's decision to introduce additional lessons in "cultural proficiency" in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and that as an unspecified number of non-white students were launching a campaign calling for "antiracist education", Fishbein "rejected the premise of antiracism, CRT, comprehensive sex education (CSE), and climate change".[31] Her movement was relatively small initially, but was really launched when she began to be invited as a guest on the prime time Tucker Carlson show in September 2020.[32] Fishbein describes the movement as a grassroots parental organization that uses veteran GOP activists' playbook to enact change on school boards.
Mass media
Conservative commentators on Fox News and right-wing talk radio shows have been strongly critical of CRT.[33] Right-wing media outlets weaponized CRT[how?] in advance of the 2021 off-year and 2022 midterm elections.[2] Media Matters for America reported that in June 2021, Fox News network mentioned "critical race theory" a record high of 901 times.[34] Fox News also promoted No Left Turn in Education.[30]
American cultural critic James A. Lindsay, known mainly for his role in the grievance studies affair,[35] published Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Practice in February 2022 in which he criticized critical race theory.[36] In his book, he cited numerous extracts from texts on critical race theory as proof of CRT's flaws.[37] In February 2021, William A. Jacobson, a conservative blogger and law professor at Cornell University, launched an online database of colleges across the United States teaching what he calls "critical race training", in order to enable parents to avoid those schools.[38]
Public attitudes
The Economist and Reuters have conducted polls on how much the general public understands CRT, a "once-obscure academic concept", and they found that most people are unfamiliar with CRT and misunderstand it.[39] Those who support CRT promote the idea that it is an "intellectual tool set developed by legal scholars for examining systemic racism". CRT originated in legal studies and was intended for legal scholars and academics.[40]The Economist, based on YouGov data from 2021, said that 50% of Americans thought they had a "good idea of what critical race theory was and most people thought it was bad for America.[41] However, The Economist asserted that "the attitudes and beliefs of 70% of Americans actually "chime" with CRT—that racism is a significant social problem in the United States". The claim that CRT makes is that racism is "woven into the U.S. legal system and ingrained in its primary institutions", according to Reuters.[42] Further, according to a survey conducted by The Economist, "a majority" of adult Americans believes that racism exists in the US Congress, in American legal structures, financial institutions, and in organizations and agencies, including the police force.[41]
A Reuters 2021 national opinion survey found that 57% of American adults said that they were not familiar with CRT. Of those who did claim they were familiar with CRT claims, Reuters found that follow-up responses to specific questions about CRT tenets, were informed by "misconceptions about critical race theory that have been largely circulating among conservative media outlets".[42] When asked true-false questions about CRT history and teachings, only 5% of those who said they were familiar with CRT, could provide the correct answers.[42]
Republicans focused on banning CRT from being used in public schools across the United States.[17] By mid-summer 2021 conservative groups were bringing the battle over CRT to school boards.[30] In Texas, Southlake, Tarrant County Carroll High School a group of POC students vied to address alleged racism after reported incidents dating back to at least 2018, and helped form the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition (SARC). Dissenting parents formed the Southlake Families PAC and fought against them, endorsing a mayoral candidate and candidates for the school board and the city council. The PAC endorsed candidates won with about 70% of the vote.[43] When they voted down the "call for cultural awareness into the curriculum", the PAC wrote on Twitter, "Critical Race Theory ain't coming here. This is what happens when good people stand up and say, not in my town, not on my watch." On their website, the PAC wrote: "CRT is a theoretical framework which views society as dominated by white supremacy and categorizes people as 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color....It also teaches kids to hate America. Ask yourself who in their right mind would want this taught in public schools?"[43]
One of the first suspensions related to critical race theory took place on September 1, 2021, in Colleyville in Tarrant County.[44] James Whitfield, who was the high school's first Black principal at Colleyville Heritage High School, was suspended for allegedly promoting CRT—Whitfield repeatedly denied the allegation.[45] Parents and dozens of teachers pleaded with the school district's board of trustees to reinstate Whitfield, a popular principal.[44] Students held walkouts to support the principal.[46] In the summer of 2020, Whitfield wrote an open letter sharing his concerns over the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, and the killing of Breonna Taylor.[47] In response, a former school board candidate, Stetson Clark, spoke up at a July school board meeting and accused Whitfield of promoting CRT. A few people attending the meeting called out, "Fire him."[48]
According to Dallas-based television station WFAA, by February 2022, some Christian pastors were fighting back against what they call the "far-right playbook to take down Texas public schools" saying it is "sheer destructive chaos" that has resulted in an "obscure term called Critical Race Theory...consum[ing] parents who believe it is being taught in Texas classrooms."[49] It has also resulted in the resignations of several school district superintendents, including in the Independent school district (ISD)s of Dallas and Fort Worth.[49]
