PRIMER: Ending State-Sanctioned Racism
Banning the Spread of Critical Race Theory in our Institutions
Summary
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a theory espousing that all of society is racialized and properly viewed through a prism of identity groups based on race and color, with minorities being the oppressed while white people serve as the oppressor. In this ideology’s framing, all of society’s ills are ultimately caused by white people and the various “systems” that CRT adherents associate with “white culture.” This includes Christianity, capitalism, traditional marriage, rule of law, traditional family structures, and a republican form of government. CRT teaches that white people are inherently and irredeemably racist and benefit from various systemically racist power structures that white people have put in place and perpetuate. Similarly, America and its founding are taught to be systemically racist. The purpose of CRT is to sow division among Americans under the guise of “equity” and “diversity.” CRT completely contradicts the foundational American creed that Americans are created with equal dignity and with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Discussion
Critical Race Theory has swiftly become unquestioned dogma among political, administrative, military, cultural, corporate, educational, and financial leaders in our society. The activists and proponents of this ideology seek to impose this Marxist worldview on America through institutions (schools, churches, government, HR departments, etc.), explicitly sowing new racial divisions, reviving old divisions, destroying national unity, and undermining the American way of life.
Critical Race Theory stems from a foundation in Marxism, departing from the historic economic-based distinctions in favor of militant identity politics. CRT’s baseline philosophy divides society into the “haves” and the “have nots,” asserting that if you are white or a part of so-called white “power structures,” you are inherently racist and part of an oppressing class. By operating under this framework, CRT argues the only way to establish “justice” is to completely revolutionize society by overthrowing the oppressor’s institutions. This necessitates destroying purported “white” cultural values such as the nuclear family, delayed gratification, and objectivity; enforcing equal outcomes based only on the characteristics of race, gender, and sexuality; and forcing white people to continually and publicly confess their collective and individual “sins” with no hope of forgiveness, redemption, or acceptance in the new revolutionary society. Often this dangerous ideology is advanced using taxpayer dollars.
In addition to flying in the face of the core American principle that all human beings are created equal and that someone’s skin color should never be a substitute for their character, CRT has intentionally inflamed issues around race. A theory that blanketly condemns one group based on skin color and blanketly absolves other groups based on skin color is not designed to achieve any notion of justice and equality, but rather to destroy such virtues completely.
Examples
Conclusion
Racism should at every turn be condemned—regardless of what race is the subject of discrimination. In the short 230-year history of our nation, America has made incredible progress to live up to its ideals as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, furthering human rights, freedom, and prosperity for people of every race, sex, religion, and creed. With every generation, America is closer to creating a society that treats all people with dignity and equality.
Proponents may dishonestly assert that CRT is necessary for institutions to have honest discussions about the racial problems our country has historically encountered. This is not true. Opposition to racism in American institutions or in our culture is entirely appropriate and teaching history accurately is essential, without the sort of indoctrination inherent in the CRT framework.
Ultimately, CRT is not about educating or healing communities or establishing justice. It is state-sanctioned racism and used as a tool of fear and authoritarian coercion by the most powerful people and institutions in our society to keep Americans divided against each other in order to further enrich and empower those sowing the division. Communities must not be afraid to forcefully reject CRT wherever it manifests —whether in the workplace, at school, in popular culture, or in the halls of government—and Americans must strongly defend the self-evident truth that all men are created equal.
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