Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is on a mission to “defeat” Critical Race Theory, the study of racial bias in US laws that he says is “taking our schools by storm.”
Though educators say CRT isn’t taught in K-12 schools, Cruz argues the concepts have “infiltrated our education system” in a free, downloadable 10-page e-book exploring the origins of the college-level course, and alleging that it’s tied to Marxism.
“Together, I think we can defeat Critical Race Theory in our schools and make sure that students learn the true history of America—the story of American greatness,” Cruz says in the e-book.
The e-book, based on Cruz’s August 9 lecture at the conservative Leadership Institute’s School Board Campaign Training, echoes complaints and talking points that other conservatives have used to fuel controversy over the topic. For example, Christopher Rufo, the Manhattan Institute fellow who started the political discussion about CRT in 2020 on Fox News, encouraged conservatives to use the term “race-based Marxism” in a CRT briefing book section on messaging called “winning the language war.”
Anyone trying to download the book must provide their email and will be met with a request for donations. “Please give today to help train more conservatives to stop Critical Race Theory in its tracks,” the request says.
Cruz’s e-book teaches conservatives how to “spot CRT concepts” in K-12 curricula by looking for “buzzwords” like “white privilege,” ” systemic racism” and “equity.”
He focuses on “equity,” a word Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “fairness or justice in the way people are treated.” Cruz argues that CRT rejects equality and instead demands “equity.”
“You see, to Critical Race theorists, in order to achieve equity, local and federal government policies must dis-
criminate so that the same results are achieved by all races,” Cruz writes. “If policies don’t meet that standard, CRT considers them racist policies.”
The e-book, promoted through a sponsored tweet Wednesday by the Washington Times, was part of an 11-hour program the Leadership Institute sponsored in August to prepare conservatives to run for local school board seats “against the entrenched left,” according to a message that appears when you sign up to download the book.
He participated in the program as school board races across the country were heating up over culture war issues in education, including the teaching of race. A study by Ballotpedia identified 272 school districts in 25 states where candidates took a stance on critical race theory, the role of race in curricula or specific equity and diversity plans, Covid-19 responses, and sex education or the use of gender-specific facilities.
The most commonly cited issue was “race in education/critical race theory,” mentioned in 248 races, according to the study. Meanwhile, bills and laws to restrict discussion about race and gender in classrooms have cropped up in Republican-led states.
Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer and former solicitor general of Texas, argues that CRT is based on a Marxist view of society as a conflict between oppressors and the oppressed. He adds that “critiques of capitalism and property have been threads in the CRT quilt since the very beginning.”
He links CRT to the New York Times Magazine’s “1619 Project,” an accounting of US history with slavery’s consequences and Black Americans’ contributions to America at the center. Several school districts are teaching the 1619 project using curriculum guides from the Pulitzer Center.
Cruz also quotes from a document by the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union representing both teachers and college faculty, that says they “oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project,” they support an “honest teaching of social studies,” and that it’s “appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks” that include CRT. NEA had no immediate comment.
Cruz urged conservatives to stand up and fight, citing a case in Southlake, Texas, where he said conservative parents “rallied together to defeat a ridiculous
Critical Race Theory initiative that the local school district’s diversity committee” had put forth.
“The conservative parents were able to band together to fight this, and they got three times as many people to show up and vote in the school board elections than usually vote. And guess what—they won the school board elections
about 70 to 30—a huge margin,” Cruz wrote. “That’s what happens when we have grassroots leaders like you pushing back against Critical Race Theory.”
Fordham University School of Law professor, Tanya Katerí Hernández, who has taught CRT for 25 years, described the topic to Insider as an analysis of legal jurisprudence that examines how advances in civil rights laws were undermined and have in many ways led to disenchantment with a colorblind approach to dealing with racism. People think “it’s part of an anti-whiteness mode of analysis or a racial hate platform,” she said, adding that that’s “completely untrue.”
But Morton Blackwell, Leadership Institute president, says in an email that accompanies the e-book that Cruz “helps conservatives understand the ugly truth” about CRT.
“Please share this e-book with other members of your family and community so they too can learn to spot Critical Race Theory concepts,” he writes. “As Senator Cruz makes clear, when conservatives stand up and act, we can defeat leftist indoctrination.”
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