Hundreds of concerned parents gathered at Capitol Hill as part of a vehement protest against ideas like critical race theory (CRT) in education.
The event – titled Government Is NOT a Co-Parent – was hosted by the Independent Women’s Network and featured speeches from multiple members of Congress. Signs read “We’ve had enough” and “Government shouldn’t control our kids” – touching on tension among administrators, educators, and parents across the country.
The event comes as CRT opponents are celebrating multiple GOP wins in Virginia, which are thought to serve as a sign for things to come in 2022.
“Right now, there is a revolution occurring where parents are starting to take back their schools, and I think we need to be voices for that,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News after his speech at the rally. He added that Republicans should embrace the issue ahead of midterms as the battle over education is playing out across the country – not just in Virginia.
“Youngkin’s success reveals that Republicans can and must become the party of parents,” read a recent memo from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) about the campaign of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin. “There is real energy from parents that we need to understand.”
Defenders argue that CRT-type training helps enhance dominant groups’ understanding and empathy of what the oppressed experience on a regular basis. These types of trainings have also been promoted as ways to “dismantle” or weaken alleged structures imposing burdens through bias and discrimination.
Angela Onwuachi-Willig, an expert on critical race theory at Boston University School of Law, told the Boston Globe that CRT helped people understand the complexity of race – beyond “simple” narratives that they may have been taught.
While states generally handle education policy, federal actors have become more enmeshed in the issue in recent months.
“With Joe Biden in the White House and his dangerous agenda – and Nancy Pelosi and these socialist Democrats running the Congress – we have to fight back,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who chairs the RSC.
He added that the election in Virginia was an “inspiration,” with results that would play out in other areas during midterms.
President Biden’s Education Department previously came under fire for pushing grants for what appeared to be CRT-related ideas. Meanwhile, part of his coronavirus relief has been leveraged to push “equity” and other initiatives. More controversially, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo that raised questions about how the administration perceived purported intimidation from parents at school board meetings.
Roy, who attended high school in Loudoun County, Virginia, told Fox News: “I can promise you that if the people put Republicans put back in charge, we’ll be having a lot of oversight hearings in this administration.”
Parents decide what they want in their child’s education especially when it involves values, morals, gender,, sex and pedophilia, how dare school boards take parent’s rights away concerning their children 😤
With huge increases in bi-racial relationships/marriages, what are the effects on especially all the young people? Which parent will be rejected due to their color? What are the mental aspects and turmoil they will have to battle on a daily basis? Will CRT keep Black kids down and keep white kids in their ‘alleged superior positions’? Have any of these Black people promoting CRT thought about what they are doing to their own kids? My father called me stupid and dummy all my life, so I didn’t go to college until after I found out at 40 that I have 138 IQ. Until that point, I was such an under achiever, got really screwed up, and never believed when anyone told me that I was very smart. Please stop using this as a weapon to hurt whites, as you will hurt your own kids and they may not recover from the “Parental Power Trip’.