Tag Archives: critical race theory

Board of Education Resolutions 

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

As I have mentioned in prior articles, the local Boards of Education are the only elected body that we have direct influence over when it comes to our county public school systems. The State Board of Education is made up of appointed members. It is incumbent on us to make sure that the local Boards of Education members know how we want the schools to operate. We can let them know by attending the Board meetings, contacting individual board members, or by formal resolutions directing them to take specific actions.  An example of the latter is the four resolutions that will be presented to the Craven County Board of Election on Thursday November 16 at their public meeting.    

The four resolutions consist of the following:  Resolution #1:   Removing identity focus (i.e. Critical Race Theory) from the curriculum in the schools in all grades. Removing all books, etc., that advocate CRT.  American is not a racist country and should not be portrayed as such. People should be judged by the content of their character and achievement and not their ethnic/racial identity.  Resolution #2:  Removing Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) teaching and practices from the schools. DEI is based on Marxist principles that advocate equal outcome instead of the American principle of equal opportunity. This teaching not only breeds distrust and hostility between the races, but undermines the notion that everyone should strive to achieve their best and should be rewarded appropriately.  Resolution #3:  Removing transgender instruction. The notion that any student can choose their gender rather than live consistent with their gender at birth is destructive and amounts to child abuse.  All children should be addressed by the pronoun consistent with their biological gender at birth and any child exhibiting gender confusion should be referred to their parent(s)–not to school counselors.  Resoution #4:   Climate Change. Children in public school are being indoctrinated with the unproven belief that climate change is being caused by man’s burning of fossil fuels and that the earth will become uninhabitable if drastic action like wind and solar are not implemented. This has become the ideology of the Left and anyone challenging their radical beliefs is labeled a “climate denier”.  This resolution would require that both sides of this issue be covered as part of regular science classes and not used as indoctrination. The climate has never been static and has always been changing. They are frightening our children with their unproven ideology. 

Most clear thinking conservatives will agree that the above issues need to be removed from the public schools. They represent a communist inspired threat to our way of life and American values. The public schools should be focusing on doing a better job teaching traditional academic skills.  For example, the recent report about the Craven County Schools showed that 57% of students are not reading at expected grade level and a whopping 65% are not achieving at the expected grade levels in math. Meanwhile, it is costing the  taxpayers close to $12,000 per year per student. It is high time that the Board of Education force the school administration to focus on improving academic performance and stop indoctrinating our children.  If you agree you should let your Board member know. It should be noted that these four resolutions were drafted by the Craven County 20th Republican Precinct, and endorsed by the Craven County GOP Executive Committee and the Craven County Republican Men’s Club.     

Mental Health of Students

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

In a previous article, I expressed my opinion that local Boards of Education should not accept federal funds (your tax dollars) to establish mental health treatment clinics in our public schools for a variety of reasons. In this article, I am going to address what today’s public schools are doing that are detrimental to the mental health of their students. 

Sound mental health is based on two things:  self-confidence and self esteem; and avoiding negative, demoralizing influences. Here are some things schools can do to enhance the mental health of students: First, help students be successful and develop a positive outlook for their futures.    This can only be done by successfully mastering traditional academic knowledge and skills. Self- esteem is only real when it is based on demonstrated actual achievement. Second, teach children to believe in the American Dream, where they can achieve any reasonable goal through hard work and self-discipline. America is still the land of opportunity.  Third, stop teaching subjects that are contrary to good mental health.   Examples are (a) Critical Race Theory, where inherent unchangeable racial bias will block a person’s ability to reach one’s goals. Where skin color is more important than the content of one’s character. (b) Transgender indoctrination, that instead of teaching that one’s gender at birth should be celebrated and provides opportunity for rewards and a fulfilling life, makes transitioning to the opposite gender an acceptable solution to dysphoria, which it clearly is not. Individuals that attempt to transition to the opposite sex are much more likely to develop mental disorders and twenty times more likely to attempt suicide. (c) Respect for Authority, clearly many children who enter school do not show proper respect for authority and do not follow basic classroom conduct rules.  This not only is detrimental to their learning but interferes with the learning of others.  Clear, consistent conduct rules must be  established and enforced.  Students should not be permitted to call their teachers by their first names since that level of familiarity diminishes respect for the authority of the teacher. Teachers are not the students’  pals.(d)  Environmental Catastrophe. The idea that mankind’s actions are the primary cause of climate change is a theory and not proven fact. Teaching children that extreme climate change threatens to destroy the world in their lifetimes can only produce fear and discouragement. Through positive and creative action mankind can deal with whatever climate change that occurs. Optimism not pessimism!   

Last but not least, is not allowing students to have access to their cell-phones at school.  A great deal of mental stress on students occurs on social media. Children spend too much time on often detrimental sites like Tik-Tok and Facebook. Negative messages that impact a student can distract the student for hours during the school day.     

If Boards of Education and the school administrations are seriously concerned about the mental health of their students they will focus on improving the school climate not on treating problems after they occur. 

What Are We Teaching Our Children?

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On Saturday, BizPacReview posted an article about the teaching of critical race theory in our high schools.

The article reports:

Most high school students reported being taught Critical Race Theory (CRT), according to a City Journal poll released Thursday.

