Idaho task force on critical race theory: Serious examination or political witch hunt?
The deck is stacked and the jury is packed.
That’s the clear conclusion after a five-hour opening meeting of an education task force that’s more like a witch hunt than a serious examination of any critical race theory in Idaho’s public schools.
“This is Marxism, all of this, and with BLM,” said task force member Laura van Voorhees, referring to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“And my own opinion, that I’m sure that many people that I’ve talked to share it, that we are in a Marxist takeover, a communist takeover, of this country,” continued van Voorhees, who said she’s lived in Idaho for only a couple of months.
Aside from the over-the-top apocalyptic rhetoric, how does someone who’s lived in Idaho for two months get a spot on such a task force?
Nearly all of the 16 task force members voiced their opposition to critical race theory — even though they haven’t even defined what they think critical race theory is. All three speakers invited to speak, including two task force members, provided testimony strongly opposing critical race theory.
They also provided their own definitions and characterizations of what they say critical race theory is all about.
Task force member Scott Yenor, a political science professor at Boise State University, gave a detailed and academic explanation, as well as a history, of critical race theory.
He made several assertions about critical race theory, or “critical theory,” an expanded terminology to include other forms of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and disabilities.
At times, Yenor characterized critical theory as believing that “the oppressors are fundamentally and irredeemably evil, while the victims of the oppression are good and pure,” that “the aggrieved get to make the rules,” and that “we’re going to celebrate Sojourner Truth, but we’ll ignore George Washington.”
Yenor also asserted matter-of-factly that Christianity is one of the standards of civilization that critical theory seeks to dismantle.
Yenor’s esoteric definition of critical theory is “an embodiment of the reigning civil rights ideology that holds that all disparities between groups are traceable to discrimination, and that if we end discrimination, those disparities would disappear. The precise nature of that discrimination is hidden.”
The implications of that definition, as Yenor explained in great detail, are many and dangerous, including the alleged end goal of dismantling and destroying America’s institutions.
Unfortunately, no one was there to rebut these characterizations.
The only speakers were Yenor; Anna Miller, education policy analyst for the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which opposes public education; and James Lindsay, the author of “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity — And Why This Harms Everybody.”
For sure, there are valid concerns surrounding critical race theory that should be examined. But this group is not embarking on a serious examination of the issue. The first meeting included no public testimony or questions.
Task force chairwoman Rep. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, gave each task force member two books: Lindsay’s “Cynical Theories” book and Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist,” in the spirit of “hearing both sides.”
Given the task force’s first meeting, though, it’s clear where this panel is landing.
Further, I’m not convinced the task force is really assembled to tackle this academic exercise, but is more interested in a political exercise.
Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who formed the task force, said herself that she started it “to protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism and Marxism” — being sure to hit most of the loaded terms for the right wing.
I would hope that Yenor, himself, would wince at that description, as an educator who seeks to expose students to — not protect them from — all sorts of ideas and “isms.”
Without accepting testimony from supporters of critical race theory or what critical theory purports to do or accomplish, it’s hard to think of this task force as anything but a political stunt.
After all, McGeachin, since forming the task force, has announced that she’s running for governor, and she appointed as the task force chairperson Giddings, who has since announced that she’s running for lieutenant governor. In what surely was no coincidence, those announcements came right before the group’s first meeting.
Is critical race theory simply a better, more comprehensive way to explain and understand systemic racism in America or is it an insidious, sinister threat to infiltrate and destroy the very foundations of America?
Many of the task force members have made up their minds and are simply on a mission to snuff out anything they might consider “indoctrination” in the education system.
The task force’s next meeting is scheduled for June 24 to tackle K-12 education. Before then, a couple of task force members should ask Giddings to invite a supporter or two of critical theory to explain how they see it and to face any questions from the task force members.
A serious, thoughtful examination about critical theory can and should be had in Idaho.
It’s clear, though, that it won’t be had with McGeachin’s task force.
