Critical Race Theory
November 6, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post has a lengthy article about how Tuesday’s election has dashed the hopes of black activists. The article begins this way: The summer of 2020 brought a renewed focus on addressing racism, with protesters filling the streets after the police killings of Black men; statues of Confederate leaders coming down from their prominent perches; and the leading Democratic presidential candidate promising systemic changes to right the wrongs of
»
November 4, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier today, Scott showed how the assertion “Critical Race Theory is not taught in [fill in name of state] schools” has become a mantra on left-wing cable news. It’s also a mantra at the Washington Post. Actually, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a benign-sounding description of what is being taught in many public schools. Democrats are lucky that the label for the racist indoctrination that’s going on isn’t “Whites are
»
November 4, 2021 — Scott Johnson
The ideological denigration of the United States and its white majority as oppressive and racist has become a political issue as it has seeped into public schools. The parents of Loudon County made their voices heard in advance of Tuesday’s Virginia gubernatorial election. Barack Obama jumped into the ring from the top turnbuckle to instruct Virginia voters to disregard it as a “phony trumped-up culture war issue.” Formulating the issue
»
November 2, 2021 — John Hinderaker
This is one of the most grotesque instances of racism I have seen in a long time–not just racism in the public schools, but racism, period. It comes from Wayzata, Minnesota, one of the Twin Cities’ wealthiest (and whitest) suburbs. A book called Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, supposedly suitable for grades 4 through 6, is on Wayzata’s Reading List and apparently is being used in some other
»
October 31, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Critical Race Theory has become the number one political issue in the U.S. So, needless to say, it is the top issue in school board elections that are taking place across the country. Thus, in one of Minnesota’s largest school districts, the administration emailed talking points to school board members, telling them how to answer questions about CRT from concerned parents. No doubt many other districts have done the same.
»
October 30, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Following Merrick Garland’s recent appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, we posted the portions of his testimony in which he answered (and sometimes evaded) the questions of Sen. Tom Cotton and Sen. Josh Hawley. In this post, I want to add Garland’s exchanges with Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz did his usual effective job, and the entire thing is worth watching. Towards at the end, at around the seven minute mark,
»
October 30, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Critical Race Theory–more specifically, the Left’s astonishingly successful drive to inflict it on our young people via the public schools–is the number one issue of this moment in our history. The entire point of CRT is to convince our youth that America is evil, and therefore must be destroyed. Or, as leftists prefer to put it, “fundamentally transformed.” This is what many if not most elementary school students are being
»
October 30, 2021 — John Hinderaker
A central tenet of Critical Race Theory is that America’s institutions are “systemically” rigged to favor white people. POCs just can’t catch up, no matter what they do. Of course, if that were true it would be hard to explain why whites rank only 17th in median income, trailing such allegedly oppressed groups as Lebanese, Iranian, Pakistani, Syrian, Ghanian and Nigerian Americans, as well, of course, as Indian-Americans, whose median
»
October 28, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Loudoun County, Virginia seems to have become the epicenter of the school policy battle within our culture wars. Events from that county are also playing a role in the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election — at least I hope they will. This post is about two developments from Loudoun County that have been reported elsewhere, but may have escaped widespread notice. Item: The Daily Caller reports that Loudoun County is requiring
»
October 28, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Worried about the Virginia governor’s race, Barack Obama says that concerns over Critical Race Theory and transgenderism in the public schools are “phony trumped-up culture wars”. But Americans overwhelmingly disagree, as Rasmussen Reports finds today: Most Americans believe parents are right to be concerned about controversial teaching in public schools, and reject the claim that these are “phony” issues. A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and
»
October 13, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
My friend who keeps me informed about reporting/editorializing at the New York Times sent me this message about two Times articles on Critical Race Theory. The NYT usually avoids the controversy over Critical Race Theory, but this week has been different. We’ve had two front page articles on the CRT battle so far this week. On Monday, an article on a Maryland CRT controversy took up the entirety of two
»
October 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
What do voters consider the most important issues in the Virginia gubernatorial race? As usual, the economy ranks #1. Right behind it, though, is crime. So finds a CBS/YouGov poll of likely Virginia voters. The pollsters asked voters to rate the importance of seven issues. Here are the results in order of importance (the percentages are of those who consider the issue a major factor in the governor’s race): Economy:
»
October 5, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Anyone who still doubts that “moderate” Merrick Garland’s Justice Department is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the far left should check out the news that Garland has threatened to investigate and prosecute parents who vigorously protest against school boards and teachers intent on indoctrinating school children in the racist, anti-American teachings of Critical Race Theory. Garland did so through this memorandum. Garland claims that free-speech principles must yield when they represent
»
October 3, 2021 — John Hinderaker
On September 29, the President and the Interim CEO of the National School Boards Association sent a letter to Joe Biden requesting federal help in dealing with “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” What is the source of such terrorism and hate crimes? Unhappy parents who have been attending school board meetings. According to the NSBA, school board members, teachers and others are subject to frequent threats of violence: America’s public
»
September 20, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this year, Gov. Kristi Noem signed a pledge to bar “action civics” (mandatory political protests for course credit) and critical race theory (attacks on “whiteness,” “Eurocentrism,” etc.) from South Dakota schools. For doing so, she drew praise from conservatives, including Stanley Kurtz, a leader in the fight against action civics. Stanley warned, however, that Noem had her work cut out for her in order to make good on the
»
September 16, 2021 — John Hinderaker
A lot has been said about the fact that the Biden administration is trying to bar people who don’t want to be vaccinated against covid, for whatever reason, from gainful employment. To say that this is a novel incursion on our civil rights is an understatement. But here is a worse one: how about firing anyone who won’t sign on to the racist, anti-American ideology of Critical Race Theory? Shockingly,
»
August 11, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Sartell, Minnesota is a small town near the larger city of St. Cloud in central Minnesota. It seems an unlikely place for an ideological controversy, but one has erupted over the application of Critical Race Theory in the Sartell-St. Stephen Independent School District. The District’s administrators hired an outfit called Equity Alliance MN to conduct an equity audit of the school system’s 3rd through 5th grade students. The audit was
»
