By CJ WaldronFor the better part of the decade, Republicans have been accusing educators of indoctrinating their students by teaching them to hate America by adopting a curriculum based upon what they are calling Critical Race Theory. They claim that giving an accurate portrayal of American history or addressing the issue of sexual orientation is part of their “woke agenda” aimed at turning students into anti-American raving homosexuals who are being groomed to be sexually abused.
Ask any teacher and they will definitely deny that any such lessons are being taught. They will tell you that their greatest battles are getting students to put away their cell phones. They will also tell you, with 100 percent certainty, that they have never taught anything even remotely close to Critical Race Theory.
What the right is calling Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is actually the Great Replacement Theory espoused by White Christian Nationalists, who want to sanitize our history by ignoring things like slavery, the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment camps and any other part of history that shows America in an unfavorable light. They are presenting a distorted view of CRT in an effort to force educators to adopt programs that promote American exceptionalism, similar to those taught in Communist countries such as the former Soviet Union or North Korea.
There is a reason that Critical Race Theory isn’t taught in public schools. It’s because it is an elevated concept that was presented to legal scholars in the 1980’s, not a practice adopted by educators on every level. It examines the role race had in shaping certain economic disadvantages among those who were enslaved and how their standing could be different if they had the same advantages as their white counterparts.
Those on the right have interpreted it as an effort to claim that white privilege has divided the nation by asserting that America is inherently racist.
Yet these very same people want to eliminate any programs aimed at addressing past inequalities by dismantling anything that mentions Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). They are calling such initiatives a form of reverse discrimination and are smearing any person of color or female who is in a position pf power a DEI hire.
Backed by this administration, schools and institutions are being forced to abandon diversity programs or face government sanctions. It marks a huge step backwards in efforts to promote equality. As a result, those on the right are claiming victory over removing CRT from our schools despite the fact it was never there in the first place.
So, it’s easy to claim you have won when your opponent is imaginary.
In its current form, The Great Replacement Theory is the belief that white Americans will lose their dominance over people of color as more of the population becomes less white. It is the impetus behind the current anti-immigrant push by the Trump administration. It is certainly no coincidence that the term came into vogue during the tenure of the first African American president, Barack Obama.
The idea of the Great Replacement Theory is far from new. It led to the anti-Jewish pogroms Dating centuries ago and has been used as justification for the Holocaust and other forms of ethnic cleansing or genocide.
America was even founded on the belief that the white male population was superior to all others when it adopted the 3/5th Compromise to form our current system of government. And American history is replete with instances where concepts of the Great Replacement Theory shaped our political landscape. Anti-Chinese laws were enacted on the west coast when their population began swelling. Boston, Massachusetts businesses displayed signs banning Irish immigrants. And of course, our Civil War was based upon the belief that giving people of color equal rights would upset the balance of power in the South.
The current push by White Christian Nationalists is being spurred on by the fear of the Great Replacement Theory. Their false claims that immigrants are behind the fentanyl epidemic, that they are spreading disease and crime, that they are stealing American jobs while also getting benefits that cost everyday Americans and that they are behind a system where we cannot have free and fair elections is tearing our country apart.
Which is the greatest threat to our way of life? It would be hard to deny that American dominance would not have occurred if not for the efforts of African Americans, who were denied a role in American prosperity. So, Critical Race Theory is correct in the assertion that Blacks could have a better standard of living if they had been allowed to share in this.
Is The Great Replacement Theory correct in declaring that there must somehow be a way to maintain white dominance over other races? It certainly flies in the face of Social Darwinism.
By distorting these view into a hybrid of both, those on the right hope to turn back the clock on equality. We cannot let that happen.
Lean to the Left is a progressive media platform offering political commentary, fact-based news analysis, and expert interviews that expose threats to democracy and hold leaders accountable. Founded in 2017 as Not Fake News and rebranded in 2021, Lean to the Left brings together the work of journalist and author Bob Gatty and a talented team of contributing writers, including CJ Waldron, who deliver sharp, insightful content on the issues affecting Americans today.
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