On June 16, 2022, ProPublica and Frontline published an article on how a group of vocal and organized anti-CRT white parents in the Cherokee County School District (CCSD) in Georgia had targeted Cecelia Lewis, a Black educator, who had been offered a job in early 2021 as CCSD's first diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)–focused administrative position. Some of the parents researched and targeted the educator and were successful in making her next job impossible, which led to her resignation.[1]
In December 2020, the conservative nonprofit organization American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which works with state legislators to draft and share model acts, facilitated a workshop entitled "Against Critical Theory's Onslaught Reclaiming Education and the American Dream" with Rufo as a featured guest and 31 state legislators in attendance.[50][lower-alpha 6] ALEC provides a forum for collaboration on model bills—helping state legislators draft legislation that other states can also modify and introduce as bills.[51] In early 2021, Republican-backed bills were introduced to restrict teaching about race, ethnicity, or slavery in public schools in several states,[52] including Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.[53] Several of these bills specifically mention "critical race theory" or single out the 1619 Project. CRT is taught at the university level, and public school teachers do not generally use the phrase "Critical Race Theory" or its legal frameworks.[17][54]
In mid-April 2021, a bill was introduced in the Idaho Legislature that would effectively ban any educational entity from teaching or advocating "sectarianism", including critical race theory or other programs involving social justice.[55] On May 4, 2021, the bill was signed into law by Governor Brad Little.[56] On June 10, 2021, the Florida Board of Education unanimously voted to ban public schools from teaching critical race theory at the urging of governor Ron DeSantis.[57] As of July 2021, 10 U.S. states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would restrict teaching critical race theory, and 26 others were in the process of doing so.[58][59] In June 2021, the American Association of University Professors, the American Historical Association, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and PEN America released a joint statement stating their opposition to such legislation, and by August 2021, 167 professional organizations had signed onto the statement.[60] In August 2021, the Brookings Institution recorded that eight states—Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Arizona, and South Carolina—had passed regulation on the issue, though also noted that none of the bills that passed, with the exception of Idaho's, actually contained the words "critical race theory". Brookings also noted that these laws often extend beyond race to discussions of gender.[61]
Timothy D. Snyder, historian and professor at Yale University, has called these new state laws memory laws–"government actions designed to guide public interpretation of the past". Early memory laws were intended to protect victim groups, such as from revisionism attempts by holocaust deniers, but most recently have been used by Russia to protect "the feelings of the powerful", then by Donald Trump's 1776 Report in January 2021, followed by Republican-led legislatures submitting these bills. Snyder called the Idaho version "Kafkaesque in its censorship: It affirms freedom of speech and then bans divisive speech."[62]
From January 2021 through February 2022, 35 states had introduced 137 bills that limit what "schools can teach with regard to race, American history, politics, sexual orientation and gender identity".[4]PEN America, an American nonprofit association of writers "dedicated to free speech" that is affiliated with the International Freedom of Expression Exchange has been monitoring this legislation.[63] Jeffrey Sachs, who is tracking the legislation, said that the "recent flurry" of bills means that the classroom has become a "minefield" for educators who want to teach "slavery, Jim Crow laws or the Holocaust".[64] An April 2022 article in Education Week said that 42 states had either introduced legislation or "taken other steps" to restrict "teaching critical race theory" and, "more broadly, limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism in class."[65]
The first state to ban CRT was Idaho when a bill was introduced in mid-April 2021,[55] and signed by Governor Brad Little on May 4.[56] By May 2021, multiple state legislatures introduced bills restricting the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.[52] Bills were passed in 14 states, all of which had both Republican-majority legislatures and Republican governors.[66] Several of these bills specifically mention "critical race theory" or single out the New York Times' 1619 Project.[17]
The Texas state legislature, which is predominantly Republican, banned teachers from using the 1619 Project as part of coursework.[41] The 1619 Project revisits the role of African Americans in American history by reframing the consequences of slavery in the United States. Texas House Bill 3979 which was authored by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) and others, became law in December 2021 limiting the way in which Texas schools can teach about race and racism, as well as other issues.[67] Under Bill 3979, this bill declares that teachers should avoid teaching the following concepts "(1) one race or sex is inherently superior to the other; (2) an individual is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive because of their own race or sex; (3) an individual should be treated unfairly because their race or sex; (4) members of certain groups should not disrespect individuals on the basis of race, sex, or religion; (5) an individual's morality is based on their race or sex; (6) an individual bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by people of the same race or sex; (7) an individual should be ashamed or guilty because of their race or sex; (8) meritocracy is racist or sexist."[68] Teachers also no longer have any obligation to undertake any training on how to deal with racism in the classroom.[68] The list is based on the "divisive concepts" listed in Trump's September 28, 2020, executive order,[69]
