The case against critical race fear-mongering
Beware of Obamacare!
Those âdeath panelsâ are brutal.
Remember them?
They were hatched out of thin air by Republicans, with hopes of thwarting President Obamaâs proposed health-care reform bill in 2009.
It was the boogeyman the folks on the right used as shorthand for the predicted danger that would befall Americaâs elderly if they signed up for the expansive new plan.
When that bill became law, there became no âdeath panels.â
There have never been any âdeath panels.â
The Republicans who alerted us to them knew there wouldnât be any of them.
They still couldnât resist finding ways to remind us of them daily.
They were using that tired, old, fear-mongering technique theyâd used when they warned us that the fellow who was running for president in 2008 was a secret Muslim, hellbent on jettisoning democracy from our nation.
And so, in the days leading up to the presidential election in 2020, President Trump discovered a new boogeyman â âcritical race theory.â
According to Trumpâs directive, âall agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on âcritical race theory.'â
Bingo!
A new boogeyman was born.
One that could be easily repeated all over right-wing media ad nauseam.
Heâd indicated that âcritical race theoryâ was antithetical to American life as we know it, or as it was meant to be.
Before long, Trump devotees were claiming that CRT had seeped into public schools, where itâs being force-fed to the nationâs vulnerable youngâuns.
According to many Republicans, schoolchildren are being taught to hate themselves and the country because itâs âinherently racist and evil.â
By August of this year, 27 states had introduced legislation that would hinder âcritical race theory,â or the discussions of race in public schools.
It doesnât matter that no public school in the entire United States teaches CRT.
Those Republicans who brandish âcritical race theoryâ know that its mention is a call to arms to suburban white voters, who may feel their role in society is being diminished.
To them, CRT is racist. To be frank, calling for CRT to end, when it doesnât exist, is, for the lack of a better word â racist!
Republicans never let a good boogeyman get in the way of some votes.
Thatâs exactly what the newly elected Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, did.
While he was campaigning, Youngkin signaled that heâd prevent Virginiaâs public schools from teaching CRT as if there were already plans to teach it.
There werenât any plans.
Itâs a funny thing, when people campaign against something that doesnât, or wouldnât exist â but they campaign anyway.
Perhaps Democrats should come up with their own boogeymen.
They could find stuff that doesnât exist, but they could still campaign as if Republicans are planning to make it happen, anyway.
They could announce, âWeâre gonna stop having loaded assault rifles and target practicing at birthday parties for toddlers.â
They could call it âAnti-bullets for Babies Theory.â
That couldnât be any worse than trying to outlaw something that doesnât exist.
Itâs a familiar formula.
Coin a phrase, and ignite a controversy worthy of campaigning against.
âDefund the police,â was a boogeyman used by Republican candidates in 2020.
Listen closely. Theyâre still clinging to that fiction.
Down through the years, Republicans have race-baited using âcrosstown busingâ and âwelfare queens.â
Dr. Seuss was good enough for a rallying cry, when the folks running that enterprise suggested they were pulling some of their books from store shelves, because of âoffensive imagery.â
According to politicians on the right, that was caused by left-wing-based âcancel culture.â
Of course, that was a misrepresentation. The Dr. Seuss estate was responsible for the change.
No Democratic politician had anything to do with it.
You see how this works, donât you?
Since Youngkin struck gold in Virginia, you can expect lots of Republican candidates to conjure up rogue grade school educators whoâll force âcritical race theoryâ down the throats of the nationâs school kids.
Republicans canât help themselves.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.