Amid denials by public educators that they are teaching Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools, the White House on Friday indicated President Biden supports the teaching of CRT principles, which view the world through a Marxist lens that regards all white people as oppressors.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was responding to a question from Real Clear News reporter Philip Wegmann regarding Biden’s stance in light of the National Education Association’s recent approval of a resolution defending CRT.
Psaki didn’t push back on the use of the term Critical Race Theory, replying that children should learn about existing “systemic racism.”
“The president believes that in our history, there are many dark moments and there is not just slavery and racism in our history, there is systemic racism that is still impacting society today,” she said.
“And he believes, as I believe, as a parent of children, that kids should learn about our history.”
Psaki said that as the spouse of an educator, the president “continues to believe that children should learn not just the good, but also the challenging in our history, and that’s part of what we’re talking about here, even as it’s becoming political charged.”
Last weekend, the NEA, the nation’s largest teachers association, adopted a pledge at its annual meeting to “share and publicize” information on CRT, “what it is and what it is not,” the Post Millenial reported.
The resolution states the “USA’s economy/social order is built on interactions between different cultures/races” and that “to deny opportunities to teach truth about Black, Brown, and other marginalized races minimalizes the necessity for students to build efficacy.”
The union will educate members who “want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric.”
The plan will provide a “study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society, and that we oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project.”
The NEA also wants to partner with Black Lives Matter to create special education materials based on Critical Race Theory. And it urges the implementation of new special days in the school calendar, including a celebration of George Floyd’s birthday on Oct. 14. The union envisions it as “a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression.”
The head of another major teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, has vowed to defend educators who implement CRT in classrooms.
“Mark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history. Teaching the truth is not radical or wrong. Distorting history and threatening educators for teaching the truth is what is truly radical and wrong,” said Randi Weingarten in a virtual speech to the AFT on Tuesday.
BREAKING: The nation’s largest teachers union has approved a plan to promote critical race theory in all 50 states and 14,000 local school districts.
The argument that “critical race theory isn’t in K-12 schools” is officially dead. pic.twitter.com/BMRDoAK0sA
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) July 3, 2021
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