A professor at Boston University called Republicans 'the party of white supremacy' and not the 'party of parents,' despite...
A professor at Boston University called Republicans 'the party of white supremacy' and not the 'party of parents,' despite the GOP 'branding' themselves as such.
Ibram X. Kendi, Boston University's Andrew W. Mellon professor in the Humanities and Director of the Center for Antiracist Research, took aim at the GOP in an op-ed for The Atlantic, citing Republican opposition to critical race theory as a reason why they're 'clearly' not the party of parents.
'This Republican Party is not the party of any group of parents, but the party of white supremacy,' Kendi wrote.
'The Republican Party is clearly not the party of parents. The Republican Party is certainly not the party of parents of color. But is the Republican Party even the party of white parents?'
'(They are) not the party of parents raising white kids. The Republican Party is not the party of parents raising girls, raising trans kids, raising kids of color, raising queer kids, raising poor kids, raising immigrant kids.'
'The Republican Party is making it harder for all of these kids to learn about themselves and their histories,' Kendi went on to write.
Pictured: Ibram X. Kendi took aim at the GOP, citing Republican opposition to critical race theory as a reason why they're 'clearly' not the party of parents
Kendi, pictured, called Republicans' efforts to 'brand' themselves as the 'party of parents' based on a 'myth'
A protest against critical race theory at Scottsdale Unified School District (above), which took place before a digital school board meeting at Coronado High School in Arizona
'(The GOP) is stripping parents and educators of their collective ability to protect vulnerable children from being indoctrinated by—or victimized by—the scourge of white supremacy.'
Kendi called Republican efforts to 'brand' itself as the 'party of parents' a 'myth,' on the scale of 'the great lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.'
He added that the party has built that reputation on 'false conceptual building blocks.'
Kendi also noted in his editorial that it's a common refrain among Democrats that 'Republican politicians care about white children,' though he claims that '[banning] anti-racist education is harmful to white children' as well.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, pictured, promotes the 'Stop Woke Act' on December 15, 2021
DeSantis displays the signed Parental Rights in Education, aka the Don't Say Gay bill, flanked by elementary school students during a news conference on March 28, 2022
According to Kendi, if Republican politicians indeed care about white children, 'they would not be ignoring or downplaying or defending or bolstering the principal racial threat facing white youth today.'
That threat, according to Kendi? 'White supremacy.'
'Instead of focusing on this very real threat, Republican politicians—to justify Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law—have cited QAnon conspiracy theories about public schools being overrun by child predators who are "grooming" children to be gay,' Kendi wrote.
'A spokesperson for Governor Ron DeSantis reframed the "Don’t Say Gay" bill as an "anti-grooming" bill. But if QAnon Republicans really cared about white children, then they would be worried about white-supremacist grooming.'
'This is the grooming that parents of all children should be worried about.'
Opponents of the academic doctrine known as Critical Race Theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia
A person wears a QAnon sweatshirt during a pro-Trump rally on October 3, 2020 in the borough of Staten Island in New York City
Kendi went on to say that 'anti-racist education' based on frameworks like critical race theory ultimately protect 'all children' and not just white children.'
'The Republican Party is making it difficult for individuals to learn about history,' he added.
'This is anti-racist education, and it protects white children—all children—against the growing threat of white supremacists, as I demonstrate in my upcoming book,' Kendi wrote.
Last month, Florida legislature passed the controversial 'Stop WOKE Act,' a bill introduced by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in December in an effort to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools and workplaces across the state.
The bill codified a ban put in place by the state Department of Education earlier last year on the controversial topic in K-12 schools, as well as enacting new restrictions on private workplaces.
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