Sunday, January 15, 2012

Fighting Racism With... More Racism?

At the Monday 1/9 meeting of the Hillsboro School District’s Curriculum Committee, I was shocked to learn that the district’s new diversity programs are centered on instructing every staff member in Critical Race Theory.  In case you have not heard of it, Critical Race Theory is a trend at the most radical fringes of postmodern academia, based on analyzing how Whiteness is the root cause of the major problems of modern society. As summarized by Judge Richard Posner,

 
What is most arresting about critical race theory is that...it turns its back on the Western tradition of rational inquiry, forswearing analysis for narrative. Rather than marshal logical arguments and empirical data, critical race theorists tell stories — fictional, science-fictional, quasi-fictional, autobiographical, anecdotal — designed to expose the pervasive and debilitating racism of America today. By repudiating reasoned argumentation, the storytellers reinforce stereotypes about the intellectual capacities of nonwhites.

What does Critical Race Theory teach? Basically, all whites must take responsibility for all the historical crimes committed by their race. These crimes have bought them an unfair Privilege of Whiteness.  Minorities face insurmountable obstacles today, and whites receive endless privileges, all stemming from these crimes. (And implicitly, in any historical event that has occurred over the past thousand years, any whites who participated must be judged by 21st century moral standards, though no others are subject to this condition.)   So it is a form of Orwellian doublethink, where racism is bad, except that Caucasians are uniquely responsible for the problems of modern society based on the color of their skin.
 
I wonder how my 16th-century ancestors would have felt, as they eked out the living of poor Jewish peasants in Russia, knowing that they were personally responsible for Hernan Cortes’ disruption of Aztec society thousands of miles away in Mexico, due to their roughly similar skin tone. I think someone forgot to send them their share of Montezuma’s gold.

 
More seriously, what are the consequences of this Critical Race Theory philosophy?
  • It teaches that racial consciousness is a core requirement for progress, throwing out the ideal of judging people by the content of their character, dividing people by race, and using this as a basis to assign responsibility for the problems of modern society.
  • It is used to justify racial quotas and First Amendment-violating speech codes, teaching that the “voices of the oppressed” universally take priority over Western ideals of freedom and equality, and leading to persecution of students for politically incorrect statements.
  • It teaches minority children that success is not to be expected due to problems caused by other races, rather than encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunities offered them.
  • It fans flames of racial animosity, alienating minority students from their teachers and classmates.
  • These programs are self-perpetuating regardless of the fact that they exacerbate problems they claim to solve, as any who dare criticize them are accused of racism or hate crimes. (I’m sure I’ll be called a racist for this blog post.)
  • Scarce resources are wasted teaching workshops on Critical Race Theory instead of being used for effective, race-neutral programs that could be helping these children.
Note that I am not claiming here that we should be ignoring the disproportionate problems of minority students in our schools. I agree that we need to examine the situations of disadvantaged and struggling students (whether minority or not), and take the action needed to provide them the opportunity to learn and achieve to their full potential. But we need provide such opportunity through race-neutral programs that nurture each individual child, not by teaching irrational anti-Westernism and racial hatred. In a future blog post I will provide examples of such programs.

 
But right now, I am outraged that our school is wasting resources and indoctrinating its staff in Critical Race Theory. You can find Hillsboro school board contact information at the district website linked here.   The radical, irrational, and racist philosophy known as Critical Race Theory has no place in our school district. If you agree, please call or email your school board member today.

 

6 comments:

  1. A sad postscript: curious whether this is an issue in other districts around here, I did a little web searching. Critical Race Theory seems to be embedded in Tigard-Tualatin School District policy as well, at http://www.ttsd.k12.or.us/district/community-relations/final_framework_June_2010.pdf .

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  2. Also spotted CRT at Portland Public Schools: see http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/district-leadership/3500.htm, with a link to the CRT site http://dome-equity.wetpaint.com/ .

    I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg: PPS and TTSD are just the ones who actually have it easily accessible on their public websites.

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  3. Some further research on the topic, courtesy of a FB friend:
    ----------------------
    It seems that the Tigard-Tualatin school district (and probably Portland school district as well) hired some “racial consultants” from “Pacific Educational Group” based in San Francisco. In 2007 the TTSD paid this organization $36,000 and in 2008 $80,000 (not sure in the most recent years). This is a hateful anti-white group that believes only white people can be racist and that “future time orientation” (ie planning) is a white characteristic that minorities should not expected to have, and doing so is racism. Also that "emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology" is also “cultural racism” to this group. Glenn Singleton the leader of this hateful organization also teaches “Whiteness as property”, and “How our color blind beliefs impair our vision” (these are a part of its 5 tenets, which are actually included in our school districts documentation), as well as “Examining the Presence and Role of ‘Whiteness’”(one of its 6 conditions). Based on this organizations radical definitions of racism, the Seattle school district was sued, and lost, paying out millions of dollars. We must do what we can to make sure this organization is removed from our school district and the damage they have caused is repaired.
    http://www.openmarket.org/​2007/11/16/​embarrass-your-employer-whi​le-getting-rich-off-of-div​ersity-scams/
    http://​www.discriminations.us/​2006/05/race-and-education/
    http://www.seattlepi.com/​local/opinion/article/​Planning-ahead-is-considere​d-racist-1204942.php
    Tim Wise from Pacific Educational Group: http://www.timwise.org/​2010/11/​an-open-letter-to-the-white​-right-on-the-occasion-of-​your-recent-successful-tem​per-tantrum/

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  4. This is Cultural Marxism at its finest!

    I plan on "emphasizing individualism" to my children so they won't be accepting this bigoted, prejudicial, asinine theory. My husband and I have taught our children that it is what is on the inside that counts, the color of a person's skin serves only to make this world a more beautiful place. My husband is Hispanic, I am white, our children are a mix of the two. Our children do not see color as anything more than the palette of a Master Painter.

    We, as a society, are taught to see color as a way to judge someone. And yes, the white race has committed terrible atrocities in the past, so have the Hispanics, blacks, Orientals, Islanders, etc. We are at fault as a HUMAN race for our pride and greed.

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  5. MR. SELIGMAN,

    So, what are the plans for Critical Race Theory training now that you are on the board?

    Colin Flaherty

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  6. Hi Colin-- I actually don't get sworn in until July. I definitely still want to do something about this. Please email me at erik@erikseligman.com to discuss further

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