On June 10, 2021, the Florida Board of Education banned CRT out of concerns that the concept of racism embedded in CRT is one that continues to uphold white supremacy in American society and its legal systems.[vague][41] The board's vote, which was encouraged by governor Ron DeSantis, was unanimous.[57]
In April 2022, when Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed bills banning CRT, he said that the state was protecting parents' fundamental rights to direct their children's education by preventing classrooms in Georgia from becoming "pawns to those who indoctrinate our kids with their partisan political agendas."[70]
A number of state laws to ban CRT from being taught in state public schools, did not include the words "critical race theory," with the exception of the laws passed in Idaho, according to a July 2, 2021, Brookings Institution article.[61]
In November 2020, student leaders of Cru, a student Christian organization, wrote a letter to Cru's president[85] associating CRT with "unbiblical ideas that have led us to disunity".[84]
In an American Association of Christian Counselors talk in 2021 entitled "The Five Greatest Global Epidemics", evangelist Josh McDowell cited critical race theory as the first epidemic while stating that he did not "believe Blacks, African Americans, and many other minorities have equal opportunity". He later apologized for his comments.[85]
Other countries
In countries outside of the United States, the teaching of critical race theory and white privilege has also been controversial.
Australia
In Australia, the conservative Coalition government supported a Senate motion by Pauline Hanson to ban the teaching of critical race theory in the Australian National Curriculum.[86] The Senate motion occurred during a review of the Australian National Curriculum. The motion did not recognize that the curriculum document did not have a reference to Critical Race Theory. Such a pre-emptive move has been linked to transnationalculture wars between the UK, US and Australia.[87]
In June 2021, following media reports that the proposed national curriculum was "preoccupied with the oppression, discrimination and struggles of Indigenous Australians", the Australian Senate approved a motion tabled by right-wing senator Pauline Hanson calling on the federal government to reject CRT, despite it not being included in the curriculum.[88] Despite this, CRT is gaining increasing popularity in Australian academic circles, to investigate Indigenous issues/studies,[89]Islamophobia[90] and Black Africans' experiences.[91]
France
In January 2022, the French minister of education Jean-Michel Blanquer called for "combat against an intellectual frame originating from American universities [...] which seeks to essentialise communities and identities, which is something that goes against to our republican model".[92]
In 2021 there were 34 ministers out of the 150 member house of representatives who were in favor of removing critical race theory from the curriculum.[93] Representative Caroline van der Plas said in a debate on 25 January 2023:[94]
We will need to continue to have the conversation about [our] history. We will have to keep looking for one anothers stories. I am of the belief we should have a debate here about what is thought, felt and discussed in society [in The Netherlands], not based on what comes blowing over from [the United States]. What happens on universities in [the United states], blows over to [The Netherlands]. It lands in the student life of Amsterdam and in the grachtengordel. But outside of [the randstad], the A10, people are not concerned with this at all. Those people are not busy with terms such as white fragility, critical race theory or decolonization. So I would like to make a call to have the Dutch debate about slavery, and not the American debate.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, educators were warned that teachers teaching white privilege would be breaking the law.[95]Conservatives within the UK government began to criticize CRT in late 2020.[96] Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, who is of Nigerian descent, said during a parliamentary debate to mark Black History Month, "We do not want to see teachers teaching their pupils about white privilege and inherited racial guilt [...] Any school which teaches these elements of critical race theory, or which promotes partisan political views such as defunding the police without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views, is breaking the law."[96]
In an open letter, 101 writers of the Black Writers' Guild denounced Badenoch for remarks about popular anti-racism books such as White Fragility and Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, made in an interview in The Spectator, in which she said, "many of these books—and, in fact, some of the authors and proponents of critical race theory—actually want a segregated society".[97]
In September 2023, an Employment Tribunal ruled that opposition to critical race theory, with support for the attitude of Martin Luther King towards race, was a philosophical belief protected under the Equality Act 2010.[99][100]
