The debate over critical race theory is everywhere: school boards, Congress, cable news. This new flashpoint in the culture war isn’t going away any time soon.
Summary
School board meetings across the country have become the front lines in the culture war and debate over critical race theory, including in Kentucky where several attendees were removed from the meeting after “decrying the teaching of critical race theory.”
- In the Williamsburg, Virginia area, several speakers voiced their opposition to critical race theory’s use in the classroom despite CRT not even being on the docket for school board business.
- Former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer, who is running for the position again, joined in the chorus within the Republican Party opposing CRT and signing a pledge to stop it.
- Shifting from schoolboards and statehouses to Congress and cable news, Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized and insulted Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after getting into an argument over the use of critical race theory in Defense Department trainings.
- During a congressional hearing earlier this week, freshman GOP Rep. Bob Good was apparently called a racist by a colleague after Good asked the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona about the inclusion of CRT and the controversial 1619 Project in school curricula.
- Slate is joining its fellow left-leaning outlets in shifting the focus and characterizing opposition to CRT as Republicans and conservatives either not knowing what they’re talking about or using it as a political tool.
- Newsweek highlighted Tucker Carlson’s immature rant, in which he called the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “stupid” and “a pig.”
- Time magazine criticized “conservative advocacy groups, legal organizations and state legislatures for “weaponizing the teaching of critical race theory.”
- The New York Post ran an opinion piece by Christopher Rufo, a conservative academic who has found himself in liberal crosshairs after several years of bringing CRT to the forefront of national discourse, in which he criticized the Washington Post for writing a story “rested on a bed of lies” about him.
- Samuel Kim wrote in the Washington Examiner rebutting Gen. Milley, saying critical race theory “is not just a theory”, but is being applied to schools across the country and that “these harmful practices have arrived the U.S. Military Academy.”
- Author and soon-to-be Senate candidate J.D. Vance’s take on Milley’s remarks was the focus of the Daily Wire’s coverage, in which Vance took to Twitter saying “I personally would like American generals to read less about ‘white rage’ (whatever that is) and more about ‘not losing wars.’”
Author’s Take
While the left continues its “conservatives overreach” narrative, the right is starting to lose the plot as well. Carlson’s petty invective, filled to the brim with personal insults, is the kind of childish bullying politicians and activists on the left attempt to use to stifle voices on the right.
Lowering the debate to this level–name-calling and ad hominem attacks–does nothing to advance either side’s agenda. Those on the right who have legitimate concerns about critical race theory should regard Tucker’s temper tantrum with contempt as it makes it easier for the left to dismiss their concerns. This is plainly evident in Time magazine’s attempt to blame conservatives for “weaponizing” CRT for politics, which is incredibly hypocritical given the left’s desire to politicize everything.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
