Below are some of the political figures and groups who are creating false narratives about racial justice education and critical education around issues of race, class, and gender.
Conservative Groups Supporting Anti-CRT, anti-DEI, or anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation in Ohio (*as of July 2024)
- National Association of Scholars
- Proclaiming Justice to the Nations
- Ethics and Public Policy Center
- MU Educational Leadership
- Rocky River Citizens for Transparency
- Parents Defending Education
- Protect Ohio Children Coalition
- Parents Rights in Education
- Ohio Value Voters
- FreedomWorks
- Center for Christian Virtue
- Moms for Liberty
- Ohio Christian Alliance
- No Left Turn in Education
- American Council of Trustees and Alumni
- Speech First
- Higher Education Reform
- Jack Miller Center
- Buckeye Institute
INDIVIDUALS
Christopher Rufo
Rufo is a right-wing media activist who has turned his media focus on Critical Race Theory in the past year. This New Yorker article details Rufo’s role in fabricating key lies about what CRT is and clearly lays out his central role in spreading the current anti-CRT frenzy nationally. Additional reporting on his role in promoting many lies about Critical Race Theory are covered in this New York Magazine Intelligencer article.
As Benjamin Wallack-Wells writes in his New Yorker piece:
As Rufo eventually came to see it, conservatives engaged in the culture war had been fighting against the same progressive racial ideology since late in the Obama years, without ever being able to describe it effectively. “We’ve needed new language for these issues,” Rufo told me, when I first wrote to him, late in May. “ ‘Political correctness’ is a dated term and, more importantly, doesn’t apply anymore. It’s not that elites are enforcing a set of manners and cultural limits, they’re seeking to reengineer the foundation of human psychology and social institutions through the new politics of race, It’s much more invasive than mere ‘correctness,’ which is a mechanism of social control, but not the heart of what’s happening. The other frames are wrong, too: ‘cancel culture’ is a vacuous term and doesn’t translate into a political program; ‘woke’ is a good epithet, but it’s too broad, too terminal, too easily brushed aside. ‘Critical race theory’ is the perfect villain,” Rufo wrote.
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Mark Levin
Mark LevinMark Levin is a Fox News talk show host who has made a career writing about the secret plot to impose “cultural Marxism” on an unsuspecting public, destroy democracy, and turn the US into a Marxist dictatorship. While these claims are ludicrous, they also closely match many of the talking points we are hearing in local school boards and legislatures across the country and here in Ohio. Levin promotes this anti-CRT agenda in his 2021 book American Marxism, which was on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for 11 weeks following its initial publication.
Levin’s book lays out his main attack on CRT, which he describes as one of the most destructive ideological movements today. “CRT is an insidious and racist Marxist ideology spreading throughout our culture and society,” he argues. Levin devotes considerable space to discuss how CRT is supposedly infiltrating our schools with its Marxist cultural agenda and anti-American ideas. Among other claims, he says:
Today, publishers are pushing out books on CRT at a brisk pace. Educational materials are being used in public school classrooms throughout America to indoctrinate and brainwash children. Schoolteachers are being ‘re-educated’ and trained in Critical Race Theory…CRT is now firmly entrenched in American universities and colleges, and its reach is widespread… Moreover, CRT is spreading rapidly through America’s public schools. Among other things, this is being accomplished with the strong advocacy and corporate machinery of the New York Times and the 1619 Project.
ORGANIZATIONS
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is arguably the largest and most important of the far-right think tanks in the US today, playing a central role in pushing the far right legal, political, and cultural revolution. They promotes conservative policies through a mix of grassroots mobilization, astroturfing, and direct lobbying efforts. The organization has been very influential in shaping legislative agendas, particularly in areas such as fiscal policy, healthcare, national security, and educational policy. They are often found in the same far-right policy circles as groups like ALEC and the Koch brothers.
