A right-wing think tank posing as a nonpartisan research institute seems to want its mark on education to be banning instruction of critical race theory, racism, or any history that might suggest being an American hasn't always been as pleasant as eating warm apple pie. In a since-deleted tweet, the Texas Public Policy Foundation asked on Tuesday: “Are you wondering if Critical Race Theory is being taught in your child’s school? Stay on the lookout for some of CRT’s less ‘buzzworthy’ names and language.”
The tweet then provided a pile of words and phrases:
It’s the kind of list that makes me want to tell the folks at the foundation: If you don’t know what critical race theory is, just say that.
Here’s the now-deleted tweet.
It should be no surprise that the Texas Public Policy Foundation tweeted such ignorance. The Texas Observer, a nonprofit news magazine, linked the nonprofit to Republican Rick Perry, Sen. Ted Cruz, and the Koch brothers. The foundation “bills itself as a ‘non-partisan research institute’ and brags that it ‘does not accept government funds or contributions to influence the outcomes of its research,’” Texas Observer writer Forrest Wilder said in his 2012 piece on the foundation.
“It’s easy for the organization to make that claim; as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, TPPF doesn’t have to disclose its funding sources,” Wilder added. “But a list of TPPF’s donors was inadvertently posted on Guidestar.org.”
The foundation’s key corporate donors, according to the list The Texas Observer referenced, included in 2012:
To set the record straight: Critical race theory is more like a fact that’s been realized by some and vehemently denied by others: that racism affects nearly every major system in this country, especially the legal system and the laws that govern our society. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founder of the theory, defined it in an interview with CNN as a practice that rejects the stark division between past and present with regards to racism. “It's an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it," she said.
Malaika Jabali, a public policy attorney and writer, broke down the theory in a brilliant Twitter thread on June 20. “Critical Race Theory is not ‘diversity & inclusion’ programs,” she said in one tweet. “It’s not even primarily about mandating an accurate reframing of history (though it can include that). Its founders are legal scholars who felt it necessary to apply a racial lens to understanding U.S. laws.”
“CRT came in to fill in a gap in legal scholarship to explain our legal system; not to be an overarching explanation of all the things in the world,” Jabali added. “Still, leading CRT scholars often examine the role of class, gender, and other social statuses & their relationship with the law.”
Jabali adds: “So if by CRT you just mean ‘history,’ just say that. But these are two separate fields.”
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The tweet then provided a pile of words and phrases:
- critical race theory (CRT) or culturally responsive teaching;
- equity, diversity, and inclusion;
- cultural/multicultural competence;
- implicit/unconscious/internalized bias,
- social justice or restorative justice;
- systemic/structural/institutional racism or oppression;
- microaggressions;
- anti-racism;
- white privilege/fragility/supremacy/culture/prejudice;
- CQ—like IQ but cultural intelligence;
- colonialism/neo-colonialism/colonizer/decolonialism;
- power structures or racial hierarchies;
- normative;
- disparate outcomes or inequity;
- identity;
- ally or ally-ship;
- afrocentric/eurocentric;
- social constructs;
- Black Lives Matter;
- reparation/liberation;
- and ethnocentricity.
It’s the kind of list that makes me want to tell the folks at the foundation: If you don’t know what critical race theory is, just say that.
Here’s the now-deleted tweet.
It should be no surprise that the Texas Public Policy Foundation tweeted such ignorance. The Texas Observer, a nonprofit news magazine, linked the nonprofit to Republican Rick Perry, Sen. Ted Cruz, and the Koch brothers. The foundation “bills itself as a ‘non-partisan research institute’ and brags that it ‘does not accept government funds or contributions to influence the outcomes of its research,’” Texas Observer writer Forrest Wilder said in his 2012 piece on the foundation.
“It’s easy for the organization to make that claim; as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, TPPF doesn’t have to disclose its funding sources,” Wilder added. “But a list of TPPF’s donors was inadvertently posted on Guidestar.org.”
The foundation’s key corporate donors, according to the list The Texas Observer referenced, included in 2012:
The strategy here is transparent.
To set the record straight: Critical race theory is more like a fact that’s been realized by some and vehemently denied by others: that racism affects nearly every major system in this country, especially the legal system and the laws that govern our society. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founder of the theory, defined it in an interview with CNN as a practice that rejects the stark division between past and present with regards to racism. “It's an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it," she said.
Malaika Jabali, a public policy attorney and writer, broke down the theory in a brilliant Twitter thread on June 20. “Critical Race Theory is not ‘diversity & inclusion’ programs,” she said in one tweet. “It’s not even primarily about mandating an accurate reframing of history (though it can include that). Its founders are legal scholars who felt it necessary to apply a racial lens to understanding U.S. laws.”
“CRT came in to fill in a gap in legal scholarship to explain our legal system; not to be an overarching explanation of all the things in the world,” Jabali added. “Still, leading CRT scholars often examine the role of class, gender, and other social statuses & their relationship with the law.”
Jabali adds: “So if by CRT you just mean ‘history,’ just say that. But these are two separate fields.”
RELATED: Remember Space Force commander Trump thanked? He's been fired for deeming diversity efforts Marxist