↑ Critical race theory (CRT) refers to an "emerging transdisciplinary, race-equity methodology that originated in legal studies and is grounded in social justice. Critical Race Theory's tools for conducting research and practice are intended to elucidate contemporary racial phenomena, expand the vocabulary with which to discuss complex racial concepts, and challenge racial hierarchies." CRT "integrates transdisciplinary methodologies that draw on theory, experiential knowledge, and critical consciousness to illuminate and combat root causes of structural racism. It emerged after years of struggle by law students and faculty contesting what they perceived as institutionalized racism in the hiring and curricular decisions of elite law schools. Convinced that their understandings of racial power dynamics diverged in important ways from those of other legal models, they convened a meeting in 1989 at which they enumerated key racial equity principles." CRT refers to the "emergent set of methodologies that draws on these principles in pursuing racial equity via the law. Persons whose scholarship relies on Critical Race Theory (called critical race theorists) are often described as "a collection of activists and scholars interested in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power."[5]
↑ The September 22, 2020 Executive Order 13950 of Sep 22, 2020 defined "divisive concepts" as "concepts that (1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex; (2) the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist; (3) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; (4) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex; (5) members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex; (6) an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex; (7) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex; (8) any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex; or (9) meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another race. The term "divisive concepts" also includes any other form of race or sex stereotyping or any other form of race or sex scapegoating."
↑ Rufo participated in drafting the language of the executive order.[13]
↑ On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden rescinded Trump's order[14] and dissolved the 1776 Commission.[15]
↑ Organizers included Bridget Weisenberg from The Heritage Foundation. Featured guests included Rufo, Jonathan Butcher, and Angela Sailor from The Heritage Foundation, Ian Rowe from the American Enterprise Institute, and Robert Woodson from the Woodson Center. Along with corporate representatives, there were also 31 legislators from 20 states in attendance.
Related Research Articles
The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative think tank that advocates the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design (ID). It was founded in 1991 in Seattle as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute.
Winsome Sears is an American politician serving as the 42nd lieutenant governor of Virginia. A member of the Republican Party, Sears served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004. She also served on the Virginia Board of Education, and she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia's 3rd congressional district in 2004 and for U.S. Senate in 2018. In 2021, Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia.
Critical race theory (CRT) is an interdisciplinary academic field focused on the relationships between social conceptions of race and ethnicity, social and political laws, and media. CRT also considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules, and not only based on individuals' prejudices. The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical theory rather than criticizing or blaming individuals.
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was an American lawyer, legal scholar, and civil rights activist. Bell first worked for the U.S. Justice Department, then the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where he supervised over 300 school desegregation cases in Mississippi.
Colleyville Heritage High School (CHHS) is a public secondary school in Colleyville, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District and serves freshmen through senior students in Colleyville and the surrounding areas of Tarrant County. In 2018 and onwards the school met standards for student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps, postsecondary readiness, and earned distinction in English language arts/reading, mathematics, history business computer engineering interior design politics philosophy parenting and science. The school had 2000 population between 2019-2020
The American Principles Project (APP) is a socially conservative 501(c)(4) think tank founded in 2009 by Robert P. George, Jeff Bell, and Francis P. Cannon. It is chaired by Sean Fieler. It is led by Terry Schilling, the son of the late former U.S. Representative Bobby Schilling. It has opposed Common Core standards and advocated for monetary reform by suggesting a return to the gold standard. The organization has an affiliated super PAC, the American Principles Project PAC, which spent nearly $4 million during the 2020 election cycle.
Russell "Russ" Thurlow Vought is an American former government official who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 to January 2021. He was previously deputy director of the OMB from 2018 to 2020 and acting director from 2019 to 2020.
Chuck Wichgers is an American businessman and Republican politician from Waukesha County, Wisconsin. He is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 82nd Assembly district since January 2023. Prior to the 2022 redistricting, he represented the 83rd Assembly district for three terms (2017–2022).
Donald Jones is a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 95th district since January 2019. Jones's district includes all of Carroll, Harrison, and Noble counties and portions of Belmont and Washington counties. Prior to elected office, Jones served as an agricultural education teacher at Harrison Central High School. He also serves as a volunteer firefighter and EMT.
