Editor, The Smithfield Times:

The Critical Race Theory pedagogy grew out of the critical theory pedagogy of Paulo Friere and the critical theory philosophy of Herbert Marcuse.

Christopher Ruffo successfully coined the term to refer to the ideology of “Identity Marxism.” There are a number of euphemisms used in school districts that lead to the pernicious place of treating people not as individuals but as members of their protected class.

One blatant example of the destructive nature of this pedagogy in practice was the experience of William Clark: a biracial charter school student in Nevada. As part of a required class, William and the others were required to reveal their race, gender, religious and sexual identities and attach derogatory labels to those identities. William declined and received a failing grade. He filed a complaint in federal district court. Unfortunately, William is but one of the victims of this ideology.

There is substantial evidence that it has infiltrated school systems nationwide, including here. In fact, in February 2019, the Virginia superintendent of public education issued a memo to all Virginia superintendents with the subject line “Resources to Support Student and Community Dialogues on Racism.” One of the resources recommended was a book by Edward Taylor, David Gillborn and Gloria Ladson-Billings entitled “Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education.”

Currently, Isle of Wight County Schools is undergoing a so-called “equity audit.” It is being performed by Dr. Valaida Wise Consulting. Dr. Wise appears to be a master of marketing herself in the newly minted and quite lucrative industry of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consulting.”

She provides many trainings, including on “Antiracism” and “Implicit Bias.” Among her offered resources available include videos on “The Myth of Racial Innocence” and “How to Talk to Children about Race.” All of this — combined with the identity survey recently published by The Smithfield Times, the “Read Woke Challenge” and the videos found on children’s devices pertaining to “Intersectionality,” “Anti-Bias Lessons for Preschoolers,” “Identity” and “Transgender Rights,” among others — makes clear that despite all the gaslighting (or perhaps willful ignorance) on the part of school officials who say that “CRT” is not taught in the schools, something not quite right is going on.

Faced with this mounting evidence, we must all recognize the ideology, understand it and all of its many associated permutations so that as a community we can address it head on.

 

Jennifer Rawls

Windsor