Most parents, including Latinos and Asians, oppose teaching critical race theory in classrooms
Polling data shows that parents of every racial and political background oppose the indoctrination of students with critical race theory in the classroom.
A poll by Rasmussen in June shows that Asian and Latino parents oppose critical race theory by a two-to-one margin, the same as white parents. The data flies in the face of NBC News reporter Tyler Kingkade and data editor Nigel Chiwaya, who claim that the parent uprisings against CRT which have occurred in more than 200 school districts across the United States, are a “backlash” against “rapid demographic change” and “the exposure of White students to students of color.”
As detailed by investigative journalist Christopher Rufo in an opinion editorial titled “The White Backlash That Wasn’t,” Rufo stated, ”to put it bluntly, it’s the ugly reaction of white racism in the face of rapidly integrating schools. As left-leaning Slate concluded, NBC’s reporting proves that fear of ‘white replacement’ and the desire to ‘protect whiteness’ motivate the anti-critical race theory movement.”
Rufo added:
There is only one problem: NBC’s analysis is nonsense. The report, like the left-wing narrative about critical race theory more generally, fails both statistically and imaginatively. NBC News builds its narrative on the claim that “many of the school districts facing backlash over equity initiatives are diversifying faster than the national average.” The report provides data for 33 school districts, which undermine its argument in two ways: first, one-third of these districts have diversified slower, rather than faster, than the national average; and second, according to NBC News’ own reporting, there have been anti-critical race theory protests in at least 220 school districts nationwide, which means that NBC failed even to analyze 85 percent of the evidence.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, the leader of the parents opposed to CRT is an Indian-American woman, Asra Nomani, who slammed critical race theory for its impact on academic standards and encouraging discrimination against high-performing Asians in USA Today.
As further detailed by Rufo, polling data by the Heritage Foundation earlier in the year found that only 35 per cent of parents are familiar with the concept of critical race theory. 14 percent of parents said they had an unfavourable opinion of CRT, and 26 per cent said they had a favourable opinion. The rest were neutral or unsure. Following heavy media coverage of the subject, a newer poll, conducted in June by the Economist, found that 64 per cent of adults had heard of critical race theory, of whom 58 percent did not view it favourably. Only 38 per cent shared a positive opinion of the concept.
A survey in September conducted by the Manhattan Institute and Echelon Insights, which surveyed adults in 20 metropolitan areas, found that parents opposed critical race theory indoctrination in public schools by a 42-point margin. A large majority of Black and Hispanic parents oppose critical race theory and support the removal of concepts like white privilege and systemic racism from the school curriculum.
Contrary to reporting from NBC News and Slate, and other progressive media outlets, opposition to critical race theory and its sister concepts is widely opposed by every demographic.
Ian Miles Cheong
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Ian Miles Cheong is a freelance writer, graphic designer, journalist and videographer. He’s kind of a big deal on Twitter.
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