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Critical Race Theory (CRT) has
become a touchstone of Republican efforts to disenfranchise the New
American Majority - ethnic minority citizens (Asians, Latinx,
Indigenous, and Black Americans). The GOP’s use of this theory
has been relentless as the size and political participation of these
groups have increased at unanticipated rates.
Depending
on whom you believe, CRT is either an examination of the role of race
in the shaping of America’s public policy or an attack on White
people by pitting ethnic minorities against them. Conservative
Republicans have seized upon and promoted the latter definition
aggressively in educational and political forums.
They
have created another “Big Lie,” alleging that Critical
Race Theory is poisoning the education of the nation’s
children. This has been a recurring theme among Republicans. At an
appearance at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Duluth,
Georgia, Sen. Ted Cruz stated that “Critical race theory is
bigoted, it is a lie and it is every bit as racist as the Klansman in
white sheets.”
The
spread of the “Big Lie” is being successfully facilitated
by Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist from Seattle,
Washington, who claims that CRT grew more popular during the
aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He says it poses a grave threat to America, amounting to
“cult indoctrination” and that “… it is now
being weaponized against the American people.”
Conservatives
and Republicans throughout the country avidly embrace Rufo’s
viewpoint, and he is being prominently featured on the entire
right-wing media political platform. Confident that he can appeal to
her more liberal audience, he has also asked Joy Reid, host of
MSNBC’s The Reidout, one of the network’s more popular
shows, to appear on her show.
Texas
Republican Governor Greg Abbott said the abolishment of critical race
theory is at the top of his state’s special agenda after he
signed House Bill 3979 - which dictates what lessons on race can be
taught. HB 3979 says teachers must present both sides of ideology
when teaching about race-related current events.
Abbott
also bans discussions of The
New York Times’
1619 Project, a widely praised, extensive journalism blueprint which
began in 2019 and explores the origins and timeline of Black slavery
in America. Abbott’s new K-12 Texas curriculum on teachings
about race will begin on September 1, 2021, and will rigidly hold
teachers accountable.
Republican
Party strategists and elected officials are using the alleged
teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 education to excite
and enrage their base. Although there is no evidence that CRT, as
they define it, is being taught in K-12 public education, nearly
two-dozen GOP-controlled state legislatures have banned its teaching
in public schools.
In
the wake of the 2020 Republican loss of the three branches of the
federal government, the House, Senate, and office of President, they
now use CRT to heighten xenophobia among their rank-and-file and
conservative voters just as they pushed back against implementing the
1954 Brown decision which led to court-ordered school desegregation.
In
those same states, legislatures have dramatically reduced funding for
K-12 public education, seemingly to deprive school systems of
adequate funding for the escalating increase of children of color,
most of whom are low-income and poor. They now make up over 50
percent of America’s public school students.
Republicans
have launched a multi-faceted assault on New American Majority
parents and their children. For now, Democrats are ignoring this
coordinated evisceration of two seminal American institutions -
voting rights and public education - for people of color.
An
ancillary tactic is to dismantle public education as we know it.
President Biden, perhaps unwittingly, is aiding in this struggle by
allowing nearly half a billion dollars for the federal Charter
Schools Program, which funds for-profit charters rife with waste and
fraud and formerly championed by Trump’s Education Secretary,
Betsy DeVos, to remain in his budget.
Interestingly,
Biden’s Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, will deliver the
keynote address at this year’s National Charter Schools
Conference. Biden’s actions to date call into question his
administration’s opposition to charter schools and the
privatization of K-12 public education.
As
they move toward the 2022 midterms, Democrats look to be asleep at
the political wheel while Republicans remain politically focused.
This became clearly apparent on June 22nd when all 50 Republican U.S.
Senators voted against even allowing a debate on the Democrats’
For the People Act, a bill that would expand voter access and
enfranchise millions of Americans.
Democratic
leaders are being pushed by progressives to focus on their key issues
- climate change, reparations for slavery, and expansive
infrastructure build up. While these are all very important issues,
they are unlikely to garner sufficient votes among an evenly split
Senate where filibuster-proof Senate Republicans will not allow such
legislation to move forward at this time.
With
Democrats’ razor-thin majorities, in both Congressional
chambers, shoring up their base and preparing for the forthcoming
Republican onslaught of political ads savaging them over CRT and
other progressive bills could serve Democrats better. They are in a
heap of political trouble and appear to be insensitive to their
serious political and electoral quandary.
The
left-wing elements of the Democratic Party need to chill for a moment
and weigh the electoral pitfalls they are facing.
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