(Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted by Dr. Phyllis E. VanBuren of Clearwater, MN. This is Part II of a two-part series on CRT and Social Studies Standards).
Recently, we have become the “untied” States of America and fear becoming the “divided” States of America.
Last week, approximately a hundred concerned patriots gathered at the Holiday Inn in St. Cloud, one of 17 presentations between June 8-30 across Minnesota. The Raise Our Standards tour is sponsored by the non-profit Center of the American Experiment. Those attending were parents and grandparents, several teachers, a few administrators, and even a couple members of school boards. No one identified as a reporter for newspapers, radio or TV.
Since they will not be reporting on an issue of great concern for our children, our communities and even our beloved country, I am writing to share an explanation of what Critical Race Theory is and intends to do to remake our culture and what we need to do to combat this ideological movement that has made great gains and seeks to cause another revolution in our country, even as they deny the Revolutionary War and its role in our history.
Remember those words uttered by candidate Obama on October 30, 2008, in Columbia, Missouri? He declared: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” He did not completely achieve that during his eight years in the Oval Office. He has announced that the Biden administration is furthering his agenda—AND THIS IS PART OF IT.
In Russia and China, the Marxists sought to divide the working class (Proletariat) and the owners of production (Bourgeoisie). In theory, Marxism (socialism/communism—different terms, same principles) refers to a classless society for the common good. Please note the successes in the former USSR and current Russia, China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, Venezuela and some African countries.
This ideology was exported to the USA, but our class system was fluid, and persons could achieve greater status from personal hard work. Therefore, the leftists had to find a way to divide the “haves” and the “have-nots” for their new cultural revolution. The USA is a heterogenous society in contrast to the homogenous persons in the aforementioned countries. Hence, the factor that was noticeably different and unchangeable was race.
No one in this country can deny slavery (a phenomena dating back to 3500 BC in Mesopotamia) or its tragic scar on the history of our nation. But with the Civil War to end slavery and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Movement and Voting Rights Laws of the ’60s, and the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr. (“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”), we celebrated progress towards equality and unity in the 20th century.
What happened as we entered the 21st century? The walls of segregation returned with the warm-fuzzy words of “diversity,” “social justice,” “equity,” and “inclusion.” These are the buzzwords of CRT that is the lens (not the curriculum) by which everything in society is viewed. While the words sound safe, they carry indoctrination into our classrooms. Our children learn to divide themselves according to skin tones and gender. Those at the top of the prescribed pyramid are the “oppressors” (white, heterosexual, conservative, Christian males) and at the bottom are the “oppressed” (all blacks). The concept of “intersectionality” places the others in between to determine their culpability as “oppressors” or their suffering as victims (“oppressed”).
According to CRT, NOTHING can change because it systemic and engrained due to race. The “woke”/”cancel” culture delineates defects in society to this plague of parasites (whites) and disseminates it most effectively to our children in their classrooms.
The Marxist propaganda first took over post-secondary schools, but now it is in the PreK-12 education.
Ignorance is not bliss. Many parents have assumed that their children are in classrooms that reflect those in which they learned a generation ago. In part, they saw into their students’ classrooms through distance learning. In part, they have learned of the radical changes with mandated changes in curriculum in their states, and currently at the federal level.
After students learn to hate themselves, they learn to hate this country that was founded on racism (according to CRT) and why they should embrace the “-isms.”
Take heart…you can make a difference. Just go online (conservative sites) and skim the headlines for CRT (in abundance) and especially select those with parents at school board meetings. Parents are telling the school boards and administrators what SHOULD be taught. Parents have swept numerous school board elections and taken back control of their schools. Teachers, who could lose their jobs and some have, have stood up to the tyranny and advocated for the students. They have also instructed the students to challenge questionable statements and assignments from their teachers.
Action steps that American Experiment suggests for Minnesotans include:
• Submit feedback to the revision of the Social Studies Standards currently underway (already behind schedule probably due to the feedback from the public in phase one). Learn more at RaiseOurStandardsMN.com.:
• Coming soon—A grassroots app for activism for pro-MN, pro-kids ideas. Join IlluminED;
• Run for school board and change the direction of education in many schools, many districts;
• Get trained to review the textbooks that your schools want to adopt for your children. Email: Catrin.Wigfall@americanexperiment.org;
• Let the state funding dollars follow the child and allow parents to choose the best education alternative for their child/ren. Support Education Savings Accounts and let your legislators know of that necessity;
• In the time remaining in the special session of the Legislature, encourage your legislators to remove all elements of CRT from the final education omnibus bill…just as many other states have done—removed it from all schools in their state…and fight the current administration’s efforts of forcing CRT from the federal level;
• Consider your options for alternative forms of education within your home/community. Vote with your feet if that is the best path for your child/ren.
