CHARLESTON – West Virginia has a very proud, unique history. We’re a state born out of conflict. Proud Mountaineers sought to break free of our mother state because they couldn’t abide seceding from the union.
They identified with the union, and the desire to allow all men, regardless of color to always be free. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives for this cause – this deep belief that every person is created by God and is free, not to be enslaved, and has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Are we now expected to erase the lessons of the past 150 years? In the “woke” year 2021, the Union soldiers who fought and lost their lives to ensure the freedom of slaves across the country were racist anyway. Sure, they may have meant well, but if they were white, they didn’t really mean it.
Think that sounds kind of shocking? It is to most people, but concepts like that are at the core of critical race theory. To break it down to its most simple level, critical race theory is the concept that the United States was a country that was founded on white supremacy and that those foundational values have never changed.
Our legal system, our school system, even our United States Constitution, according to proponents of critical race theory, are designed to oppress everybody who isn’t white. Critical race theorists believe that all white people are racist, period. All white people, even small children.
This teaching has been pervasive in our institutions of higher education for several years now. In fact, the School of Social Work at West Virginia University last year put out a statement that included: “To ensure our own professional integrity, we must look inward and earnestly pursue our own transformation. We will conduct a thorough examination of our school’s policies, curriculum and processes, as well as critical assessments of our own biases and prejudices as faculty and staff. With our findings, we will create actionable tasks and engage in change efforts at School and individual levels that bring about equity and racial justice.”
Prejudices? In a School of Social Work? My sincere hope would be that the kinds of students who go into social work as a career are people who are most committed to equity and justice for all people. While nobody faults the college for wanting to take a look at its policies and curriculum to ensure that it’s providing the best education for the dollar, it’s troubling when that college wants to examine its criteria to make sure it’s “woke” enough.
All educational institutions can and should teach students about racism, segregation, and slavery. However, the ones that are funded largely by our taxpayer dollars should not be veering off into the territory of theories that promote any race over another or that any person should be treated differently simply because of their race.
Critical race theory teachings are making their way into our primary and secondary schools, too. Recently, the Jefferson County Board of Education had a job posting for a summer teacher for the Black Math Genius Program. The program, which bills itself as being designed to “help bring out the mathematical genius of black students across the district,” was met with so much resistance from outraged parents of all color that the county was forced to put the program on hold and re-evaluate.
School officials said the program was for all students, and they may have poorly communicated that with families. If race had never been part of the equation, it would have never been an issue in the first place. After all, math is math.
We are reaching a critical tipping point in our country, and if sane, cooler heads do not step forward, we are in trouble. We have spent decades teaching colorblindness, and that we should be judging all people on their ability, their character and their deeds, and not the color of their skin.
In today’s “Down Is Up” society, that’s no longer good enough. Our public schools and our government must reflect the core values of our democratic society – that men are created equal and that everybody has the chance to have a successful, fruitful life. We cannot tolerate our children being indoctrinated that whiteness is wrong and that they’re racist by simply being born to white parents.
We must stand up strong and defend against schools who seek to divide our children and their parents, and we must make them understand there are consequences to sowing such discontent. We must reject the use of our taxpayer dollars to fund these programs, and as the Chairman of the Senate’s Finance Committee, I assure you that I will do everything in my power to find these hateful, divisive programs and root them out.
Our children, and their future, deserve it.
Tarr, a Republican, represents the Fourth Senatorial District which includes Jackson and Mason counties and parts of Putnam and Roane counties. He serves as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance.
