Powerline by John Hinderaker 7/26/2021
Teaching critical race theory in the public schools is immoral, but it is legal unless the legislature in a given state has banned it. On the other hand, for an employer to inflict CRT training on employees against their will can be legally problematic. And even in the public schools, promoting CRT while discriminating against expression of other viewpoints may violate the First Amendment.
Today the Upper Midwest Law Center, fresh off its victory over the City of Minneapolis, in a case in which a state court judge ordered Minneapolis to hire more police officers to comply with that city’s charter, held a press conference to announce several new legal actions, all related in some way to critical race theory. (Disclosure: I am a member of UMLC’s Board of Directors.)
From the press release announcing the actions:
Tara Gustilo says: “I shouldn’t be demoted or retaliated against because I don’t agree with the racially divisive and demeaning CRT ideology.” Is she wrong? Our clients believe we are all human and we are all important – all are created equal. They believe no one should be told they are “irredeemable.” Our clients believe that not being judged by race or ethnicity is a right, not a privilege. They believe all have the right and responsibility to understand and critically assess history and culture and that no one should ever have advantages or detriments based on race.
But, shockingly, the Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) message in 2021 to students and employees in Minnesota public schools, state agencies, public hospitals and many private schools and business corporations is the opposite. Students and employees are being told that White people are “oppressors” who benefit from systemic racism, that Blacks are “oppressed” by Whites who are intrinsically racist whatever they do, and that other groups are “White-adjacent” junior oppressors unless they join the attack on Whites. The practical consequences of this CRT, BLM or 1619 Project ideology (all with Marxist origins) include the familiar hallmarks of racial discrimination from the Civil Rights Era: race-based discrimination and favoritism, bullying of critics, name-calling and retaliation. Whites are a target of course, but CRT is rejected by many of all races who see it as bad for everyone and as denying minorities’ ability to take charge of their lives.
The clients of UMLC are among the critics and victims. Tara Gustilo, a Filipino-American doctor at Hennepin Healthcare System (formerly known as HCMC), Joe and Aaron Norgren, Native-American father and mixed-race son employees at DHS, and Bob and Cynthia Cajune, Native-American and White parents of multi-racial children at Lakeville Public Schools, and many other parents there, are challenging this abhorrent, racially-divisive ideology, grounded in Marxism and anti-Americanism, which is literally pushing aside the medical care, teaching and public service missions at these organizations to convert them to this warped version of “social justice.”
More:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/07/is-critical-race-theory-illegal.php