Of the students surveyed between the ages 18 and 20 years old, 90% said they had either been taught or heard about CRT in school, according to the City Journal poll. Approximately 69% said they had at least heard in school that “white people have white privilege” and 57% were taught that “white people have unconscious biases that negatively affect non-white people.”

CRT holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

“The claim that CRT and gender ideology are not being taught or promoted in America’s pre-college public schools is grossly misleading,” the study’s authors Zach Goldberg and Eric Kaufmann wrote. “More than nine in ten of our respondents reported some form of school exposure to at least some CRT-related and critical gender concepts, with the average respondent reporting being taught in class or hearing about from an adult at school more than half of the eight concepts we measured.”

About 62% of the students surveyed said they had been taught that “America is a systemically racist country” and 67% polled said that they were at some point taught that “America is built on stolen land,” according to the poll.

Of the students surveyed, 51% reported hearing that “gender is an identity choice” and does not need to match biological sex, according to the poll. Approximately 53% had heard in school from an educator that “America is a patriarchal society.”

The article notes that approximately 1,505 18- to 20-year-old former high school students were surveyed for the poll between Aug. 18-23. Meanwhile, our students’ test scores have been rapidly falling in recent years. Our students are no longer learning the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic–they are learning falsehoods about their own country and its founding. Not only is this a national security threat because we will not have the advanced technology to defend ourselves if necessary, we will not have young people who understand and love their country and are willing to defend it.

Common Sense From Past West Point Graduates

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On Sunday, The Epoch Times reported that three retired military generals (West Point graduates) signed a letter expressing concern about the current leadership of West Point.

The article reports:

The letter, titled “Declaration of Betrayal of West Point And the Long Gray Line,” asks for the following information:

    1. An explanation for the irregularities in the enforcement of the Honor Code.
    2. A justification for the mandatory vaccinations of cadets with the COVID Virus despite widespread adverse reactions to the inoculation, as well as provisions for exceptions for cadets with religious objections.
    3. An explanation for teaching Critical Race Theory at the Academy that constitutes an attack upon the Constitution and our constitutional Republic. This is behavior that constitutes unconstitutional conduct, if not sedition.
    4. An explanation of reported mismanagement of the cadet dining facility resulting in unsanitary conditions, inadequate food prepared for the meal, and food served that was reportedly unfit for consumption.
    5. Political activism on the part of civilian faculty members constituting political activity violating the long-standing policy of the Academy and Army Regulations.
    6. The practice of exclusive reliance upon radical progressive guest speakers to address the Corps of Cadets. This practice results in prejudiced political activism on the part of the Staff and Faculty in violation of Army Regulations.
    7. An explanation for the failure of the Superintendent to respond to correspondence inquiring about problems identified at the Academy.

The article explains the reason for the letter:

They believe that there is a rejection of the principles of the military academy which could endanger its original mission “to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”

The U.S. military is not meant to be a social experiment. It is not supposed to be the forefront of social change–it is supposed to be the best example of military readiness and preparedness. The inclusion of Critical Race Theory in the curriculum of military academies does not promote unity in our military. It separates people out by groups and makes it more difficult for soldiers to work together. The generals who wrote the letter need to be commended for their actions.

Where The Money Went

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On Friday, Breitbart reported that blue states used some of the coronavirus relief money to implement CRT in their schools.

The article reports:

Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act in March 2021, which President Biden signed into law shortly after. Republicans did not support the measure, but it passed in both chambers, as Democrats hold a majority. It included billions supposedly allocated to “safely” reopen schools.

In August, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said New York’s plan to use the funds to “support K-12 schools and students” laid “the groundwork for the ways in which an unprecedented infusion of federal resources will be used to address the urgent needs of America’s children and Build Back Better.” However, using the funds for CRT went far beyond just blue New York.

According to reports, “the law provided over $122 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which helped multiple states implement ‘implicit bias’ and ‘anti-racism’ training, among other programs, according to research from One Nation shared with and verified by Fox News Digital.”

The Department of Education took its role a step further, offering “strategies” for using the funds to “address the impact of lost instructional time.” The department repeatedly emphasized “cultural responsiveness” and “equitable practices,” pointing to the Chicago Public School’s Curriculum Equity Initiative as a prime example. That included a “performance-based assessment system as part of the district-wide approach to culturally responsive and equitable teaching and learning.”

The money given to provide coronavirus relief should have been spent on sanitizing the schools to allow the children to return to school in a reasonable amount of time. The only reason for keeping the children out of school was that the teachers’ union feared the teachers would get sick. Measures should have been taken to provide for the safety of both teachers and students. The funds were not intended to implement new curricula. This is simply another example of Washington misusing taxpayer money. l

Nothing Like Keeping Your Priorities Straight

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On Friday, The Independent Journal Review reported that House Democrats are working on passing a bill to create a plan for reparations for slavery in time to be passed during the Biden administration.

The article reports:

House Democrats say they are ready to take the next step to force through a bill that would study how reparations for slavery will take shape, but want to hurry to assure passage of any plan can be implemented by the Biden administration.

“This has been a 30-plus year journey,” Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas said in reference to her efforts to have reparations approved, according to The Washington Post. “We had to take a different approach. We had to go one by one to members explaining this does not generate a check.”

