Joint Statement Against Critical Race Theory Using Race to Divide Americans

Parents Defending Education is pleased to join a coalition of 24 organizations (and growing) in opposition to Critical Race Theory. The full statement is below and attached here.

We are a coalition of 24 organizations, representing a diverse group of civil rights leaders,
academics, community activists and ordinary citizens. Coming from vastly different racial, ethnic
and political backgrounds, we are united by our common values and shared identity as Americans.
We are committed to promoting values of equal rights, equal citizenship, individual merit and
liberty, against the divisive invasion of critical race theory in every aspect of our public life.

Critical race theory (CRT) is a contested and explicitly political theory that examines all social relations, economic governance and policy outcomes through the prism of race and prescribes race-centered solutions to all social problems. While CRT, with its academic sub-variants and derivatives, should be judged as a scholarly subject of inquiry, it has increasingly become a monolithic dogma that informs broader cultural and political trends attempting to reshape and reengineer our society toward illiberal group think, equal outcomes, and collectivism.

CRT and its pleasant-sounding derivatives — diversity, equity and inclusion, anti-racism, racial
sensitivity, racial healing, critical pedagogy, critical awareness, social emotional learning and so
on, are underlined by a common thread of placing race, racism, and racial struggles at the center
of our national dialogue and public institutions. The doctrine paints a grim, inaccurate, and
discordant picture of our history and present, challenging the very foundations of the liberal order,
distorting our basic virtues of equality and merit, and purporting to dismantle free markets.
Perpetuating this bankrupt ideology in real life leads to perverse discrimination, disempowerment
and victimhood by virtue of race.

As a broad-based coalition, we wholeheartedly support teaching cultures and history including
slavery, racism and discrimination in a balanced, unabridged, nuanced and constructive fashion.
We welcome meaningful efforts to build understanding and appreciation for different cultures and
ethnicities in our diverse country. But we strongly oppose attempts to use race as a wedge to divide
Americans and denigrate our great country. In this spirit, we stand firmly against CRT and its
egregious manifestations in our schools, workplaces, and governments. We call upon you and all
like-minded individuals to join our growing coalition for a genuine movement to
safeguard democratic values of equality, liberty and unity.

Don’t divide us!

• Alliance to Protect Children
• AMCHA Initiative
• Better Milpitas
• Californians For Equal Rights Foundation
• Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York
• Concerned Parents of San Diego
• Educators for Quality and Equality
• Eagle Forum of California
• Equal Rights for All-Pac
• Fair Education Santa Barbara
• For Kids & Country
• Free Black Thought
• Informed Parents of California
• Irvine Equal Education Association
• Moms for Liberty
• National Association of Scholars
• Parents Defending Education
• Protect Our Kids
• San Diego Asian Americans for Equality
• Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation
• TOC Foundation
• US Asian Art & Culture Association
• We Save America
• Whittier and La Habra Precinct Patriots