SET ASIDE RACE; DON’T HIGHLIGHT IT

We find our society these days divided as evidenced by civic disorder and disharmonious feuds. One movement that has grown in recent years and helped fuel today’s division is critical race theory, an ideology that dangerously, unjustly, and purposely attempts to divide people. Critical race theory (CRT) propagandizes to divide the world into oppressed groups and their oppressors, like how classical Marxism divides the world into the so-called haves and have nots. The CRT curriculum, which originated in universities, has since moved down to be taught in high schools and even many elementary schools, and now too many kids have been programmed to believe the fallacies of the theory.

Critical race theory teaches that America is systemically racist and that certain groups have been historically oppressed by a dominant white culture and continue to be oppressed by so-called white privilege. Unfortunately, the life-lesson that a black child* will subconsciously learn via the CRT curriculum is that the white culture will always be treated superiorly and get all the benefits, so you have an excuse to not make it to the top of your class, to not be successful in your career, or to not need to follow so-called unjust laws that are racially biased. Ironically, critical race theory is teaching kids to be racist, in that it detests the notion of being color blind but instead promotes the notion that one ethnic group is better than other groups.

* I say “black child”and not the more all-encompassing, woke terminology “child of color” that most CRT documents use because in reality, CRT is primarily focused on the sole battle of African-Americans/blacks vs. Caucasians/whites. It’s actually not all other non-white races that the critical race theory proponents are supportive of and sympathetic to.

Most notably, this movement never mentions Asians in its arguments because they know the fact is Asian-Americans do better than white kids in all aspects of schooling and financial success in careers. Plus, Asians are disciplined less in school and imprisoned less in society that whites. So “color” isn’t a factor in this case; it’s that generally speaking Asian families are superior in how they place emphasis on law and order, on the family unit staying together and dads remaining in the household, and on education being the principal goal for their children.

Because CRT’s beliefs conflict with the Catholic Church’s teachings on human dignity and because CRT pits people against one another based on skin color, this divisive and hurtful ideology should not be taught in a Catholic school. A faithful Catholic school will teach its students that treating people as individuals is more important than looking at skin color or country or origin. It will not teach white kids to be burdened with guilt because of so-called white privilege. It will not teach ethnic-minority children to believe there is hopelessness and permanent victim status because of their race. These ideas of guilt and victimhood espoused in CRT result in young people of any race having unhealthy self-hatred for their unalterable characteristics.

If your Catholic school is teaching CRT or promoting the similarly connected “Black Lives Matter” movement, question the administrator and teacher, inform them of your opposition, and if they don’t change their ways you need to change schools. If your public school is teaching CRT…well…actually.. as a Catholic family, you shouldn’t have your children enrolled in a secular, godless public school. You should either be homeschooling or enrolled in an authentically Catholic or Christian school. The assumption is 99% of public schools teach CRT.

As Catholics and Christians, we are to set aside race – not highlight it. Our Lord wants to bring together people from every ethnic group into one, not divide them into colored categories so that they might endlessly battle one another. CRT adopts policies that treat students differently according to race, and has all policies viewed through a racial lens.

Automatically pointing to the fact that a person is white and, therefore, came out on top, dismisses the person as a color more than considers the person as a child of God. It also has a double effect of telling the black person that it doesn’t matter how hard he works or the choices he makes, because being black is not as honored as being white. The message that the theory of so-called white privilege gives is a perfect example of a type of racism.

When black actor Morgan Freeman was asked how we are going to get rid of racism, he simply replied, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.” But programs such as CRT don’t want to stop talking about it. Contrarily, they want to highlight it and propagandize it.

Critical race theory and the “Black Lives Matter” movement are both purposefully political as they promote that racist whites and so-called white privilege are dangerously rampant. Bt blaming all inequalities of outcome on what they say is pervasive racism in the United States, CRT and BLM advocates aren’t helping ethnic minorities who find themselves less educated and more incarcerated; they are merely creating chaos and increasing the “Blacks and Hispanics are helpless and persecuted” false mindset.

In 2011, the words “racist/racists/racism” accounted for about 0.0028% of all words in articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post, two leading newspapers which don’t just lean left but are considered very liberal, progressive news sources. Fast forward ten years and there has been a striking increase in the use of the words “racist/racists/racism” in their newspaper articles. These days, it’s closer to 0.028% of all words published in the Times and Post which is an increase of about 1,000%! Does this prove that racism has increased in the US by 1,000% in the past ten years? Of course not. Whereas there is and will always be some racists in our country, the drastic increase in “racism” in news stories isn’t due to increased numbers of racists. It’s due to a superabundance of reporting and editorializing on the subject by today’s liberal journalists – ironically most who are white – who have increased writing about and labeling a larger number of behaviors and people, as innocent and neutral as they are, as racist.

Did you know that the phrase ‘one another‘ is used over 90 times in the New Testament? This phrase is one way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit show us how we should work with our brothers and sisters who have been mistreated. What authentic Catholic schools teach their students, and what effective parents teach their children, is that as Christians, we care for one another regardless of skin color, socio-economic status, or nationality. Scripture tells us we should…

• Love one another. (John 13:34)

• Build up one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

• Give preference to one another. (Romans 12:10)

• Stimulate one another to good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

• Be hospitable to one another. (1 Peter 4:9)

• Pray for one another. (James 5:16)

My piece of advice to Catholic school teachers and parents about what to tell their kids in response to critical race theory’s cries of racism is to tell them that the fundamental race that matters is the human race, of which we are all a part. Naturally, you want to encourage cultural respect – for your own culture and others – and celebrate the beautiful tapestry of people God has made by creating various races. One of America’s strong points is the many cultures and colors represented by one nation. You should tell your kids how special that is.

Similarly, your children should never forget the multiple times you tell them that our God is a God of love and justice, and a God who made all of us in His image. Through parents’ and teachers’ words and modeling, it should be made known to their youngsters that to treat someone else poorly because of what they look like or what country they came from would be like a slap in the face to God.

The best Catholic schools are those whose classroom lessons and adopted standards unite their students and school community in a unified and respectful manner. They teach that we are one human family whatever our racial, ethnic, and economic differences are. We are all our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers with a responsibility to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Besides not incorporating CRT or promoting the BLM movement, Catholic schools are also wrong to include the DEI campaign (diversity, equity, inclusion) in their philosophy or curriculum. (You can read a more in-depth analysis of DEI at my earlier post, “The 3-Letters You Want to Find in Your Child’s School Are Not D-E-I; They Are G-O-D.“)

Catholic social teaching calls us to solidarity and to protect human rights and the vulnerable members of our society. The Church’s teachings and the lessons coming out of these faithful schools’ classrooms bring about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a day when all persons are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.