Pit Tea Party

Protesting against CRITICAL RACE THEORY in Loudun County, VA. Via.

Hello from outside of JCPS central office!

This is the first in-person protest against critical race theory in Kentucky’s largest school district. About two dozen folks here. pic.twitter.com/3LlH4CeuvF

— Olivia Krauth (@oliviakrauth) June 22, 2021

Jefferson County Public Schools, meaning Louisville, where the county board of education was having a regularly scheduled meeting, in which CRITICAL RACE THEORY was not on the agenda, although somebody did mention that

racial equity is a pillar of the district's strategic plan — 57% of JCPS students identify as a racial minority

which is apparently part of the problem. Not that the demonstrators feel "equity" is a bad thing, but they think it's a kind of stalking horse;

“We have to get in front of this,” the woman says.

Kentucky’s anti-CRT legislation isn’t on the table for five months.

She falsely says again JCPS is hiding CRT as equity. pic.twitter.com/bItkljGQo0

— Olivia Krauth (@oliviakrauth) June 22, 2021

The folks mentioning "equity" are secretly pushing a different agenda, it seems; they talk about "equity", but what they mean is exactly the opposite: it's CRITICAL RACE THEORY and it's going to get your daughters!

State Rep. Matt Lockett, R-Nicholasville, and State Rep. Jennifer Henson Decker, R- Waddy, prefiled BR 69 for the 2022 legislative session which would apply to curriculum used in kindergarten through 12th grade, as well as the state’s public colleges and universities.

“Those who subscribe to critical race theory are more interested in labeling people, dividing them into categories, and pitting them against each other than they are actually addressing important issues like racism,” Lockett said in a statement announcing the legislation.

“At the heart of this is a simple question: should taxpayer resources be used to promote a political narrative that teaches one person is inherently superior to another?” said Lockett. “The language of BR 69 speaks clearly that the people of Kentucky stand united against this attempt to use our education system to indoctrinate our children.”

Although the language of BR 69 makes no reference to CRITICAL RACE THEORY (though it does refer to some unnamed doctrine involved in labeling people and dividing them into categories and teaching that one person is inherently superior to another):

Lockett’s bill specifically prohibits teaching that: One race, sex, or religion is inherently superior to another race, sex, or religion; an individual, by virtue of his or her race, sex, or religion, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race, sex, or religion; members of one race, sex, or religion cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, sex, or religion; an individual’s moral character is determined by his or her race or sex.

So the first clause looks like they're banning white supremacy, with the color term left out, doesn't it? It's the second clause that represents somebody's idea of the dread CRITICAL RACE THEORY, though I don't suppose it's a very accurate idea of the thing itself, in that people who call themselves critical race theorists like Kimberlé Crenshaw say pretty much the opposite: that it is not individuals that are inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, but institutions; that

the so-called American dilemma was not simply a matter of [individual] prejudice but a matter of structured disadvantages that stretched across American society.

It's pretty much the same language as in all these bills, for the fairly simple reason that they're all proceeding from the same trinity of wingnut welfare outfits: the Manhattan Institute, home of the grifter Christopher Rufo who masterminded the push; Heritage; and ALEC. NBC News reads it as a kind of attempt to re-create the energy of the Tea Party:

Now, conservative activists are setting their sights on ousting as many school board members as they can, and local Republican Parties have vowed to help, viewing the revolt against critical race theory as akin to the tea party wave from a decade ago....

Throughout the winter, organizations like the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, which produces model bills on Republican causes, held webinars that warned about the threat of teaching critical race theory.

[Philadelphia anti-CRT agitator Elana Yaron] Fishbein said she took part in a private briefing hosted by the Heritage Foundation in May that featured lawmakers from Idaho, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and other states to discuss model legislation to block critical race theory. Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Oklahoma and Tennessee have already advanced some form of a restriction, and 15 states have legislation pending. The Heritage Foundation declined to comment.

Heritage's Daily Signal newsletter reported in April

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 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.

Not exactly, if you open the link. The guidelines prioritize projects that

Encourage students to critically analyze the diverse perspectives of historical and contemporary media and its impacts

and

foster critical thinking and promote student engagement in civics education

and that's not the same thing. It's particularly concerned with

Understanding how inaccurate information may be used to manipulate individuals, and developing strategies to recognize accurate and inaccurate information.

And why should the Heritage Foundation be worried about that? Or any conservative organ?

It really is a massive effort to do to the Biden administration what the "Tea Party" did to the Obama administration in its first year, through lies and blatant astroturfing

Fox News failed to disclose to their audience that nearly a dozen guests billed as parents panicked by what they misleadingly label critical race theory being taught to their young children in school are also professional Republican operatives, according to a newly released report. 

The liberal media watchdog organization Media Matters for America details how Fox News has repeatedly failed to mention that their guests, who included right-wing media personalities, GOP strategists and conservative think tank staffers, were far from apolitical despite billing them as your average outraged parent. 

But more frightening, because of the way it plays on the deepest racial fears: what your people did and do to Black people, Black people might do to you ("teach that one race is superior to another race... or that an individual's moral character is determined by his or her race... or that an individual should be discriminates against or receive adversely adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race..."). Pitting us against one another because it's a Pit Tea Party. I'm starting to get seriously upset.