Call it the one-two-three punch: Three speakers at a special half day conference on Critical Race Theory (CRT). Sponsored by Greenwich Patriots, it was at The Ferguson Library in Stamford on Tuesday, August 3.
These speakers brought three different yet related messages about CRT. Basically, the first message was “We can fight it”. The second message was “This is what you need to know about it”, and the third message, “You will have to fight it even more.”
The first speaker, Pat Tod is from Guilford, CT. She has battled with the Guilford Board of Education to little effect. However, she formed a group that engineered a small but important sea change in their local Republican party. They put up 4 candidates for the next board of education election for this November. Originally, the party had 4 establishment candidates for the board. Her group managed to get a caucus in which a vote was held on these two groups of candidates. Her slate was all anti-CRT and they crushed the go-along-to-get-along establishment candidates.
The combination of this campaign, pressure on the board, and growing efforts to publicize this effort are expected to get results over the next several months. The publicity will put the board members in an uncomfortable spotlight. As Pat Tod’s group grows, there will likely be other forms of pressure brought to bear on the board. Some point out that Guilford is a heavily Democrat town. However, a number of Democrats are becoming very uncomfortable with CRT and all that it implies. The administration has acted in a tyrannical way by imposing CRT on everyone. They demand perfect conformity. However, many teachers are resisting. Between what is happening inside and outside their public school sytem, expect a number of conflicts to emerge. Events in Guilford should be watched carefully over the next few months.
The next speaker, Dr. Michael Breen of NoLeftTurn.us gave an outstanding review of CRT. He covered it’s history, it’s main ideas, and how it has infiltrated deeply into public school systems around the country. An important “companion” is a book by Robin DeAngelo called “White Fragility”. It has made a national splash. The essence of it is that if you deny you are a racist, that is an obvious admission that you are a racist. With that as a backdrop, CRT has found its way into numerous teacher training programs.
Combined with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs, the closet Marxists in the public school system have fashioned a clever way to indoctrinate teachers and students, while doing their best to distract and mislead the parents. Dr. Breen pointed out that the folks implement CRT make extremely sophisticated use of principles of behavioral science to slowly but surely radicalize students and teachers.
The last speaker, Wai Wan Chin, past president of Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY.org), introduced the audience to her work. While they have been battling CRT as well, there was a lot to say about the other bad things happening in New York City. Mayor DeBlasio and schools superintendent Richard Caranzaa are pushing an effort to destroy the crown jewels of public education in the city. Their objective is to lower the standards for admission to the city’s science high schools. To do so, they must also find a way to exclude more Asians from admissions. So, CACAGNY and others have been fighting this injustice.
Members of her organization in San Francisco were pressuring that public school system to drop CRT. For Asians, as much as for people of other “races”, CRT is seen as an ugly lie. It causes hate and division among students and teachers. CRT is counterproductive if the intention is to improve conditions for everyone, or even for one selected group.
There were closing comments by Megan Galletta, who is running for the board of education in Greenwich, and by the organizer, Jackie Homan. It is expected that there will be different kinds of follow up in order to turn back CRT.