But it would cost $12 million of taxpayer dollars, for starters.

And under H.R. 40, the bill House Democrats think they can force through with their razor-thin House majority, the bill would form a commission to which Republicans need not apply to determine how reparations would be structured.

The make-up of the commission is noted in the article:

And under H.R. 40, the bill House Democrats think they can force through with their razor-thin House majority, the bill would form a commission to which Republicans need not apply to determine how reparations would be structured.

The panel would have 13 members, one each appointed by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont as president pro tempore of the Senate, and six from civil rights groups that support reparations.

The article explains the ‘justification’ for reparations in the current time:

Jade Magnus Ogunnaike, a senior campaign director at Color of Change, said the commission will rebut the effort of opponents of Critical Race Theory.

“At the heart of what the critical race theory fight is about is the refusal to educate young people and by proxy their families about the harm America has done to Black people,” she said. “And so you have people asking: ‘Why should a Black person today receive reparations, none of you experienced slavery?’ And this is why I think H.R. 40 is so, so important because it’s going to explain and show the ways that slavery, the Jim Crow era and Reconstruction materially impacted Black communities and their legacies.”

Ogunnaike said the racial wealth gap will vanish once reparations are passed.

“There are so many White families who may not be wealthy, but they have a home that they inherited from their grandparents who bought the home with federal funds when they returned from World War II,” Ogunnaike said. “So few Black people have that ability, and that’s a direct harm at the hands of the federal government. It’s time for them to repair it. Black organizers, the Black movement has done an incredible job of making this a centerpiece of conversation, now we need to figure out the how of how we move people to action.”

Is anyone in Congress actually interested in addressing the actual problems America is currently facing–inflation, energy independence, high gas prices, rising crime, etc.?

Starting Off With A Bang

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On Sunday, The Conservative Review posted an article about Glenn Youngkin, the newly-sworn-in Governor of Virginia.

The article reports:

The new Republican leadership in Virginia — Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares — went scorched earth upon entering office, which officially happened Saturday.

Youngkin signed a host of executive orders fulfilling key campaign promises, while Miyares fired more than two dozen staff members in the AG’s office the day before taking office.

The article lists some of the executive orders signed by the Governor:

The first order Youngkin signed “delivers on his Day One promise to restore excellence in education by ending the use of divisive concepts, including Critical Race Theory, in public education.”

…The second order empowers parents to decide whether their children wear face masks at school, the fourth order initiates an investigation into the alleged wrongdoing by the Loudoun County School Board regarding sexual assaults, the sixth order declares Virginia open for business, orders seven and eight address human trafficking and anti-Semitism, and order nine begins the process to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Meanwhile, Youngkin’s two executive directives cut “job killing regulations” by 25% and rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employees.

“It’s Day One, and we are going to work just like we promised,” Youngkin said in a statement.

There were also some changes made by the new Virginia Attorney General:

On Friday, Miyares informed 30 staff members in the Virginia attorney general’s office, including 17 attorneys, that they would not have a job in his office, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

“During the campaign, it was made clear that now Attorney General-elect Miyares and Attorney General Herring have very different visions for the office,” a spokeswoman for Miyares told the newspaper. “We are restructuring the office, as every incoming AG has done in the past.”

Miyares has pledged to be tough on crime.

If the individual states are considered laboratories for the federal government (which was the intention of our Founding Fathers), it will be interesting to see what impact the changes in Virginia (and their probable success in improving the quality of life in the Commonwealth of Virginia) will have on other blue states.

More Politics Inside The Department Of Justice

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On Sunday, Zero Hedge reported that the Department of Justice has stated that it will not withdraw a controversial memo used to activate the FBI Counterterrorism Division to investigate parents voicing their opposition to a variety of topics – primarily mask and vaccine mandates, and teaching critical race theory. Very questionable people are streaming across our southern border, and the Department of Justice is worried about parents who oppose mask and vaccine mandates and critical race theory. That is not only unbelievable–it’s dangerous to the security of our nation.

The article reports:

This week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) revealed the pre-Christmas response – stating:

“[I]n December we asked why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division was getting involved in parents expressing their concerns at school board meetings. Now, just to be crystal clear, there’s no excuse for real threats or acts of violence at school board meetings, but if there are such threats, these should be handled at the local level and the Attorney General should withdraw his memo that started this whole thing.

“Well, a couple days before Christmas, the Justice Department responded to us with just a one-page letter.

“In that letter, DOJ had nothing to say about why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division was involved in local school-board matters. DOJ just said, ‘We’re not going to withdraw the memo.’ So, the Feds may be keeping track of school board meetings—even if it creates a horrible chilling effect. And, of course the FBI looking over your shoulder would have a chilling effect. Next week the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on domestic terrorism. I hope we’re going to be focusing on the serious threats facing our country—and I hope no one thinks the focus is on our nation’s parents.”

The article also notes:

According to a public statement by Grassley regarding the one-page letter:

“The Department of Justice owes the American people a better answer than just a one-page letter that says nothing about why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division is involved in local school-board matters. Now more than ever, parents should be their kids’ strongest and best advocates. They have the God-given right to do so. And the Justice Department ought to be doing everything it can to protect that right, not scare them out of exercising that right. Attorney General Garland should withdraw his memo. And he should take Congress’s oversight, and concern for the rights of parents, more seriously.”

