RALEIGH — On May 12, North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop (R-09) held a press conference to introduce the Stop CRT Act and the Combatting Racist Training in the Military Act. The Stop CRT Act seeks to ban the use of federal funds from being used to promote, train or teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) in government agencies.
“Critical Race Theory is a poison to the psyche of our nation. This destructive ideology has no place in America’s institutions, and the bills I’m introducing will help ensure that our government isn’t spending resources on promoting it,” said Bishop in a statement following the press conference. “But President Biden and the radical Left are committed to pushing this neo-Marxist propaganda into our classrooms, places of work, and even the military. Legislators on every level must fight back against this insidious effort to undermine the truths about our nation’s founding with everything we’ve got.”
The Stop CRT Act codifies an executive order signed by former President Trump in 2020 that banned CRT training in federal agencies.
Bishop was joined by fellow North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd (NC-13) as well as the former OMB Director and President of Citizens for Renewing America Russ Vought, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO-03), Rep Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-05).
During the press conference, Vought gave examples of CRT that included California third-graders being forced to rank their levels of privilege based on their race, white male contractors involved in work with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration having to write apology letters to minorities, and “microaggression” training held by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that emphasized attributes of being qualified for a job is racist.
“The Biden administration’s insistence in perpetuating Critical Race Theory at every level of our society is incredibly divisive and dangerous,” said Vought. “I applaud these bills that stop this Marxist indoctrination, filled with corrosive and demeaning ideas that suggest people should be judged by the color of their skin, instead of the content of their character.”
The Stop CRT Act contains language similar to that of North Carolina House Bill 324, which is rapidly moving through the state’s General Assembly. The seven provisions in the Stop CRT Act are:
- Any race is inherently superior or inferior to any other race.
- The United States is a fundamentally racist country.
- The Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution are fundamentally racist documents.
- An individual’s moral worth is determined by his or her race.
- An individual, by virtue of his or her race, is inherently racist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
- An individual, because of his or her race, bears responsibility for the actions committed by members of his or her race.
- The Stop CRT Act would apply to the promotion of CRT or related training in the military.
Watch Rep. Bishop’s remarks here:
Critical Race Theory is nothing more than cultural Marxism. It masquerades as history, but is designed to mislead.
For the sake of our children’s future we must fight this now. The bills I introduced today will stop CRT in its tracks by defunding it at the federal level. https://t.co/qi4rn2ydJr pic.twitter.com/UPDodvkoDR
— Rep. Dan Bishop (@RepDanBishop) May 12, 2021
Watch Rep. Ted Budd’s remarks here:
In America, we judge our fellow citizens by their own merit, not the color of their skin.
That’s why we must stand against #CriticalRaceTheory.
Thanks to @RepDanBishop & @russvought for leading the charge. pic.twitter.com/IwKfzI6jUX
— Congressman Ted Budd (@RepTedBudd) May 12, 2021
Two more North Carolina representatives are planning a bill aimed at the U.S. Department of Education. Today, May 13, Reps. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC) will introduce the PEACE Act.
“America’s classrooms are the cradle of Democracy. Critical race theory is a cowardly attempt, by those who hate this nation, to rob the cradle and rewrite American history in one swift move,” said Cawthorn in a statement. “The Ayatollahs in Iran train their children to hate America abroad, now the radical left wants to save Iran the trouble and teach our next generation to hate America at home.”
“America is not a racist country. We are a collection of the failures and successes of past generations to create a nation grounded in the idea that all people are created equal,” Foxx said in a statement. “That is what our schools should be teaching our youth, that no matter your background, there is room for you to succeed in America. This bill will prevent the Biden administration from indoctrinating our children with a left-wing, racist ideology.”
The PEACE Act would “prohibit the expenditure of funds on the priorities noticed in the proposed rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to Proposed Priorities-American History and Civics Education, and for other purposes.”
The proposed rule mentioned in the bill is the Biden Administration’s proposed rule embedding CRT concepts into the teaching of History and Civics. The rule, submitted to the Federal Register on April 19, attaches grants to incentivize states to adopt the proposed changes to History and Civics teaching.
The changes proposed by the Biden Administration include support for “Culturally Responsive Teaching,” a form of teaching with CRT elements that often depends on “antibias training” in order to bridge culture gaps between teacher and students.
