The Empire Strikes Back

American Experiment has undertaken what I think is the most effective anti-Critical Race Theory campaign of anyone in the U.S. I have written about that campaign, which included a 17-city tour of the State of Minnesota along with much else, here, here, here, here and here. Thousands of Minnesotans attended our live events, and many thousands more learned of them through local newspaper, radio and television publicity. We got national (CNN) and international (Sky News Australia) coverage as well.

This was despite a campaign of intimidation by Education Minnesota, the local National Education Association affiliate that is far and away the number one political power in Minnesota. Education Minnesota tried to stop our tour by planting stooges in our audiences to cause disruption. When that failed, leftists started telephoning the venues where our events were planned, threatening them with riots and boycotts if they hosted our anti-CRT speakers. Happily, those efforts also failed miserably.

So now Education Minnesota has gone public with a full-throated, if inconsistent, defense of Critical Race Theory–“CRT doesn’t exist, and it is awesome!”–combined with a pitiful attack on American Experiment. Education Minnesota has issued guides to “Responding to politically motivated attacks on racial equity in schools,” directed to several constituencies, including school board members, most of whom have been selected by the teachers’ union.

One of these documents is embedded below. It exhibits the typical paranoia expressed by left-wing pressure groups that unexpectedly encounter resistance:

Educators across the country are experiencing a well-coordinated, multi-state attack on racial equity in public education. In Minnesota, this includes a public relations campaign by supporters of school vouchers led by an affiliate of the Koch propaganda network called the Center of the American Experiment. This campaign is expected to be the first of many waves of politically motivated efforts to use race to erode faith in public schools and the politicians who support them.

This is stupid, but typical of liberals: they have nothing to say on the substance, so they revert to mindless smears. For what it is worth, if any of our readers have any influence with the “Koch propaganda network,” and if that network still exists, please have them get in touch with me. We could use the help.

This is typical of how the far Left argues smears:

Ascribe motivations to the opposition. Instead of reflexively repeating the opposition’s claims to dispel them, (e.g. “we are not teaching grade schoolers about XYZ”), talk about why they’re attacking standards, equity and classroom educators.

• For example: “Powerful groups want to keep us divided so we don’t come together for better schools, affordable college, accessible health care and the other things regular families need.”

This is even more pitiful, and it pretty much says it all:

Unfortunately, a few billionaires and the promoters and talking heads they pay for have launched a national campaign to mislead Americans about the lessons educators teach about history, culture, gender and politics. Once again, they’re trying to distract and divide us so we don’t come together to demand the richest 1 percent and the largest corporations pay what they owe for what our communities need, like smaller class sizes, degrees without debt and affordable health care for all.

The teachers’ unions are socialist, to put it politely. And they are perfectly well aware that most billionaires who are active in politics are on their side, while it is conservatives like us who depend on grass roots support.

This is how the teachers’ union says its supporters should respond to those who say that color is irrelevant and race shouldn’t matter–a far-right idea, these days:

We should live in a state where anything is possible for anyone to achieve. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, but the promoters and their billionaire funders are manufacturing outrage to divide us along racial lines. People of color encounter hardships every day that white people do not. It is our collective responsibility to acknowledge, talk about, and change this reality so that every young person can reach their full potential, no matter what they look like or where they come from.

There is much more in the document embedded below, but you get the drift. Education Minnesota attacks my organization repeatedly, as for example:

In Minnesota, the Center of the American Experiment is touring the state trying to push its false narrative about what’s being taught in our school to block kids from learning our shared stories of confronting injustice.

CAE tries to disguise itself as a non-partisan think tank but pushes the agenda of its corporate donors — promoting school privatization and vouchers and vehemently opposing programs that advocate for people of color. The organization also runs active campaigns to persuade Education Minnesota members to leave their union.

Here we get to the heart of the matter! We favor school choice and have gone to some lengths to inform teachers of the fact that, under the Janus decision, they are not legally obligated to support the far-left teachers’ union, and many teachers have left the union as a result. So they hate us.

Unfortunately, American Experiment has almost no “corporate donors.” We depend on contributions from individuals like you for virtually all of our support. Last year we received donations from 7,000 individuals with a median contribution of $60. This year, as we continue to ramp up our grass roots efforts, we expect to get donations from 8,000 to 9,000 individuals. If you would like to join us in our fight against racism and anti-Americanism in the schools, you can donate here.

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