
In McKinney, Texas last night there was a talk about “How to fight against CRT”. The speaker was Cody Weaver, a sitting board member of Plano ISD. He is definitely against any of this ideology being taught in Texas Schools, and is educating people all over North Texas to its evils, and most importantly, how to fight back. He did do a great job indicating that he was not representing his ISD, but was acting as an individual.
Cody spent some time letting us know what he is not saying, and letting us know this could be part of our own future argument:
- Not saying that racism does not exist in America today.
- Not saying that systemic and institutional racism did not exist in the past.
- Not saying that disparities do not exist.
- Not saying that slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and redlining had no effect on black communities.
- Not saying that SEL programs that CRT is attached to need to be ended.
We were told about Richard Delgado J.D., the law professor that was the creator of this ideology, CRT. He currently teaches at the University of Alabama school of Law. He founded CRT, combining Radical Feminism tenets (destroy current system rather than work within it for change) to critical legal studies, making a mix of white hatred combined with showing white people, especially white males as oppressors, and the rest of the races, especially blacks as the oppressed. In a nutshell, the only way he sees that we can achieve equity (equal outcomes for all races), is to eliminate white supremacy, a scourge that all white people are guilty of, and have white people understand their new place in the world. That is purported to be the only way to bring the white people down off their unearned perch and give all other races the opportunity to achieve equity in society. Richard Delgado believed that changes have to be done immediately, otherwise, white racists would quelch it! His book on this subject is “Faces at the bottom of the well”.
Cody hit on SEL (social and emotional learning), pointing out that it has been around for decades, and is not all bad. It addresses students that are most in need of educational assistance due to infirmity, or due to poor family situations. It can be effective in giving these individuals a “leg up” that they would not otherwise have, as opposed to them falling through the cracks and not participating in the learning environment. He clearly stated that when SEL is used in this sparing fashion, it is a positive source of good. However, CRT needs to be taken out of the SEL curriculum, as it is nothing more than a dark ideology that separates, rather than unites students of every stripe.
Cody spent time discussing Derrick Bell, a Harvard Law Professor and author. He wrote a book called “Faces at the bottom of the well”. His thrust with this book is that CRT must be implemented in schools and throughout society immediately, and cannot be implemented piece meal like other initiatives. Incrementalism cannot be practiced with this ideology, and if it is tried that way, it would never happen. White people would kill the movement in its tracks. CRT goes against everything that was accomplished in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, and those accomplishments were in fact failures because those social changes never addressed the root problem, and that is identified as “White Supremacist’s”.
Now he discusses the backbone of CRT:
- The predicament of social reforms, is that “everything must change at once”. “Otherwise, change will be swallowed up by the remaining elements, so that we remain roughly as we were before.” Pg.91 Derrick Bell’s book “Faces at the bottom of the well”.
- Racism is ordinary, not aberrational.
- System of white over color ascendancy.
- Social construction thesis.
- Interest convergence – The notion that white people will only go along with “racial justice” if there is something in it for them, and this only happened for a short period of time when white elitists saw that they would in some way politically profit from it.
Key themes of CRT:
- Interest convergence.
- Revisionist history(1619 Project)
- Storytelling and counter-story telling (false narratives)
- Critique of present Liberalism
Whiteness:
- Whiteness-Quality pertaining to Euro-American or Caucasian people or traditions.
- Whiteness as a property-the notion that whiteness in itself has great value for its possessor and conveys a host of unearned privileges and benefits.
- Property interest in whiteness-idea that white skin and identity are economically viable.
White Fragility:
“Whiteness is a dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people.” Robin D’Angelo
Being White, being good:
“All white people are racist and complicit by virtue of benefiting from privileges that are not something that they can voluntarily renounce.” Barbara Applebaum
Whiteness:
Many critical race theorists and social scientists alike hold that racism is pervasive, systemic, and deeply ingrained. If we take this perspective, then no white member in society seems quite so innocent. They are all racists.
CRT today:
Now called Culturally Responsive Teaching, with courageous conversations about race.
Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research and Practice – Geneva Gay “Although the students in the US are becoming increasingly diverse, most of the teachers are white, female, and monolingual. Race and institutionalized racism are significant factors that influence and mediate the interactions of students from different ethnic, cultural
Whiteness:
- Whiteness-Quality pertaining to Euro-American or Caucasian people or traditions.
- Whiteness as a property-the notion that whiteness in itself has great value for its possessor and conveys a host of unearned privileges and benefits.
- Property interest in whiteness-idea that white skin and identity are economically viable.
White Fragility:
“Whiteness is a dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people.” Robin D’Angelo
Being White, being good:
“All white people are racist and complicit by virtue of benefiting from privileges that are not something that they can voluntarily renounce.” Barbara Applebaum
Whiteness:
Many critical race theorists and social scientists alike hold that racism is pervasive, systemic, and deeply ingrained. If we take this perspective, then no white member in society seems quite so innocent. They are all racists.
CRT today:
Now called Culturally Responsive Teaching, with courageous conversations about race.
Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research and Practice – Geneva Gay “Although the students in the US are becoming increasingly diverse, most of the teachers are white, female, and monolingual. Race and institutionalized racism are significant factors that influence and mediate the interactions of students from different ethnic, cultural, language, and social class groups.” Geneva Gray
Whiteness:
- Whiteness-Quality pertaining to Euro-American or Caucasian people or traditions.
- Whiteness as a property-the notion that whiteness in itself has great value for its possessor and conveys a host of unearned privileges and benefits.
- Property interest in whiteness-idea that white skin and identity are economically viable.
White Fragility:
“Whiteness is a dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people.” Robin D’Angelo
Being White, being good:
“All white people are racist and complicit by virtue of benefiting from privileges that are not something that they can voluntarily renounce.” Barbara Applebaum
Whiteness:
Many critical race theorists and social scientists alike hold that racism is pervasive, systemic, and deeply ingrained. If we take this perspective, then no white member in society seems quite so innocent. They are all racists.
CRT today:
Now called Culturally Responsive Teaching, with courageous conversations about race.
Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research and Practice – Geneva Gay
HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST?
“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination!” – Geneva Gray
“Denial is the heartbeat of racism.” Ibram Kendi
The NEA, the largest teacher’s union in the country with over 14000 members, voted last week to support CRT nationwide in all schools, colleges and universities in the USA, and will be sending learning materials and staffers to teachers and districts that need help in implementation. They will also be teaching ISD’s how to fight back from parental intrusion, and assist with word craft to assist in the masking of CRT’s true identity.
What can parents do? First, take an active interest in your child’s education. Examine take home assignments, and if you see CRT rearing its ugly head, complain to the teacher and principal. If that does not work, go to the ISD, and then to the board. Let them know what you want from them in the way of education. Write letters to your state representatives and your governor. Push hard, and organize with other parents to push back from this toxic ideology. Remember, this is not a partisan issue, people from both sides of the fence will see this for what it is, and will not want their children indoctrinated! The only way to end this is to show courage and fight, and to be effective, you have to know what your fighting against, and this presentation has done a very good job of exposing the enemy for us.