Irreplaceable-Spark

Tracing the origins of CRT back to “critical theory” itself. 

Excerpt:

Marc Thiessen: And I went to look at what that consulting firm was and what it was teaching. And it’s a consulting firm called the Equity Collaborative, which is was paid $314,000 by the Loudoun County School District. It is a consulting firm that turns Critical Race Theory into practices for building more equitable learning environments. And I went into their website and found their presentation, “Introduction to Critical Race Theory,” in which they instruct teachers quote, “that racism is an inherent part of American civilization and attack the idea of colorblindness, neutrality of law, incremental change, and equal opportunity for all, for maintaining White’s power and strongholds within society.” It questions the idea of meritocracy, which allows the empowered to feel good and have a clear conscience, and concludes with a breakout session for teachers to discuss how might you use CRT to identify and address systemic oppression in your school?

 Danielle Pletka: Yeah, I think that that covers it. 

Marc Thiessen: Here are the talking points that they gave for the teachers in Virginia that were paid by Loudoun County taxpayers. They encouraged them not to profess color blindness but rather quote, “admit your own racist, sexist, heterosexist, and other detrimental attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and feelings, and acknowledge that addressing one’s whiteness, e.g., white privilege, is crucial for effective teaching." 

Marc Thiessen: So yes, students are not sitting down and reading Ibram X. Kendi though he is producing a version of his book for children, which I’m sure will be taught in schools somewhere. They are not sitting down and reading Richard Delgado and the legal tracts about critical race theory. But they are being taught by teachers who are being indoctrinated in these beliefs, who are being taught to teach students that the world is divided into a class of oppressors and oppressed, and which you are depends on your race, that if you are white, you are part of the oppressor class and you need to own it.

Full legal opinion from the Montana AG about why CRT training is unconstitutional and illegal under federal and state law. 

Some takeaway quotes from this letter:

“This paradigm is conveniently constructed ‘like a mousetrap’. Disagreement with any aspect becomes irrefutable evidence of its premise of systematic racism, bias, fragility, or white supremacy. In short, it is a conclusion in search of a methodology-one that eschews the bedrock principles of natural justice and abdicates fundamental concepts such as individual agency and autonomy.” Page 11

“I would like to note that all of these traits listed above [individualism, hardwork, objectivity, progress, politeness, decision-making, and delayed gratification], far from being hallmarks of merely ‘white culture’, are in fact important hallmarks of any virtuous and productive colorblind society. None of them, however, have any connection to ‘whiteness’ or ‘white identity’. They are self-evident virtues-universally applicable to and shared by people of all races, colors, creeds, and national origins. Because men and women are created equal, they can all equally appreciate and adopt those values.” Page 15

“...I note the challenge of dealing with terms like ‘antiracism’-which are susceptible to different and evolving meanings. For example, the CRT and ‘antiracism’ movements demonstrate that although ‘racism’ is a widely understood and accepted as an epithet, it encompasses vastly different meanings for different people. The gravamen of CRT and antiracism’s theories, however, rely on the popular shibboleths of ‘systematic’, ‘institutional’, or ‘structural’ racism. A minimum investigation into these claims exposes them as hollow rhetorical devices devoid of any legally sufficient rational for purposes of civil rights law, as well as a threat to the stability of our institutions.” Page 15-16

extremely hot take or whatever but maybe don’t look at incredibly complicated international politics through the lens of american academic critical race theory from the 2010s

Even hotter take: don’t look at anything through the lens of American academic critical race theory from the 2010s as it’s a false premise and will only lead to false conclusions.

excellent

Two down, 48 to go.