Saturday night I watched the movie “The Lives of Others.” It is a foreign film with subtitles about life in East Germany under the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police. The movie was made in 2006. It is on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t yet seen it, I strongly recommend it–it gives a glance into what life is like when justice is political.

Change Is Coming

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I am not yet ready to go on the record to say that Republicans will sweep the House and the Senate next year. I have no idea how well the election will be run and what rules will be followed. However, I can say that if I were a Democrat, I would be worried.

On Monday, Hot Air posted an article about a run-off school board election in Houston, Texas.

The article reports:

It’s a start. In run-off elections for Houston ISD board trustees, two conservatives defeated their incumbent Democrat opponents. National politics look to have influenced voters as they rejected hot button issues like Critical Race Theory and face mask mandates in Houston public schools. Both conservative candidates used the issues on the campaign trail.

There has not been conservative representation on the HISD school board since 2019. It is a nine-member board so clearly, two conservatives are in the minority. It is good news to simply have them on the board. This looks to be another bad sign for Democrats as the midterm elections next November loom in the background. Frustrated voters are not only in blue states like Virginia but also in blue cities like Houston. HISD is the largest public school system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. It is crucial for conservatives to have representation on the school board.

The elections are not supposed to be partisan but everyone knows which party the candidates are associated with during the campaigns. Local Democrats, including County Judge Lina Hidalgo, endorsed candidates in the run-off elections. These races are like the mayor’s race or the county judge’s race – they, too, are supposed to be non-partisan but party affiliations are clear. Typically the HISD trustee run-off elections don’t get a large turn-out and that was the case Saturday. One Republican won by less than 100 votes.

This is a wake-up call to parents out there–turnout matters. The race was decided by less than 100 votes. If you care about your children’s education, please get involved. Your involvement can make a difference in the education of your child and other children in your town or city.

The article concludes:

School board elections aren’t exciting, as a rule. Now, however, with the controversy of CRT in the forefront and pandemic mandates, many parents and grandparents are getting involved. The importance of school board decisions is no longer being overlooked. If a deep blue city like Houston can see those results, it bodes well for other places, too. It’s a start.

Threatening The Parents Who Oppose Critical Race Theory

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Yesterday The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about a recent Fort Worth Independent School District meeting.

The article reports:

A former member of a black militia group was removed by police from a tense school board meeting after he said he had ‘over a thousand soldiers ready to go’ who were ‘locked and loaded’  in support of critical race theory – leaving anti-CRT parents feeling ‘threatened’ and ‘scared.’

The incident took place during a board meeting held by the Fort Worth Independent School District on November 9. The meeting was devoted in part to the teaching of critical race theory, which was opposed by some of the parents.

During the meeting, a man identified as Malikk Austin got up and spoke for a minute, defending the teaching of CRT. 

Austin, an African-American who was part of The Brotherhood Movement, a ‘Second Amendment group,’ said: ‘For those who got an issue with this critical race theory equity, this is something I fight for, for my children.’  

‘How dare you come out here and talk about the things that my daddy and my grandparents went through, the lynching, the oppression, Jim Crow, and my kids are still being afflicted by this.’ 

Sadly, I suspect this man actually believes what he is saying. Critical race theory divides our children into two groups–the oppressors and the oppressed. It creates division. It tells ‘the oppressed’ that no matter how hard they work, ‘the oppressors’ will keep them from succeeding. What a horrible message to give children. How about teaching them that if they are poor, there are a number of ways that they can escape life-long poverty.

The lifesmartblog lists the three life choices to avoid poverty:

Finish high school, marry before having a child, and marry after the age of 20!

The article at lifesmartblog notes:

Here’s the real kicker: only 8 percent of families who do all three are poor; however, 79 percent of those who fail to do all three are poor.

These statistics are compelling and make perfect sense. Students who fail to finish high school will not have access to many well-paying careers and will not be perceived as well by employers. Those who have children before marriage (many teens and young adults) will find it that much more difficult to enter college or complete their degree due to the immense responsibility and financial demands of raising a child. Finally, those who marry before age 20 tend to have higher divorce rates and greater career and life challenges. The common thread of all three poverty causes is reduced access to attractive careers due to lack of education or life circumstances.

The statistics above have no color or race. They are not related to ‘oppressed’ or ‘oppressors.’ We should be encouraging our children to achieve–not to become professional victims.

When The Surveillance State Comes For Ordinary People

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On Thursday, The Blaze reported that parents in the Scottsdale Unified School District have discovered that a school board member was collecting information on those parents who opposed the teaching of critical race theory. (If the schools are not teaching critical race theory as many on the political left are claiming, why are they compiling information on those who oppose it?)

The article reports:

The dossier was compiled on Google Drive and contained a list of parents who objected to teachings about CRT; it included photographs of both the parents and their children.

Parents who had been calling for the recall of Governing Board President Jann-Michael Greenburg are now demanding he resign over the secret dossier, to which he had access.

