Critical race theory, a reframing of U.S. history that puts racism at the center of the American experience, has exploded in recent months — from obscure academic debate to furious national argument playing out at school board meetings, in courtrooms and on social media across the country.
In Las Vegas, a charter school is being sued over a curriculum allegedly linked to CRT, a “woke” take on the country’s troubled racial past that proponents argue is long overdue.
In Philadelphia, a parent opposed to CRT teachings started a Facebook group last year called No Left Turn in Education, which now has more than 36,000 members.
Critics, though, contend that CRT is little more than a divisive, anti-American update of Marxism — Marxism based on faulty scholarship, to boot.
In Essex Junction, Vermont, last week, concerned parents held a rally against teaching CRT in schools.
Bills to limit or prohibit CRT in schools have been proposed or passed this year in Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee and at least 10 other states. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed this month to get every “political apparatus involved so we can make sure there’s not a single school board member who supports critical race theory.”
Against the nationwide backdrop of calls for racial and social justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last year, schools, corporations and elected leaders on the left have scrambled to embrace CRT.
But conservatives and Republicans like Mr. DeSantis are increasingly rejecting the loosely organized theory’s most provocative assertion: that systemic racism favoring Whites is baked into American government, society and culture.
Proponents say CRT offers a more honest perspective on the country’s founding and “attempts to demonstrate not only how racism continues to be a pervasive component throughout dominant society, but also why this persistent racism problematically denies individuals many of the constitutional freedoms they are otherwise promised in the United States’ governing documents,” according to Purdue University.
Loudoun County, Virginia, has come into the national spotlight in recent months as a key battleground in the debate over CRT.
Ian Prior, a parent in the affluent county in the D.C. exurbs, is leading a petition effort to remove school board members pushing CRT. He says the local anti-CRT movement likely grew out of the pandemic-forced school closures.
“Parents are seeing what their kids are learning through distance learning and they’re getting a look behind the curtain,” Mr. Prior told The Washington Times.
Mr. Prior is a media executive who previously worked for the Department of Justice under former President Donald Trump and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
He and other parents initially began speaking out against the Loudoun County Public School (LCPS) closures during summer school board meetings. In the fall, however, his coronavirus concerns shifted to CRT when he “took an interest” in a company the district paid to do a “Systematic Equity Assessment.”
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Mr. Prior learned that LCPS paid The Equity Collaborative more than $420,000 for the assessment — a discovery that “turned a few heads.”
As part of the assessment, the company reached out to students, parents and teachers regarding their experiences with LCPS based on racial, social and cultural factors. Results published in June 2019 show that among the top concerns of those answering the survey were poverty, academic expectations, disciplinary practices and how the district deals with the learning disabled. But at No. 1, according to the Equity Collaborative was racism.
“And I found it really interesting that, you know, this was a company that one of their frameworks was critical race theory and that it basically informed how they approached their work with schools,” Mr. Prior said.
The assessment was used to form a comprehensive equity plan, which schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler has repeatedly said does not include CRT.
“LCPS has not adopted Critical Race Theory as a framework for staff to adhere to,” Mr. Ziegler wrote in a post on the school website earlier this year. “In explaining LCPS’ equity priorities, it might be helpful to state what they are not. They are not an effort to indoctrinate students and staff into a particular philosophy or theory.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Prior and others who oppose CRT have become regulars at school board meetings. They also formed a political action committee in April called Fight for Schools to help drive their petition effort to oust six of the nine board members who they say are “infecting” schools with CRT.”
“What I hope comes from really — this whole movement — is that parents everywhere unite [and] form organizations that can be representative bodies that have this seat at the table with school boards,” Mr. Prior said.
Most states host recall elections, but Virginia runs the process through a circuit court where decisions are made by a jury.
Attorney Charles King told The Times that he has been hired to represent school board member Beth Barts against a removal petition.
“There is no getting around the fact [that] this fake outrage is an attempt to stop LCPS from implementing mandatory inclusive and culturally responsive policies and practices,” Mr. King said. “When this is over, I hope the public sees there are adults in the room and smear politics is not how we run our [government].”
At least 50 efforts to recall members of public school boards have been launched nationwide this year as of June, according to the Ballotpedia Mid-year Recall Report.
Mr. Prior says what’s happening in Loudoun County is “a bit of a microcosm” of the national debate.
“I think it sends a message to the rest of the country that, you know, this is what’s going to happen in the country if parents don’t get control of what’s going on at their local schools,” he said.
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