Tennessee Rep. Mark Green recently introduced legislation that would ban the teachings of Critical Race Theory at U.S Military Service academies. Green called CRT a “Marxist ideology” that contains false ideas about American history and said the curriculum would undermine the military’s core mission to protect America.
“Critical Race Theory is based on a massive and purposeful misunderstanding of the American founding, American history, and America as it exists today. This is a Marxist ideology created to tear American institutions down. It teaches Americans and members of the Armed Services to judge one another by the color of their skin instead of by the ‘content of their character.’ America should never go back to this kind of thinking. A curriculum based on Critical Race Theory seeks to divide Americans instead of unite them,” Rep. Green said.
The bill comes after an April Washington Free Beacon report revealed that administrators at West Point were embracing radical racial politics and using the “anti-racist” teaching tools and practices in classrooms.
Rep. Mike Waltz, an Army National Guard colonel and Green Beret, even exposed in a letter to his superintendent that the West Point cadets were being required to attend Critical Race Theory seminars. Some of the slides from the lecture talk about “understanding Whiteness and White rage,” as well as “White Power at West Point.” Green is a West Point alumni and Iraq war veteran.
Rep. Green points out in a press release for his bill that the United States military service academies are designed to train leaders and warriors for combat, including men and women of every race, creed, and religion. He said CRT’s divisiveness would destroy their ability to win in combat and defend the nation.
Rep. Green pointed out some of the specific practices being implemented, including readings from the work of Ibram X. Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Nikole Hannah-Jones. Kendi is known for writing the book “How To Be an Antiracist” while Hannah-Jones worked on the New York Times’ “1619 Project.” The U.S Navy recently updated its suggested readings to include Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow.”
Other members of Congress and state officials are also pushing back against these teachings, accusing them of trying to pit races against one another based on socioeconomic issues. Oklahoma State Sen. Shane Jett helped introduce a bill to ban CRT and similar curriculums from being required teachings and training in public schools and universities. He points out that the radical left has chosen to create chaos by the color of your skin.
“You can, in a meritorious system where we reward those who work hard and innovate, you can change your socioeconomic status by creating wealth by innovation, but you can’t change the color of your skin. So, they’ve chosen something that they’re using to create chaos to create a narrative that says your form of government doesn’t work,” Jett said.
The bill would prohibit teachers, faculty staff members, or students from engaging in any type of training that presents any form of race or gender stereotyping or a bias on the basis of race or gender. They could not teach concepts that present one race or gender as being “inherently superior or racist” to another race or gender.
Idaho Governor Brad Little became the first governor to sign a bill banning Critical Race Theory from entering state schools and being able to promote “race essentialism, collective guilt, or Neo-segregation.” Similar bills have also been passed in Arkansas, Florida, and Utah. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the CRT teaching was not worth “one red cent of taxpayer money” and suggested that the education department focuses on foundational principles rather than racist left-wing narratives.
“Let me be clear, there’s no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory. Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money. So we will invest in actual, solid, true curriculum and we will be a leader in the development and implementation of a world-class civics education,” Gov. DeSantis said.
The U.S Military takes an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, not Critical Race Theory. These practices intend to divide America and undermine our society. That’s not what the Military does.