“I am calling for the immediate resignation of our board president Jann-Michael Greenburg,” said Amy Carney, a mother of six, who is now running for a seat on the Scottsdale Governing Board.

“We cannot allow anyone in a leadership position to secretly compile personal documents and information on moms and dads who have dared speak out publicly or on social media about their grievances with the district,” she added.

The existence of the files was accidentally discovered by a parent:

The dossier was discovered when Greenburg sent a screenshot of his desktop to a parent that displayed the address of the link to the Google Drive.

Amanda Wray told KTVK-TV that she saw photographs of her children on the dossier and was horrified.

“When I first saw the contents of the Google Drive and I saw my 8- and 10-year-old’s photos, that was terrifying. And like, what’s he doing?” said Wray.

“But he has pictures of my vacation home, property records,” she added. “I’m not a political opponent, I’m an involved parent and that is threatening to me and it makes me wonder why and what he was planning to do with those photos.”

The district said in the letter that Greenburg could only be removed if he was recalled, if he resigned, or if he was voted out in the next election.

Attorney Alexander Kolodin told the Arizona Free News that Greenburg and his father could face criminal charges related to intimidation.

This is not appropriate in America. Unfortunately there are those who believe that any political opposition to the political left’s agenda needs to be countered in any and every way possible. There needs to be room for dissenting opinions in America. The school committee member keeping the dossiers needs to be punished severely for his activities.

 

Evidently Ethics Investigations Are Not Allowed In The Biden Administration

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The Conservative Treehouse posted an article today about the possible conflict of interest in the Attorney General Merrick Garland’s investigation of parents objecting to the actions of local school boards.

The article reports:

Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) questioned U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland about his clear conflict of interest today surrounding the Attorney General’s instructions for FBI agents to investigate parents who question school board curriculum. Merrick Garland’s daughter is married to the co-founder of the Critical Race Theory educational material being purchased by the school boards. The exact CRT material being directly challenged by the parents Garland has instructed the FBI to investigate.

In a clear conflict of interest Merrick Garland is using his office to protect the income and investments of his son-in-law’s business. However, when questioned about this conflict today, Merrick Garland says he will refuse to accept any ethical review of his conduct.

The article includes the following video:

The article concludes:

Conflict of interest much?

Yes, the Attorney General is instructing the FBI to investigate parents who might pose a financial threat to the business of his daughter’s husband.

Every government official should be expect regular ethics reviews of his conduct regardless of political party or position. The Attorney General is not above the law.

I Wish I Were Surprised By This

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Yesterday I posted an article that included the following:

Citing an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nation’s public schools, today Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend. These sessions will open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment and response by law enforcement.

Please understand–I do not support threats of violence or other intimidation tactics against anyone–however, I do support the rights of parents to speak up against anything they disagree with in their children’s school curriculum.

An article posted at The Conservative Treehouse yesterday tells another aspect of the story.

The article at The Conservative Treehouse reports:

Well, well, well… This is interesting.  U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland recently instructed the FBI to begin investigating parents who confront school board administrators over Critical Race Theory indoctrination material. The U.S. Department of Justice issued a memorandum to the FBI instructing them to initiate investigations of any parent attending a local school board meeting who might be viewed as confrontational, intimidating or harassing.

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s daughter is Rebecca Garland.  In 2018 Rebecca Garland married Xan Tanner [LINK].  Mr. Xan Tanner is the current co-founder of a controversial education service company called Panorama Education. [LINK and LINK]  Panorama Education is the “social learning” resource material provider to school districts and teachers that teach Critical Race Theory.

The article notes:

Yes, the Attorney General is instructing the FBI to investigate parents who might pose a financial threat to the business of his daughter’s husband.

The article includes the following screenshot and link to the memo from the Department of Justice to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding parents protesting what is being taught in our schools:

If only the Department of Justice had been this conscientious about investigating Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement, we might still have intact downtown areas in some of our major cities.

Racism In The Biden Administration

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On Saturday, The New York Post reported that President Biden has reversed the ban on workplace race-based diversity training programs in all federal agencies put in place by the Trump administration.

The article reports:

In an executive order issued Friday, Biden directed all federal agencies to school their employees on “systemic and institutional racism” and “implicit and unconscious bias” — buzzwords associated with critical race theory, whose proponents see racism as the foundation of American society.

“These types of trainings equip public servants to best serve the American public, and the many diverse communities that make American strong,” the White House claimed in a Friday evening statement.

President Trump nixed such training programs in September, declaring them to be “divisive, un-American propaganda.”

Biden, in one of his first acts after taking the oath of office, rescinded Trump’s ban — but did not, until now, require the trainings to be implemented.

Biden’s order came just three days after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a party-line Senate deadlock to confirm Kiran Ahuja, who has ties to critical race theory, as director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, overcoming Republican efforts to sink the nomination.

Ahuja’s connection to the subject comes via her nonprofit organization Philanthropy Northwest, which hosted CRT activist Ibram X. Kendi at an event, Fox News reported.

We need to understand that black people are not all oppressed and white people are not all oppressors. When we grasp that, we may be able to move forward.

Losing A Legacy

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On Aug. 28, 1963, at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr., said the following:

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.

