Don't Ban Critical Race Theory. Legalize School Choice.
"It's the taxpayers that are funding this."
Glenn Youngkin recently was elected Virginia's governor partly because he promised to ban teaching of CRT.
CRT stands for critical race theory, which argues that every American institution upholds white supremacy.
Before Youngkin's surprise victory, the media mocked him for complaining about CRT.
NBC's Nicolle Wallace said it isn't even taught in public schools. "That is like us banning the ghosts!" she laughed.
She is wrong.
In my new video, journalist Asra Nomani reveals some rather creepy CRT lessons that are taught in many schools.
Nomani filed Freedom of Information Act requests that forced school districts to reveal how they pay consultants to spread critical race theory.
"We found 300-plus contracts," says Nomani. "Every day, I'm getting a new contract. For them to deny it is just part of their campaign."
A CNN guest, history teacher Keziah Ridgeway, admits that CRT influences how some teachers teach. "That's a good thing, right?" she says. "Because race and racism is literally the building blocks of this country."
Really? The building block?
No!
America does have a long, nasty history of racism. Some racism persists. But it's not the "building block."
"They want to look at all of society through issues of race," complains Nomani. That's "propaganda that's claiming our children."
"Claiming the children?" I push back. "That's exaggeration."
She pulled out some of the children's books that are now part of the curriculum at some schools.
Woke Baby teaches kids to be "a good revolutionary."
A Is for Activist reads like a union recruiting manual. "M is for 'Megaphones Marching.'…Hooray! It Must be May Day!"
Not My Idea calls "whiteness" a deal with the devil. It portrays a white person with a pointy tail and goat hooves and tells children that they sell their souls because "whiteness" gives them "stolen land" and "stolen riches."
The author, Anastasia Higginbotham, says, "I made a book for white children that encourages them to connect with their heartbreak about racism."
Nomani says, "Just imagine if a black child was to get a book that said 'blackness is a bad deal?'…Shame is used as a lever of control over people. It should not be done with children."
"America has a history of racism," I say.
"We have to confront it," she says. "But America does not have a monopoly on racism. I come from a nation of people of 'color,' and they are racist."
India, her home country, had a nasty caste system for thousands of years.
Slavery began in the Middle East. It thrived in Africa long before slaves were brought to America. Americans (along with Brits, the French, and Mexicans) actually helped end the practice.
But today American students think America invented slavery.
This is "state-sponsored indoctrination," says Nomani. "It is a bigotry that they are teaching….It's just so immoral. I am a brown Muslim woman, an immigrant in America. I know more freedoms in this country than I could in any Muslim country in the world."
"But they're not in a Muslim country," I point out. "They're in America, and there is still racism here."
"But to suggest that this is all of America is as racist and bigoted…as being racist and bigoted against people of color," she responds.
People need to care about this, says Nomani, "because it's the taxpayers that are funding this."
Some conservatives want to ban the teaching of CRT. That's not a good idea. Government shouldn't be banning ideas or taking choices away from teachers. Bans shield students from important topics.
A better solution is legalizing school choice.
Let parents take our tax money to a school we choose.
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