Tom Riggins: What is Critical Race Theory? (opinion)


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Here are two quotes to keep in mind for this column. Former Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Kruschev said in 1961, “We do not have to destroy America with missiles, America will destroy itself from within.” Follow that with another Russian, Vladimir Lenin, who said “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”

Constantly in the news, at least in sources other than mainstream media, is Critical Race Theory, or CRT. What is it and why is it important to combat it?


CRT gets its theory from Marx. Marx advocated in his “Communist Manifesto” that the best way to overthrow a government was to create dissension and animosity between the economic classes. In other words, set the have nots against the haves. That theory seems to work well in countries where there are not strong founding documents and a reverence therefore. Venezuela is a good recent example.


A group of academics determined that creating division among economic classes would not work in the U.S. Why? Because we have a high level of economic freedom and mobility, where people regularly move in and out of economic classes. They decided that a better way to create dissention among the populace is to use race as the determinant. Voila, Critical Race Theory was born.


A major factor in CRT is equity, not equality. The two are not the same. Equality means everyone is given the same opportunities. Equity “recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” Wait, isn’t that socialism? Add to this talk of reparations, cancel culture, and “wokeness” and there is a recipe for disaster to America.


Of course, the academic theory was not made public at first. It was used to inculcate in college students to the idea of institutional racism and “white privilege.” This was done covertly, and many hapless students probably did not realize they were being indoctrinated.


It appears that the left now thinks there are enough properly indoctrinated people in society that they can become overt in their efforts to implement CRT. Either that, or they believe the Obama (excuse me, I meant to say Biden) administration will support them. Or both. There is a concerted effort to make CRT a part of K-12 public education. In other words, indoctrinate the young.


Thankfully, people are starting to catch on and are fighting back. A refugee of Maoist China publicly compared CRT to China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. A black mother in Florida confronted their State Board of Education, telling them CRT is teaching racist theory. A black Ivy League professor said of you truly want to be antiracist, take your children out of schools with a CRT curriculum.


People are confronting their school boards. Washoe County School Board recently held a 10-hour meeting with over five hours of public comment; 83 percent were against CRT implementation. The board’s decision? Form a task force, presumably hoping the furor will die down. People are running for school boards nationwide on anti-CRT platforms and are winning elections. Several states, all red states so far, have banned CRT from public school curricula.


A conservative activist organization, Citizens for Renewing America, has published a tool kit called “Combatting Critical Race Theory in Your Community.” It also provides a comprehensive model for legislation that school boards can adopt to ensure that CRT components are banned from the curriculum. This is all available for free.


Make no mistake, Critical Race Theory is one of the most dangerous ideology the left has devised in a long time. When students are taught CRT, they’re taught that traditional American society and its values are inherently racist, that all white people benefit from the historic oppression of other identity groups, that identity group perspectives are more important than the individual’s perspective, and that “anti-racism” requires the deconstruction of allegedly racist institutions in order to promote equity. Remember that equity is not equality.


If CRT becomes rooted in our education system, there will in short order be a generation of indoctrinated children who will carry those beliefs into adulthood. That means a complete erosion of those tenets of self-sufficiency, respect for all others, and independent thought and action that have made this country great. CRT is inherently racist at its core.

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