Sherrie Conley is an American politician who has served as a Republican representing District 20 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives since 2018.
The 1776 Commission, also nicknamed the 1776 Project, was an advisory committee established in September 2020 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump to support what he called "patriotic education". The commission released The 1776 Report on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term of office. Historians overwhelmingly criticized the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics". The commission was terminated by the successive President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, his first day in office.
Christopher Ferguson Rufo is an American conservative activist, New College of Florida board member, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He is an opponent of critical race theory, which he says "has pervaded every aspect of the federal government" and poses "an existential threat to the United States". He is a former documentary filmmaker and former fellow at the Discovery Institute, the Claremont Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.
Glenn Allen Youngkin is an American businessman and politician serving as the 74th governor of Virginia since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he spent 25 years at the private-equity firm The Carlyle Group, where he became co-CEO in 2018. He resigned from the position in 2020 to run for governor.
Texas House Bill 3979 is an act that relates to civics instruction and instruction policies in public schools in the state of Texas. A follow-up bill to HB 3079—TX Senate Bill 3—authored by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) and others, which was filed on July 9, 2021, passed on July 16, 2021, and becomes law in December, limits the manner and extent to which students may learn about issues of race, racism, sex, sexism, and their relationship with American culture and history. It is commonly called Texas's "critical race theory law," after the academic field which became a popular target of criticism by conservative pundits.
Moms for Liberty is an American conservative political organization that advocates against school curricula that mention LGBT rights, race and ethnicity, critical race theory, and discrimination. Multiple chapters have also campaigned to ban books that address gender and sexuality from school libraries. Founded in January 2021, the group began by campaigning against COVID-19 responses in schools such as mask and vaccine mandates. Moms for Liberty is influential within the Republican Party.
Throughout the history of the United States, various topics have been censored and banned in education, including teaching about evolution, racism, sexism, sex education, and LGBTQ+ topics. Due to the federal system of the country being highly decentralized, states are delegated with much of the responsibility for administering public education, and it is often governments of the red states that have enacted such policies.
Starting in 2021, there have been a considerable number of books banned or challenged in parts of the United States. Most of the targeted books have to do with race, gender, and sexuality. Unlike most book challenges in the past, whereby parents or other stakeholders in the community would engage teachers and school administrators in a debate over a title, local groups have received support from conservative advocacy organizations working to nationalize the efforts focused on certain subjects. They have also been more likely to involve legal and legislative measures rather than just conversations in local communities. Journalists, academics, librarians, and others commonly link the coordinated, often well-funded book challenges to other reactionary efforts to restrict what students should learn about systemic bias and the history of the United States. Hundreds of books have been challenged, including high-profile examples like Maus by Art Spiegelman and New Kid by Jerry Craft.
The notion that LGBT people, or those supportive of LGBT rights, are engaging in child grooming and enabling child sexual abuse is a far-right conspiracy theory and anti-LGBT trope. Although the belief that LGBT individuals are more likely to molest children has no basis in fact, this assertion has existed for multiple decades in the U.S. and Europe, going back to before World War II. The trope became more widespread during partisan political campaigning in the 2020s. Despite originating with the far-right, this claim has been pushed by a growing number of mainstream conservatives, especially in the United States, and has since spread to other countries, including Australia, Canada and the UK.
The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 2021, that campaigns against diversity and inclusion programs, ethnic studies curricula, and antiracism initiatives rooted in critical race theory (CRT). It instead favors rooting them in liberalism and provides such programming along those lines such as its own ethnic-studies curriculum based on liberal ideals instead of CRT.
The Legal Insurrection Foundation, sometimes abbreviated LIF, is an American not-for-profit organization founded in 2008 and based in Rhode Island. The foundation is a conservative advocacy organization which focuses on free-speech and academic freedom issues. It has been tax-exempt since March 2018, and as of 2023 its president is William A. Jacobson. The foundation has participated in 2020s controversies around critical race theory and has criticized diversity initiatives which it alleges have discriminated against white people.
↑ "On Critical Race Theory And Intersectionality - SBC.net". Southern Baptist Convention. Retrieved May 12, 2023. WHEREAS, Critical race theory and intersectionality alone are insufficient to diagnose and redress the root causes of the social ills that they identify, which result from sin, yet these analytical tools can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences; [...]RESOLVED, That critical race theory and intersectionality should only be employed as analytical tools subordinate to Scripture—not as transcendent ideological frameworks;
1 2 Silk, Mark (December 29, 2020). "The SBC's critical race theory debacle". Religion News Service. Retrieved May 12, 2023. June 2019. At its annual convention in Birmingham, Alabama, the SBC passes a resolution that slightly affirms CRT and intersectionality, the (quoting the Oxford English dictionary here) "interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage."
