Try This “Critical Race Theory” Checklist

Originally Published On The Heritage Foundation

Is your school principal denying that her school makes use of Critical Race Theory when you call to complain about it? If so, it’s likely that she’s either misinformed, or just spreading disinformation. Here below is how to tell the difference.

There is a need for a checklist because as more and more Americans reject CRT indoctrination in schools, workplaces, or even the military, educators, HR personnel and others are feeling the need to engage in a little, uh, CYA. Sophists among academics, the Twitterati, and the political world, are rising to support this disinformation, too.

Frankly, the purveyors of CRT and related theories are shocked that Americans from all walks of life are speaking up against CRT. They thought they could take over classrooms, offices, the military—the whole country, really—without meeting any resistance.

Instead, parents are speaking out—from Loudoun County, Va., where I spoke to 300 loud parents meeting at the county government building on Saturday, to Douglas County, Colo., where school district authorities were astounded at the vehemence of the opposition.

“Public comment went on for two hours as parents shellacked the board for its flirtation with Critical Race Theory,” reports the Denver Gazette about the first in-person board meeting of the Douglas County School District since the pandemic.

So how can you tell if a teacher, principal, or school board official tells you that, no, there’s no CRT here (as a lone heckler briefly interrupted my remarks in Loudoun County to inform me)? Here is a list (by no means exhaustive) of five key CRT principles. If your school or office does anything that includes these ideas, you can confidently call Bovine Manure when they deny it’s CRT.

The first and most important bedrock principle of critical race theory is that racism is not an individual, conscious decision to be a racist or act on that belief. No, it’s “systemic.” Racism, according to CRT’s purveyors, is written into America’s laws, institutions, and capitalist system. What masquerades as American culture is actually the norms and practices of white people.

“Critical race theory,” writes one of its main architects, Angela Harris, “takes the position that racism pervades our institutions, our beliefs and our everyday practices….