August 18, 2021
The Educrats Are All in on Critical Race Theory
MSMA, MEA, DOE and UMS Embrace “Equity,” CRT Dog whistle
By Jon Reisman, The Calais Advertiser
Critical Race Theory holds that whites are inherently racist oppressors of the BIPOC/LGBTQ alphabet soup of oppressed victims. CRT was adopted by higher education over the last 40 plus years and used to indoctrinate students across the country, and most especially K-12 teachers and assorted educrats.
In turn, these educators have used CRT to indoctrinate their students and poison and divide America. The policy cudgel that CRT advocates are using comes under the banner of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It runs specifically counter to American ideals of Equality, color-blindness and non-discrimination, not to mention Martin Luther King’s dictum to judge by the content of character, not the color of skin.
Any disparate outcomes that do not match demographic percentages are seen as proof and consequence of systemic racism, which must be countered with discriminatory “anti-racism”. Any objections to CRT are a consequence of white “fragility”, white “privilege” and systemic racism. CRT is a hypothesis that cannot be disproved, relying on circular arguments and Marxist foundations to discredit any and all objections.
“Anti-racism” calls specifically for discriminating against whites, and most especially against straight white Christian males. Affirmative Action grants preferences to (some) preferred victim groups, thus discriminating against any non-preferred group, principally whites and Asians.
In 2003, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor upheld this government sponsored systemic racism in college admissions, opining that it was “temporarily” permissible for another 25 years. CRT advocates want to extend and expand racial discrimination well beyond 2028, making it permanent and a feature of every part of American society. That is what Diversity, Equity and Inclusion really means. “Equity” is a dog whistle for CRT, racist discrimination and indoctrinating our children to hate America.
CRT advocates initially denied that CRT was being taught in our schools, claiming that it was an obscure theory of little consequence only taught in a few law schools (like Harvard and Yale). When parents began pushing back with freedom of information requests and school board inquiries, the education establishment struck back.
The National Education Association has now backed off their initial CRT denial, and instead passed a resolution endorsing CRT and vowing to defend their union members from any and all attempts to combat, oppose or reveal it.
In Rhode Island, one kindergarteners’’ mother has been sued by the teachers union for filing CRT Freedom of Information requests. In Maine, Gov. Mills Department of Education has parroted the “It’s only an obscure legal theory” defense, even while touting their “Equity” efforts.
The University of Maine System, which trains most of Maine’s teachers, is all in on promoting diversity, “equity” (but not equality) and inclusion. The faculty leans decidedly leftwards, and is committed to every type of diversity except intellectual and ideological diversity. I once asked a large group of UMS diversity officers if any of them had voted for George Bush. There were crickets, followed by a complaint that they did not need to answer such questions.
The Maine School Management Association, which represents and “advises” school boards, superintendents and principals, is all in on CRT. Documents obtained from a CRT Freedom of Access request to the Ellsworth School Department reveal that the MSMA is running a “Cultural Competence Institute” series of (ongoing) trainings that is replete with CRT dogma, including the familiar intersectional oppressor/oppressed wheels, anti-racism and appeals to “equity”.
I e-mailed the MSMA educrat pushing this stuff and asked her to respond before I wrote about MSMA being “all in” on CRT.
Crickets.
So, game on.
CRT is being used to indoctrinate our kids and poison the country. The only positive I can see is the likely probability that CRT plus masks plus educrat lying and gas lighting will result in an exodus from public schools to private schools and home schooling.
School choice is the solution. It would bring about true equity.
Jon Reisman is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine at Machias. His views are his own. Mr. Reisman welcomes comments as letters to the editor via email at jreisman@maine.edu.