RALEIGH — National spokesperson and director of black media affairs for the Republican National Committee Paris Dennard talked to North State Journal about parents frustrated with Critical Race Theory and the failings of the Biden administration on vaccinations.
Dennard has been a long-time political commentator and is the founding principal of PD Consulting Group. He served in the offices of political affairs, legislative affairs and public liaison and as the White House director of black outreach under former President George W. Bush from 2005-2009.
On the topic of media claiming “woke” activism and Critical Race Theory in schools is a political “boogeyman” invented by Republicans, Dennard pointed to parents as the root of the pushback.
“I think ultimately parents are growing more and more concerned about the direction that a lot of public schools and school districts are taking,” said Dennard. He added that “it’s not even limited to public schools,” noting that some private schools are involved in ensuring “more radical progressive or ‘woke’ thought and ideology is placed upon the students.”
Dennard continued, saying parents don’t want “editorialized education” from school districts and so-called “woke” activists in the school systems. He said parents want to be the “arbiters of truth and value and of morals and of cultural issues that are important to them.”
“When you see the condition of a lot of public schools today, when you have a focus that is not on making sure their child can read at grade level, but making sure that their children are, from a Critical Race Theory standpoint, being taught that there is an ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor,’ and that the foundation of our country is rooted in slavery and evil, and that this is a country that is bad and racist.”
“Those alleged qualities are things that parents are rejecting, especially in North Carolina,” said Dennard. He went on to say parents are “rightfully concerned,” and cited examples of Critical Race Theory and “whiteness in education spaces” playing out in Wake County, the state’s largest school district.
With continued talk of masks in schools this fall and a push to get vaccinated on the mind of a lot of people, Dennard says that the Biden administration has given conflicting information and has failed on both fronts.
“I think that the Biden administration has botched this entire process of educating the American people and having them have confidence in where we are in terms of vaccines,” said Dennard, adding that the Biden/Harris campaign spent “months on end trying to dissuade people about the impact and efficacy of the vaccine that came about because of the Operation Warp Speed under the Trump administration.”
“The parents are upset with the Democrats, and those in Congress, and in the White House, and the Senate using children as guinea pigs — as scapegoats — on their policies,” said Dennard. “And that’s the issue with Critical Race Theory, with these vaccines, and these masks, and when it comes to all these other things like indoctrination; they’re tired of it.”
“Ultimately, a lot of North Carolina is going to look at where they are in terms of how things have been under Democrat Leadership,” said Dennard. “And that’s going to look at Critical Race Theory, they’re going to look at inflation, gas prices, at fentanyl coming into their community because of the open border situation, and they’re going to look at high crime and the increased crime.”
