North Carolina’s Critical Race Theory (CRT) task force, formed by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in March 2021, has released its first report. In the report, parents, educators, and students confirm the proliferation of CRT in primary and secondary education in the state. One staff member for the Lieutenant Governor’s office, commenting on the size of the report, said CRT in North Carolina’s schools was a “way bigger problem than we thought.”
According to the North State Journal, Robinson formed the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students (FACTS) task force in March of this year to root out and reverse politically biased teaching in North Carolina schools. In a press conference on August 24, Robinson, a Republican who became North Carolina’s first black lieutenant governor in November 2020, said the goal was to determine whether political indoctrination was occurring in schools across the state, to which he answered emphatically, “Yes, yes it is.”
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) joined Robinson at the press conference:
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) touched on Critical Race Theory cited several examples from the report, including a student who experienced discrimination during remote learning when her teacher praised certain viewpoints while shutting others out and a 14-year veteran teacher who is afraid to speak out.Berger quoted the teacher, who said, “anyone who speaks up is afraid they will be canceled or terminated because they have a different opinion.”Berger said, “Take these teachers seriously; they are raising a red flag.”“Don’t tell me this doctrine doesn’t exist. Don’t tell me that all these teachers and parents are just making this stuff up,” Berger said of the report examples and Critical Race Theory. He then launched into an example of a presentation given at the Governor’s School which he said “looks like something straight out of Robin DeAngelo white privilege seminar.”
The FACTS task force created a 12-member advisory board consisting of teachers, local and state board members, lawmakers, university professors and other community members. They also created an online portal for members of the public to submit examples of political bias in school. The lieutenant governor’s office then processed 506 examples, leading to 766 page initial report. They also released a 41 page summary.
The summary presents six main areas of concern that resulted from the 506 submissions through the portal: fear of retaliation, the sexualization of kids, Critical Race Theory, white shaming, biased news media and/or lesson plans, and shaming of certain political beliefs. Many of the entries express a fear of retaliation, and a desire to remain anonymous. One anonymous teacher said, “I pray you can do something to fix what is going on so I can continue to believe in what I do.”
More examples:
I am 5 year away from 20 years for retirement and that seems like forever right now. I will continue to do the best for my students because that is why I became a teacher but something needs to change. I have too many years in to stop but I want so much to be done. As a parent and a grandmother I don’t want my family attending public school now and that is really sayingsomething because my mother was a teacher, and my sister is a teacher in public school. I don’t trust the values being taught all because of the political views. It was fine in our county to talk about Biden but not for anyone else. I never talk politics anyway but it was very evident who was allowed to speak and who were silenced. I pray you can do something to fix what is going on so I can continue to believe in what I do. Please keep my letter private because I don’t want to lose my job so I can still get my retirement but I couldn’t just sit back and act like what is happening is okay.
Another example:
As a parent this makes me upset, as an educator this is infuriating. … I would also like my name NOT to be shared, as I have 9 years left in education. I also would love to find a way to support your efforts or work with you. I love your mission, and I’m an advocate for educating our students with facts, without bias, or subjective intent.
And another:
Our teacher of the year at school has a BLM decoration on her door at school with a big fist. Today, the same teacher posted on social media a picture of herself in a t shirt that says “Blue lives murder.” However, I am not allowed to wear any political apparel supporting Republicans. Please contact me if you have any questions. I have pictures and records of everything. Please do not post my identity. I’d lose my job.
And another:
I am a School Counselor at a middle school so please keep this as confidential as possible. I am very concerned about the security of my job. … In addition to the extensive Black Lives Matter In Schools materials that our teachers are being encouraged to present, they will now receive a list of weekly resources that I am responsible for sending out that should help guide discussions on gender and police brutality. We were told we needed to find more of these documents and send them out to teachers as students are currently upset about black and latinx men being killed and it would help us prepare for the fall out of the Chauvin trial. … I have taken no steps to resolve this problem. Mostly because I am very concerned that I would get fired for my personal beliefs if they were known. On the other hand, I know something has to be done, because I’m not sure my beliefs, morals, and conscience can continue to be compromised.
The list goes on and on.
Parents are equally intimidated, as are students:
My daughters quickly learned to just write papers (assignments) from the teacher’s point of view to get an A, and that’s exactly what they got. They wrote countless papers supporting the BLM movement, although they didn’t support it as they are not racists nor were raised to be. But with so much focus on racism, they just played the game. While they should have been learning math, science, history etc, they were learning how to play the game to get a good grade.
In another example, the teacher uses Karl Marx to justify white privilege training:
My son is taking “Introduction to sociology”. This class is for HS students only and given to students across Buncombe county who sign up for the college credit offering. Entire class is social justice warrior (SJW) training. First assignment was a reading from Marx and to explain how the theories apply to today’s society. Last quiz included a question requiring him to identifyall of his white privilege. I will get a copy of the quiz and send to you. Students are required every week to publicly post their thoughts on the SJW issues onto the class message board and other students are required to read them and comment on them.
Students fear the repercussions of their parents’ objections:
My teen’s high school English teacher assigned students to pick one out of 7 NY Times videos and answer questions. 6 out of the 7 was about racism (being implicit, white privilege, etc) and the other was bias against women. I felt it totally inappropriate but my daughter was afraid for me to say anything because of whatever backlash may occur. I simply told her not to take part in that assignment. I nor my child should be afraid to speak up due to fear of what my child may have to face.
At the press conference, he said this is not an attack on education:
“I want to make this plain; this is not an attack on educators or education,” said Robinson. “I am going to say that again, because I know there are going to be people who will say this is an assault on the teaching profession. It is not.”“What this is is an attempt to stop the abuse of the teaching profession by a few or using that profession to put undue pressure on young minds to accept their way of thinking,” Robinson said.Robinson said the task force was put together to answer the question of whether indoctrination is happening in North Carolina public schools. He then said that after doing this report and task force, that “the overwhelming answer is yes, it is.”
After the press conference, the report was presented to the Senate Education/Higher Education Standing Committee, which also endorsed House Bill 324. The Ensuring Dignity and Nondescrimination in Schools Act would ban the teaching of CRT and its elements in North Carolina’s public schools. It currently sits in the Rules Committee.
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This post was first published at Legal Insurrection on August 26, 2021 and was written by Jeff Reynolds.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds, and on Gab at @RealJeffReynolds.
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