Unfortunately there are many Americans who have chosen to ignore the wisdom contained in that statement. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached forgiveness and non-violence.

Today we are dealing with leaders in the black community preaching division and racism.

Yesterday The Daily Signal posted an article about Critical Race Theory–something the government encouraging to have taught in our public schools. The premise of the theory is that all white are racist and all blacks are victims. Teaching the theory has a very negative impact on our children.

The article reports:

This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that officials are preparing to use taxpayer money for K-12 schools to advocate the idea that America is systemically racist, and anyone who thinks differently, children included, are part of the problem—whether students know it or not.

Since members of Congress reintroduced a legislative proposal this year to create national civics standards, the Education Department’s new rule would help shape the content of those standards around the intolerant ideas of critical theory.

In a proposed rule released April 19, federal education officials outlined new priorities for federal grant awards to K-12 educators for use on history and civics education in schools.

The content of these standards does not prepare or encourage children to become productive Americans.

The article reports:

The agency would prioritize grants that use critical theory, a worldview that says racism is everywhere and anyone who disagrees is oppressing other people. The Education Department’s announcement highlights The New York Times’ 1619 Project and civics content that the National Museum of African American History and Culture created as exemplary material for educators to use.

Yet the proposal does not mention that the Times’ editors issued a correction to the 1619 Project after high-profile criticism from scholars who said the project’s claims about colonists fighting the American Revolution to protect slavery were wrong. Nor does the federal register say anything about how project editors refused to correct other factual inaccuracies after criticism from Pulitzer Prize-winning researchers.

The federal proposal is even more problematic for parents and teachers who want children to learn attitudes and behaviors that will help them to be good parents, neighbors, employees, and community members when they grow up.

The announcement highlights educational material from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture without admitting that museum officials had to withdraw some content after widespread complaints over the museum’s message.

Last summer, the museum released an infographic describing “white culture” as oppressive, and said ideas such as “hard work” and efforts to “be polite” are evidence of systemic oppression.

Students should not be taught to “work before play” or “plan for the future” because these ideas represent systems of power, according to the museum. Museum officials issued an apology and removed the document in July.

I wrote about that exhibit last July (article here).

The article concludes:

Biden issued an executive order during his first week in office that is consistent with this latest proposal from the Education Department. If approved, the federal education agency’s new rule would ingrain critical theory in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the law governing federal actions on K-12 schools.

Washington is bringing critical theory’s prejudice to your child’s classroom, and whether or not you are a parent of a student, we all should reject the notion that the next generation should be trained in bigotry.

We are ruining the legacy of Martin Luther King. Jr. Let’s go back to raising children who respect authority and don’t judge people according to their race.

 

This Is Not A Good Idea

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On Wednesday, The Epoch Times posted an article with the following headline, “American Medical Association Embraces Critical Race Theory, Rejects Meritocracy.” This is not good news.

The article reports:

The American Medical Association (AMA), the largest national organization representing physicians and medical students in the United States, says it will set aside its long-held concept of meritocracy in favor of “racial justice” and “health equity.”

In an 86-page strategic plan released May 11, the AMA set out a three-year road map detailing how the advocacy group will use its influence to dismantle “structural and institutional racism” and advance “social and racial justice” in America’s health care system.

According to its plan, the AMA will be following a host of strategies, including implementing “racial and social justice” throughout the AMA enterprise culture, systems, policies, and practices; expanding medical education to include critical race theory; and pushing toward “racial healing, reconciliation, and transformation” regarding the organization’s own “racially discriminatory” past.

The AMA also makes clear that it now rejects the concepts of “equality” and “meritocracy,” which have been goals in the fields of medical science and medical care.

“Equality as a process means providing the same amounts and types of resources across populations,” the association said. “Seeking to treat everyone the ‘same,’ ignores the historical legacy of disinvestment and deprivation through historical policy and practice of marginalizing and minoritizing communities.”

I would like to point out that the concepts of “equality” and “meritocracy” have given Americans one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The outcome of this decision will be the destruction of that system.

If I were to place blame for the coming fiasco, it would be on American education. As parents, we have been too trusting of what the schools have been teaching our children. It used to be that math classes and science classes were safe havens from teachers pushing political ideas, but that has not been the case for some time. We are now at the mercy of people attaining leadership positions in various organizations who have been totally miseducated (yes, I made up that word) about the joy of achievement and the progress attained by meritocracy. I have not idea how long it will take us to correct this or if it can be corrected.

Fighting Back

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The Epoch Times is reporting the following:

America First Legal (AFL) is seeking to pursue a lawsuit to stop critical race theory (CRT) training, according to Stephen Miller, a former adviser to then-President Donald Trump.

“We’re also looking for plaintiffs—if we can find them—who are willing to stand up and file suit on critical race theory,” he said during an interview with Fox News.

Critical Race Theory essentially teaches that all white people are racist and that all people of color cannot achieve success because of racism. It is divisive and damaging to our children–why should a child try to excel when they know that because of their race, they cannot be successful?

The article notes the origins of the theory:

Critical race theory—which espouses the idea that race is not natural, but socially constructed to oppress and exploit people of color—is an offshoot of the Karl Marx-influenced critical theory social philosophy that was promoted by the Frankfurt School of thought.

