The National Education Association (NEA) has moved to openly promote the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools and to oppose any bans on instruction in both the Marxist ideology and the widely discredited New York Times’ “1619 Project.”
During its virtual representative assembly, held June 30-July 3, the nation’s largest teachers’ union agreed to “research the organizations attacking educators,” doing what it referred to as “anti-racist work,” as well as to “use the research already done and put together a list of resources and recommendations for state affiliates, locals, and individual educators to utilize when they are attacked.”
New Business Item 2 dismisses the outrage of grassroots parents as it claims the main critics of CRT are “well-funded” conservative groups:
The attacks on anti-racist teachers are increasing, coordinated by well-funded organizations such as the Heritage Foundation. We need to be better prepared to respond to these attacks so that our members can continue this important work.
NEA also adopted New Business Item 39, a measure that vows to “share and publicize, through existing channels, information already available on critical race theory (CRT) – what it is and what it is not.”
The union’s resolution plans to have “a team of staffers for members who want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric.”
NEA intends to “join with Black Lives Matter at School and the Zinn Education Project to call for a rally this year on October 14 – George Floyd’s birthday – as a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression.”
The union added:
The Association will further convey that in teaching these topics, it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory.
The NEA’s resolutions have undercut the left’s narrative that CRT is not being taught in K-12 schools, as Fox News reported Saturday.
Parents across the country are swarming school board meetings, demanding that schools end the teaching of the principles of CRT, which embraces the concept that all American institutions are systemically racist, with whites as oppressors and blacks as victims.
Many school superintendents and board members, however, have denied they are teaching CRT concepts in response to parents’ and students’ outrage.
In Guilford, Connecticut, for example, Fox 61 News observed superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman denied his district is teaching CRT:
Dr. Paul Freeman says it is inaccurate that this is being taught in schools. In a statement, he said in part:
“We are working in Guilford Schools to be more equitable in our practice, to embrace diverse texts in our classrooms, to diversify our teaching ranks, to address difficult historical events honestly and openly, and to ensure that all children feel heard in their schools.”
A similar statement was made by Jeff Porter, superintendent of the Cumberland-North Yarmouth, Maine, school district.
Breitbart News reported:
Porter denied his district uses Critical Race Theory (CRT). However, following the death of George Floyd, the district sent a letter to the community, expressing its “solidarity with Black Movement leaders” and detailing its decision to work with Community Change Inc. (CCI), a Boston-based company that self-describes on Twitter as “a non-profit that challenges systemic racism with a special focus on white people.”
“Can’t dismantle white supremacy without dismantling capitalism,” CCI states.
NEA’s adoption of the resolutions will commit President Becky Pringle “to make public statements across all lines of media that support racial honesty in education including but not limited to critical race theory.”
The union plans to invest an additional $127,600 to carry out its plan to openly publicize CRT, as well as another $56,500 to conduct research on critics of CRT and obstruct their efforts.
Nearly half of all states in the United States are taking steps to prohibit the teaching of CRT and its concepts.
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