↑ Smietana 2021a. "When asked why he looked to Lindsay to understand critical race theory, rather than Christian scholars, Albert Mohler claimed few people had "given sustained attention to critical theory from a conservative viewpoint."
↑ "Two Prominent Pastors Break With SBC After Critical Race Theory Statement". Christianity Today. December 18, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2023. In op-eds announcing their decisions to leave, Charlie Dates of Chicago's Progressive Baptist Church and Ralph D. West of Houston's The Church Without Walls both criticized SBC seminary presidents' declaration that critical race theory was "incompatible" with the denomination's statement of faith.
↑ Shimron, Yonat (December 1, 2020). "Southern Baptist seminary presidents nix critical race theory". Religion News Service. Retrieved May 17, 2023. [T]he [SBC] presidents' statement takes aim at the race-based theory that has become a bugaboo to many conservatives within the Christian right. "We stand together on historic Southern Baptist condemnations of racism in any form and we also declare that affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message," the statement reads.
1 2 Yee, Curtis (June 3, 2021). "Cru Divided Over Emphasis on Race". Christianity Today. Retrieved May 17, 2023. [the document's] authors, a grassroots group of Cru staff members, raise concerns that a "victim-oppressor worldview" has become embedded throughout the organization, dividing staff and detracting from the true gospel. "In pursuing [diversity], we have inadvertently adopted a system of unbiblical ideas that have led us to disunity," the document reads. "These concepts have created distrust, discouragement, and a host of other problems." [...]The anti-CRT document says that "at least 1,000 staff" share the group's concerns[..] [T]he Southern Baptist Convention's six seminary presidents released a statement calling the theory "incompatible" with the denomination's message, prompting at least four Black pastors to break with the denomination.
1 2 Smietana, Bob (September 19, 2021b). "Christian author Josh McDowell steps away from ministry after comments about Black, minority families". Religion News Service. Retrieved May 17, 2023. The talk, entitled "The Five Greatest Global Epidemics," identified a series of threats McDowell claims face the Christian church. The first, he said, was critical race theory, an academic field of study on the nature of systemic racism. [...] CRT [...] has become controversial among Christian conservatives[...]. McDowell told Christian counselors that CRT "negates all the biblical teaching" about racism — because it focuses on systems rather than the sins of the human heart and said today's definition of "social justice" is not biblical. [...] Cru, formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ, has faced criticism by some long-term staff because of its recent focus on issues of race and diversity. A group of staff has accused Cru of "embracing a secular system of ideas that divides humans into victims and oppressors." [...]"I do not believe Blacks, African Americans, and many other minorities have equal opportunity. Why? Most of them grew up in families where there is not a big emphasis on education, security — you can do anything you want. You can change the world. If you work hard, you will make it. So many African Americans don't have those privileges like I was brought up with." After being contacted by Religion News Service, McDowell issued a statement on social media apologizing for his remarks, saying they do not reflect his own beliefs. He said his comment about minority families "does not reflect reality." "Racism has kept equality from being achieved in our nation," he said.
↑ Bargallie, Debbie; Lentin, Alana (September 2022). "Beyond convergence and divergence: Towards a 'both and' approach to critical race and critical Indigenous studies in Australia". Current Sociology. 70 (5): 665–681. doi:10.1177/00113921211024701. S2CID237925828.
↑ Gatwiri, Kathomi (April 3, 2021). "Racial Microaggressions at Work: Reflections from Black African Professionals in Australia". The British Journal of Social Work. 51 (2): 655–672. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaa145.
1 2 Ducey, Kimberley; Feagin, Joe R. (2021). "Preface". Revealing Britain's Systemic Racism: The Case of Meghan Markle and the Royal Family. New York: Routledge. ISBN978-1-000-38010-1.[pageneeded]
American Legislative Exchange Council (December 7, 2020). Against Critical Theory's Onslaught Reclaiming Education and the American Dream. ALEC Workshops. Bridget Weisenberg (Director) and Chris Rufo, Jonathan Butcher, Angela Sailor, Ian Rowe, Robert Woodson (Guests). Event occurs at 1:00:03. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