Trump signed an executive order banning CRT training in federal agencies in September 2020 with the White House describing it as “anti-American propaganda.”

However, this socialist ideology has been embraced by President Joe Biden and his administration. He reversed Trump’s September 2020 executive order right after he came into the White House and pushed CRT training on all fronts.

The article reports:

In an April 27 letter, Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) and Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) warned Education Secretary Miguel Cardona about pushing CRT in the education system.

“Simply put, the teachings of Critical Race Theory want to reject the principles established in our Constitution and our individual God-given rights, and instead divide individuals into competing racial identity groups while doing little to help minority students advance,” they wrote in the letter.

If President Biden truly wants to be a President who unites Americans, encouraging the teaching of Critical Race Theory is not the path his administration should be taking.

Watchdogs In Education In North Carolina

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On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article reporting some good news about education in North Carolina.

The article reports:

A North Carolina education advocacy group launched a website this week to help whistleblowers expose radicalism in K-12 schools.

Education First Alliance launched its Schoolhouse Shock watchdog site on Monday to help parents and teachers call attention to radicalism in the classroom. Users can anonymously upload videos, photos, and documents from their child’s class to catalog critical race theory-based lessons being taught in schools.

“Our new statewide whistleblower program, Schoolhouse Shock, will add to our toolbox in the fight against the onslaught of racially inflammatory and sexualized curriculums that children are being immersed in all over North Carolina,” Sloan Rachmuth, Education First Alliance president, said in a statement.

The North Carolina Board of Education in February adopted radical curriculum standards built around critical race theory—the idea that American economic and political systems are inherently racist. Critics including the Education First Alliance and North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson (R.) say the politically charged standards undermine students’ education.

Rachmuth, an investigative reporter, established Education First Alliance in January. The nonprofit opposes the use of anti-American ideologies like critical race theory and antiracism in classrooms and pushes “for the equality of dignity and of opportunity for all K-12 students.”

Although remote learning has been a problem for many children, in many cases it has allowed parents to pay closer attention to what their children are being taught. I believe that the Education First Alliance provides a way for parents to put their concerns into action.

The article notes:

Education First Alliance charts the rise of critical race theory in education on its blog. The group reported on a nine-week-long “Culturally Responsive Teaching” training that instructed teachers to “disrupt” the education system with critical race theory. The group also documented a series of tweets in which James Ford—a North Carolina state education board member who was hand-selected by Democratic governor Roy Cooper—lauded anti-Semitic preacher Jeremiah Wright.

The organization uncovered documents that instructed North Carolina public school teachers to ask students about their sexual orientations and more. Middle school students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district were asked about their sexual preferences. Sixth graders at Innovation Academy, a school south of Raleigh, were given a survey that asked students to count the number of genders and sexual orientations they believe exist, as well as whether they believe the gay community deserves rights.

Grassroots opposition to leftist indoctrination is on the rise. In North Carolina, Robinson in March created the F.A.C.T.S. Task Force, which provides parents another way to share radical education materials and other examples of “indoctrination” in schools. The national, nonpartisan Parents Defending Education launched in March to provide resources—including a tip-line and instructions for filing public records requests—to parents who want to protect their child’s education from “activists promoting harmful agendas.”

North Carolina’s education board began revising the state’s K-12 history curriculum in 2019. Early drafts of the standards called for teaching students as young as kindergarten terms like “systemic racism” and “gender identity.”

What we teach out children about America will determine the future of America. Parents need to be paying attention.

Equal Outcome vs. Equal Opportunity

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Yesterday The Washington Examiner posted an article that provided a preview of the direction the Biden administration is headed in the area of civil rights. We are no longer going to be concerned about equality, we are going to be concerned about equity. This is totally opposite of everything the civil rights movement of the 1960’s represented.

The article notes:

On Tuesday, six days into the Biden administration, it became clear why Susan Rice, hitherto a foreign policy specialist, was named director of the Domestic Policy Council. Rice, unconfirmable for a Cabinet post after her unembarrassed Sunday show lies about Benghazi, ventured into the White House press room to preview President Biden’s “equity” initiative.

With one possible exception, the specific policies announced were less important than the word “equity,” invoked 19 times by Rice and nine by Biden. Ending federal private prison contracts, “strengthening” relations with Indian tribes, and combating “xenophobia” against Asians and Pacific Islanders are small potatoes as federal policies.

Not so, perhaps, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing initiative, started under Obama, repealed under Trump, and now due for a spirited revival. The idea is for the feds to reverse local zoning laws and plant low-income housing in suburbs deemed insufficiently diverse.

Actually, racial discrimination in housing has been reduced since the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act, to the point that in metropolitan areas from Washington to Atlanta to Los Angeles, most blacks now live in suburbs, not in the central cities to which they were tightly confined in postwar America.

The article explains the difference between equality and equity:

But for Rice and Biden, “equity” requires not equality of opportunity, but equality of results. That’s one of the fundamental tenets of the critical race theory training that Trump’s administration banned and Biden’s reinstated on Day One.

A lower-than-population percentage of blacks in any desirable category, explains critical race theorist Ibram X. Kendi, must be the result of “systemic racism,” a term Rice used twice and Biden five times on Tuesday. If you don’t agree, you’re guilty of “white fragility” and must be a “white supremacist.”

