Some commentary is required:
“Nevertheless, the extreme right-wing has masterfully turned the “controversy” into another means to exploit racial anxieties and hatred in a country of rapidly changing demographics to cement white racial domination.”
Seriously now. How many of the people railing about this issue in front of their local school boards are standing there thinking “Boy, am I going to ‘cement white racial domination today, or what!”.
Cock and bull nonsense. What they are opposed to are certain methods of teaching antiracism, in particular those which are identitarian in nature. Why? Because their children are not a party to past or current US racism, and do not carry guilt for it, either from the actions of their ancestors or the color of their skin.
Simple.
“The same people trying to suppress CRT are pushing the “ great replacement“ theory and stopping the right to vote and free speech.”
Maybe a few. Most of them are just asserting their right to raise their children as they see fit, which in a democratic society is their right.
“Shattering the unity and power of the mass democratic movement is another aim of the anti-CRT campaign, thereby blocking the emergence of a true multi-racial democracy and an accompanying ideological outlook. An orchestrated backlash against the growing anti-racist majority sentiment in the U.S. and anti-racist victories, including the 2020 elections victory, is taking place.”
Yes, maybe a good 1% of parents who oppose CRT/identitarian antiracism in public schools think like that. :-)
To expand:
First, glad we’ve gotten by the “CRT is a university theory not taught in K-12” to an honest admission (rare for the left) that they want to insert it into the primary and secondary systems. Good for you.
Second, the majority of people who oppose this type of antiracism education are antiracists themselves. That’s easily discerned from racially-oriented questions on the General Social Survey or from a reputable pollster like Pew or Gallup. The left does not have a monopoly on people that find racism repugnant.
They just don’t belong to your tribe, which is what is actually bothering you.
“Together, these campaigns, and those forces backing them, represent a peril to democracy.”
This is democracy in action, actually. Curriculums are always determined, ultimately, by elected officials in state legislatures. Local school boards, principals, and teachers typically enjoy wide latitude to add enrichment materials to those state-mandated curriculums, but every decade or so they are caught coloring outside of the lines of what public opinion deems acceptable; the CRT debate is an example of this. You yourself point out another example from the 90s), and CRT won’t be the last time this happens, I’m sure.
“The Koch Brothers advocate privatization of public schools and the elimination of the Department of Education.”
Well, you may not be aware that there’s only one brother these days.
And considering the role the public schools continue to play in insuring that our minority populations are undereducated and poorly tooled to compete in society, I’d think you’d have a little more sympathy to the privatization idea. Some of the charter schools which focus on the needs of minority students have been amazingly successful, but for some reason accepting the success of these schools in educating minority students is verboten on the left.
“Christian nationalists and other religious fundamentalists want to use public schools as vehicles for creating a theocracy. And white supremacists seek to uphold a white supremacist indoctrination of students and block all attempts to replace it with the true history of the U.S. and the dominance of systemic racism.”
Theocracies do not poll well in any subsection of the American citizenry. There are certainly people who wish that the culture more accurately reflected their religious views, but that fact should never be conflated with “wanting a theocracy.”
Same is true for racism. Very few want a country where one race is legally advantaged over another. You simply can’t find it in public polling.
“These groups seek to portray the outrage against CRT as a spontaneous grassroots Tea Party-type rebellion by parents, students, and community members. In actuality, the campaign is highly orchestrated.”
All these types of movements start from the grass roots. If the movement has political legs, it then gets support from larger political sources, after which it is accused of never being grass roots. :-). It’s a pattern we’ve seen over and over again. The fact that there is today “orchestrated support” does not mean that the movement was not “”grass-roots” in origin.
“According to Principal James Whitfield, the Texas educator being drummed out of his job by a mob, most meeting crashers have no connection to the school.”
(Coughs). Depends how you define “connection”. eh? The good Principal is defining “connection to the school” as “parents”. However, anyone who helps fund the public schools through their property taxes (that’s 100% of us) has a connection to the school, and thus, in a democratic society, the right to have their opinions heard regarding what is being taught and how it is being taught.
However, the issue lay dormant until the election of Joe Biden
Provably false. If you click TOOLS on Google, you can do a search of 2020 sources related to CRT and education and/or school boards. You easily get back results like this:
“Legislation banning the teaching of CRT was introduced into 25 state legislatures, passing in eight states. Except, no public schools teach CRT, and none of the legislation, except Idaho, even mentions it. The goal is to eliminate any teaching and discussion of racism and discrimination.”
Actually, if you were actually READ THESE BILLS (it’s clear you haven’t) they actually MANDATE the discussion of racism and discrimination. What they outlaw is it being taught in an identitarian manner. For example, from the Texas Bill, the following MUST be taught.
On this one, I am particularly glad to see Sally Hemings mentioned. Why? Because you cannot have a discussion about Sally Hemings without discussing Thomas Jefferson’s moral failings.
But wait, there’s more:
The entire text of the Texas Bill is found here, if you’re interested. But I doubt you are. Blows the narrative to pieces.
At any rate, when I read the bill, I was quite gratified to see how much more extensive racism history (and countermovement history, like suffrage and labor) would be treated compared to when I was a teacher in the Texas Public Schools.
Today’s mobilization by right-wing and neo-fascist forces employing physical threats and intimidation is reminiscent of the Tea Party mobilization at Congressional Town Hall meetings in 2009 to oppose Obamacare.
Yes, that’s another good example of a grass roots movement that then became institutionalized by political powers, as I mentioned above.
“These groups want to fundamentally destroy democracy, including public education, one of its key pillars. They are behind the campaign to take over local school boards, electing, among others, QAnon supporters. “
School boards are elected. That’s democracy.
(It seems to me that you only consider it to be democracy when left-leaning priorities are advanced. I would suggest you rethink that view. It’s undemocratic. :-) )
