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May 12, 2021 03:54 PM UTC

Republicans Announce Legislation Proving They Aren't Racist

  • 9 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Here’s a pretty fair assumption that can apply to most situations: Whenever you find both Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene standing behind a podium in front of the U.S. Capitol, it’s a safe bet that they aren’t talking about something good.

Via NBC News

 

On Wednesday, Boebert and MTG joined fellow Republican white people like North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop at a news conference to talk about why there is no way you could call them racist. As NBC News reports:

A group of House Republicans on Wednesday took recent attacks on critical race theory a step further by introducing a pair of bills to ban diversity training for federal employees and the military.

Some 30 GOP representatives have signed on to support both the Combatting Racist Training in the Military Act and the Stop CRT Act, Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina said at a news conference in Washington.

The first bill is a companion to legislation introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas that aims to prohibit teaching “Anti-American and racist theories” such as critical race theory at any academic institution related to the U.S. Armed Forces. The Stop CRT Act works to codify former President Donald Trump’s executive order banning diversity and racial equity training for federal employees — an order President Joe Biden reversed in January.

These federal efforts follow legislation in several states to pre-emptively ban “critical race theory” (CRT), including a fairly substantial bill that just passed in Texas.

Boebert herself spoke at today’s event, which went about as well as you would expect:

From the “Combatting Racist Training in the American Military Act of 2021”

Via “The Recount,” here’s what Boebert had to say today:

Our children are so valuable. Their future is so valuable. And we can not lose it to something like this racist, critical race theory.

Racist Democrats have always been after our children. They pushed for segregation in schools in the ’60s. And now they’re pushing this critical race theory in our schools, which is nothing more than modern day racism. Democrats want to teach our children to hate each other. [Pols emphasis]

“Racist Democrats…pushed for segregation in schools in the ’60s.” We’re not going to bother with explaining why Boebert is WAYYYY off in this regard. It would be a bigger story, in fact, if Boebert actually understood her American History correctly. That discussion, and a broader dive into CRT, is a different post for a different day. In the meantime, here’s a decent explainer on the back and forth of Critical Race Theory from CNN.

For today, we just wanted to point out that Boebert and a handful of other nitwits in her caucus would like you to know that “all men are created equal” because the Declaration of Independence said so and that’s the way it is and pfffttt if you try to argue otherwise.

Comments

9 thoughts on “Republicans Announce Legislation Proving They Aren’t Racist

  1. I do hope someone asks Rep. Boebert "what is critical race theory?  How will someone or an institution know if what they do is or is not CRT?" 

    I had the "pleasure" of reading about the emergence of critical theory (or Critical Theory) and its application to communication (such as speeches or broader communication movements), and how it moved into law, social policy/government, anthropology, and education/pedagogy.  I survived that graduate-level course and showed enough comprehension to get a B+.   As I've read of Republican politicians objecting to something called "critical race theory," I've yet to read any of them have a coherent explanation of its content or why the 1619 Project is CRT. 

    Getting Boebert on the record would no doubt clarify things.

  2. Critical race theory is metacognitive – it forces an examination of one’s own assumptions and prejudices, specifically about the social construct called “race”. It also is a clear-eyed look at how race is currently used to perpetuate social injustice in all spheres, and keep everyone including white folks “in their places”.

    That kind of deep introspection about anything, and looking at power and injustice analytically, is anathema to fragile white egos. 

    So it’s good for adults and older youth to delve into CRT. DU has a study guide that may be useful. Younger kids , though, are fine with a “celebration of cultural identity” or simple stories about treating everyone fairly and being proud of who you are. Even that is too much for the Boeberts and MTGs of the world, who want to avoid all that diversity and tolerance stuff. So they’ll complain about CRT in lower grades, when lower grades are only learning actual history, not just from the winner’s point of view, but including all perspectives. 

  3. Anyone know, what’s considered a passing grade on the GED?

    Might there be a Grade School Equivalency Degree that’s sometimes referred to as a “GED”? (. . . “See Dick. See Dick bowl. See Dick at the bowling alley.”)

  4. Understand it or not, like it or not, CRT is going to be one of the GOP's main wedge issues in 2022. Astroturf groups have already formed in Virginia and Washington State, and we've seen local efforts pop up in Montezuma County in the last week.

    Dems need a strong counter fast, or we're going to find ourselves losing seats on this issue. Note: ridicule is not a strong counter.

    1. I would say that a strong ad campaign with specific examples of CRT at different  grade and development levels would be helpful. With pointed questions.Not intended to be a complete list; these are just books or resources I’ve read and/ or taught to students: Ex:

      Do you want kids to be mean because of skin color? Religion? Family type? If not, read

      Primary: Sulwe, ( colorism) The Proudest Blue ( coping w anti- Muslim attitudes),  Love Makes a Family ( LGBT) , In Coal Country ( Appalachia)

      Do you want children to understand American history from more than one point of view?
      Middle:  Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ( Reconstruction, black farmers) House on Mango St, Buried Onions, ( Latinx / working class experience) March ( John Lewis’ graphic novel series) 

      High School and college

      Mexicanos, Occupied America, An Indigenous People’s History, Discovering Womens History Online ( online database of primary sources)

      If a pro CRT campaign can make the case that the intent is not to erase anybody, but to include everybody, it could overcome the fear of  “replacement” being ginned up by opportunistic politicians like those in the original post.

       

  5. I like it, Tree, but the reading list is a tad too academic (and I'm an academic).

    Republicans are branding "thinking" about race as racist (because, of course, we live in a post-racial society, doncha know?). What they're really against is thinking. So, anything that requires thinking is suspect.

    The real question is, how do we make them open to thinking (about race, and a whole lotta other things)?

    1. You’re right, I think, that an academic CRT course won’t move R’s who think they’re being guilt tripped for being white. They would never sign up for such a course, anyway, except to troll it. Still, these courses and books and discussions do help us Neo-liberals to stop being patronizing a-holes, and to check our privilege and assumptions. There is need for academic critical race theory discussion, and also for informal groups in the “consciousness raising” model. Basically, that’s taking the old Libber insight that “the personal is political” and applying it to race. I’m involved in one such group through my UU church. .But stories move people. 

      I believe in the power of personal stories to move people from entrenched positions. See: Obama, George Floyd, “Roots”, etc. The young reader texts I cited,  and pop culture TV shows and movies move the heart, not the head. Cultivating empathy is the path to winning conservative hearts, if not minds. And if we could get people organized to attend community discussion forums , complying with rules for respectful conversations, we’d make real progress as a society.

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