As Andrew Sullivan trenchantly observes, “to achieve ‘equity,’ you first have to take away equality for individuals who were born in the wrong identity group. Equity means treating individuals unequally so that groups are equal.”

This is exactly contrary to the central thrust of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It could easily be judged, in particular cases, to violate the 14th Amendment. Individuals discriminated against might have standing to go to court.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. Reverse racism is still racism. Racism in any direction for any reason is not a good path for America to follow. Hopefully a few well-placed lawsuits will put an end to this nonsense.

Facts vs. Lies

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There were some very misleading lies told in the Presidential Debate last night. I would like to highlight a few of them. Unfortunately, many of those lies were told by the moderator Chris Wallace. It is also true that those lies painted a negative picture of President Trump. I do not believe that Chris Wallace was a neutral moderator. These lies are not necessarily in any particular order. This is the link to the transcript.

Lie number one:

Chris Wallace: (19:34)
You talk about the economy booming. It turns out that in Obama’s final three years as president more jobs were created, a million and a half more jobs, than in the first three years of your presidency.

The facts:

When President Obama took office in January 2009, the workforce participation rate was 65.7. When President Obama left office in January 2017, the labor participation rate was 62.8. That was the rate when President Trump took office. The labor participation rate before the coronavirus was 63.4 (February 2020). With the lockdown, the rate dropped to 60.2. At the end of August it was 61.7.

Lie number two:

Chris Wallace: (25:43)
No, less than you have. Let’s please continue on. The issue of rice(sic). Vice-President Biden, you say that President Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville three years ago, when he talked about very fine people on both sides, was what directly led you to launch this run for president.

This is a Democrat talking point. The quote is taking totally out of context. This is the exact quote:

You know what? It’s fine, you’re changing history, you’re changing culture, and you had people – and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally – but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats – you had a lot of bad people in the other group too.

Lie number three:

Chris Wallace: (32:21)
This month, your administration directed federal agencies to end racial sensitivity training that addresses white privilege or critical race theory. Why did you decide to do that, to end racial sensitivity training? And do you believe that there is systemic racism in this country, sir?

Breitbart notes:

Trump banned a specific kind of racial insensitivity training, which involves “Critical Race Theory.”

…Critical Race Theory is the idea that the major institutions of the United States are tainted by slavery and racism because they were founded when slavery was still legal in parts of the country. According to the late Derrick Bell, who founded Critical Race Theory, the very institution of private property is tainted by racism because of slavery. Even the Civil Rights movement was regrettable to some extent, Bell believed, because it created an illusion of racial equality. Only a massive redistribution of wealth, driven by the creation of socioeconomic rights, can cure American society of its systemic racism, the theory holds.

On a practical level, Critical Race Theory teaches that social interactions are guided by “white supremacy,” and that society is corrupted by “systemic racism,” according to which black Americans must always be victims — even if unconsciously so. Critical Race Theory is the ideology animating the Black Lives Matter movement that has brought unrest to America’s cities.

These are just some of the issues. One of the other things that really bothered me was the comparison between the Trump children and Joe Biden’s son Hunter. There has never been any evidence that the Trump children are guilty of anything. There is significant evidence that Hunter Biden has continually been involved in questionable business dealings.

 

Fighting The Propaganda

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John Hinderaker at Power Line Blog posted an article today that is definitely a positive step toward re-uniting America.

The article reports:

Yesterday, OMB Director Russell Vought issued on behalf of the Executive Office of the President a memorandum to the heads of all federal departments and agencies. The memorandum bans all agencies from “training” their employees in critical race theory or white privilege. It is a thing of beauty. Here is the memo, in its entirety.

The memorandum includes the following:

It has come to the President’s attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date “training” government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda.

For example, according to press reports, employees across the Executive Branch have been required to attend trainings where they are told that “virtually all White people contribute to racism” or where they are required to say that they “benefit from racism.” According to press reports, in some cases these training have further claimed that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.

These types of “trainings” not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce. We can be proud that as an employer, the Federal government has employees of all races, ethnicities, and religions. We can be proud that Americans from all over the country seek to join our workforce and dedicate themselves to public service. We can be proud of our continued efforts to welcome all individuals who seek to serve their fellow Americans as Federal employees. However, we cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans and drive division within our workforce.

The President has directed me to ensure that Federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions. Accordingly, to that end, the Office of Management and Budget will shortly issue more detailed guidance on implementing the President’s directive. In the meantime, all agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on “critical race theory/9 “white privilege,” or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil. In addition, all agencies should begin to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and/or to divert Federal dollars away from these un-American propaganda training sessions.

The memorandum concludes:

The President, and his Administration, are fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of all individuals in the United States. The President has a proven track record of standing for those whose voice has long been ignored and who have failed to benefit from all our country has to offer, and he intends to continue to support all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed. The divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda of the critical race theory movement is contrary to all we stand for as Americans and should have no place in the Federal government.

I welcome anyone who believes that the majority of Americans are racist to find another country in the world with more equal opportunity for all of its citizens. If you can (and I doubt you can), please go live there.