Re: 'Critical Race Theory: What's the big deal?' [Village News, 5/20/21]

Thank you, Julie Reeder, for your coverage of Critical Race Theory.

Like many (or most) of us, I had never heard the term, but I’m seeing it come up more and more.

Recently Hillsdale College featured a publication based upon a lecture by Christopher Rufo on “Critical Race Theory: What it is and How to Fight it.”

He reveals its roots in Marxism, just as you have, Julie. He goes on to say that it was relegated for many years to universities and obscure academic journals, but it has become the default ideology in America’s public institutions. It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs, and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks and school curricula.

Last year Rufo learned that the Department of Homeland Security was telling white employees they were committing “micro-inequities” and had been “socialized into oppressor roles.”

The Treasury Department had a training session telling staff members that “virtually all white people contribute to racism” and that they must convert “everyone in the federal government” to the ideology of “anti-racism.”

More and more, Critical Race Theory has become a tool of political power and is driving the vast machinery of the state and society, according to Rufo. If we want to succeed in opposing it, we must address it politically at every level. Critical Race Theorists must be confronted with and forced to speak to the facts.

Do they support public schools separating first-graders into groups of “oppressors” and “oppressed?”

Do they support mandatory curricula teaching that “all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism?”

Rufo is recommending that state legislatures prevent public institutions from conducting programs that stereotype, scapegoat or demean people on the basis of race.

He also recommends lawsuits against schools and government agencies that impose Critical Race Theory programs on the basis of the First Amendment (which protects citizens from compelled speech), the Fourteenth Amendment (which provides equal protection under the law), and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits public institutions from discrimination on the basis of race).

American history is rich with stories of achievements and sacrifices that will move the heart of Americans – in stark contrast to the grim and pessimistic narrative pressed by critical race theorists.

Excellence is a common standard that challenges people of all backgrounds to achieve their potential.

To defeat this cancer among us, we need the courage to stand and speak the truth; courage to face the mob; courage to shrug off the scorn of the elites. When enough of us overcome the fear that currently prevents so many of us from speaking out, the hold of critical race theory will begin to slip.

And courage begets courage. It’s easy to stop a lone dissenter; it’s much harder to stop 10, 20, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000 or more who stand up together for the principles of our nation, the United States of America, that are under attack.

Truth and justice are on our side. If we can muster the courage, we will win, Rufo firmly believes it.

Jim Bowles