Submitted by State Sen. Chris McDaniel
Examples of actual systemic racism seem to be few and very far between
There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about Critical Race Theory and whether or not it should be taught in public schools. Several neighboring states that share our values, including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas, have already banned the controversial subject matter from all classrooms. Mississippi should join them.
So what exactly is Critical Race Theory?
It is the belief that American society is inherently racist. Specifically, its proponents argue that every institution, be it political, economic, legal, or social, is dominated by white supremacy, that racism is embedded in everything – public schools, the legal system, healthcare, and all of American history. Nothing is spared.
In 2015, Barack Obama said as much. “The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives. You know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on. We’re not cured of it. Racism we are not cured of, clearly.”
Conservatives, or more accurately all Americans, are presently under assault by the theory for allegedly perpetuating a society built and operating on “systemic racism” and “white rage.” And, without offering objective proof, Critical Race Theory promotes the idea that every white person, just like the country, is inherently racist (whether they know it or not).
Yet, the examples of actual systemic racism seem to be few and very far between.
Examples are rare because the very notion of systemic racism is illusory. As explained by David Horowitz, “Systemic racism is an assertion made reflexively by Democrats that is never accompanied by evidence. Systemic racism has been outlawed in America since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If there were actual instances of systemic racism in 2020, there would be lawsuits – plenty of them. Even making the racist assumption, which the Identity Politics crowd does make, that all white people are white supremacists by dint of their skin color, there are tens of thousands of black lawyers, prosecutors, district attorneys, attorneys general, and elected officials who would be filing lawsuits over a practice that is illegal. You never hear of massive lawsuits over systemic racism, because ‘systemic racism’ is a myth. The myth lives because it is an indispensable weapon wielded by Democrats to advance their anti-democratic agendas and quests for power.”
And that’s not to mention a multitude of state and federal laws, orders, and regulations expressly prohibiting racial discrimination or the numerous institutions and agencies which have promoted racial quotas, minority set-asides, and other affirmative action programs for the past sixty years.
The media, nevertheless, drives home the theory every chance it gets. For instance, The Nation magazine indicted our entire foreign policy. There, the authors explained, “American exceptionalism is grounded in racism and militarism.”
American exceptionalism is grounded in racism and militarism. https://t.co/P4NtF3VTmh
— The Nation (@thenation) July 2, 2021
They continue:
“While systemic white supremacy and the state’s use of violence against people of color in this country is at the forefront of the national debate, the structural racism of US foreign policy has escaped serious scrutiny. Yet, the two are deeply and immutably linked. It is precisely through its brutal history of genocide and slavery that the US government learned to use violence and military force to make white people secure in their positions of privilege and domination at home and abroad.”
Rather than retreating from the sowing of racial division and discord, the Left is now promoting Critical Race Theory and insisting that it be taught in schools across the country. In short, the most extreme elements in our culture want to impart to the eager young minds of tomorrow that the United States was born out of racism and that America is still a racist nation. They seek to divide us for selfish political gain.
And what will school children be taught?
That America was born not out of a revolution for liberty and freedom but to perpetuate and promote slavery. The New York Times’ 1619 Project , the curriculum for which is available for use in schools, “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.”
Another great chapter in America’s history, The Alamo, is also taking a significant hit. A new book, entitled Forget the Alamo, and a recent piece in the Washington Post, claims that Alamo history is a myth and that the history books have been wrong all these years. The Alamo, they say, was really about slavery and white supremacy. “Given that its defenders were fighting to form what became the single most militant slave nation in history, it is clear that rather than a courageous stand for liberty, the white men fighting at the Alamo were battling to own people of color.”
Is it any wonder why so many American college students openly say they are embarrassed to be Americans?
These new history lessons, and many others, could be taught to all Mississippi school children under Critical Race Theory unless it is forbidden. And it should be.
In truth, it is Critical Race Theory itself that is the most authentic notion of systemic racism in America today.
Teaching such extremist propaganda will only serve to divide an already divided people further. Instead, we should focus on what unites us – a common people with a shared history and a shared dream.
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Submitted by Chris McDaniel. He is a State Senator in the Mississippi Legislature.
Magnolia Tribune