Heritage Action for America, their “grassroots” front group and public advocacy wing formed in 2010, pushes a far-right political agenda that contributes to political polarization and undermines educational freedom and critial inquiry, and has been a leading player in attacks on public education nationwide. The organization has actively opposed progressive policies on healthcare, immigration, and environmental regulation, advocating for positions and policies that align with a far-right ideology. In the realm of public education, Heritage Action has been involved in campaigns promoting school choice initiatives like vouchers and charter schools, including the controversial “backpack bill” here in Ohio. It has been a leading opponent aginst topics such as Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in Ohio schools and public programs.
National Association of Scholars (NAS)
The National Association of Scholars, whose name at first glance could be mistaken for an education advocacy group, is another major national player in attempts to undermine public education and critical thinking in K-12 and Higher Education, and has been a leader in the push for “classical education” embraced by far-right educational institutes such as Hillsdale College. They claim their mission is to “upholds the standards of a liberal arts education that fosters intellectual freedom, searches for the truth, and promotes virtuous citizenship.” As they note on their website under their Ideals, “we understand education in our time and place to entail providing students with a breadth of understanding of core subjects including Western civilization and American history.”
The NAS was one of the groups who helped push for the creation of more publicly funded charter and religious school opportunities here in Ohio, and were also key advocates for the new “intellectual diversity centers” created when SB 117 was added to the 2023 Ohio Budget and allocated $24 million in funding.
Moms for Liberty
Moms for Liberty is one of the leading national far-right activist networks behind the push to remove or ban anything to do with anti-racism, DEI, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, gender identity, or SEL from schools–in addition to being vocal anti-vaxxers–basically anything these middle class white women think is vaguely critical or educational. Book bans have been one of their most recent and effective strategies, especially in Florida. Importantly, both of the founders are from Florida, where “anti-woke” and “anti-CRT/anti-DEI” fights have been the most intense. There are currently 7 chapters of MOL here in Ohio alone.
As they note on their website, “Moms for Liberty welcomes all that have a desire to stand up for parental rights at all levels of government. Our founders are…moms on a mission to stoke the fires of liberty. As former school board members, they witnessed how short-sighted and destructive policies directly hurt children and families. Now they are using their first-hand knowledge and experience to unite parents who are ready to fight those that stand in the way of liberty.”
Ironically, nowhere does MOL actually spell out what they mean by “liberty”, even though they highlight their work to Promote Liberty as a key part of their work: “We promote teaching the principles of liberty in our homes and community.” MOL claims that their mission is either “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government,” or “to organize, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government,” but in either case, the group is big on catch phrases and short on substance.
Critical Race Training in Education
CriticalRace.org is attempts to “convince” parents and students they should be concerned about Critical Race Theory, the implementation of Critical Race Training (by which they mean DEI or implicit bias trainings). They claim to have the “most comprehensive database to empower parents and students.”
From their website:
“We have researched and documented Critical Race Training in close to 400 colleges and universities in the United States. The website explains Critical Race Theory itself and provides resources to learn more. Additionally, it allows users to look up the steps their school has taken to mandate Critical Race Training in different parts of the college experience, from changing academic codes of conduct to funding “equity” projects.
Not all of the colleges and universities in this database and map have Critical Race Training. This list allows you to check. For those who do have such Critical Race Training, there are varying degrees of such programming, some mandatory, some not. For many schools, it’s a continuum of programming, such as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and “implicit bias” training and programming, that does not easily fit into a Yes/No construct. We provide information from which you can assess the developments.”
Parents Defending Education
Parents Defending Education describes itself as a national organization focused on what they describe as a need to “reclaim schools from activists promoting harmful agendas,” which includes any discussion of issues or race, class, gender, and histories of oppression and discrimination (i.e. social justice). In response to parent’s complaints, they gather documents, engage in lawsuits and promote legislation at all political levels in order to fight what they describe as indoctrination in the classroom. Like some other groups, they also provide a map tracking what they describe as offending classroom content in each state, including details about specific incidents.
From their website:
“We believe our children’s education should be based on scholarship and facts, and should nurture their development into the happy, resilient, free-thinking, educated citizens every democracy needs. Our classrooms should include rigorous instruction in history, civics, literature, math, the sciences, and the ideas and values that enrich our country. Yet in recent years activists have targeted public, private, and charter schools across the country with a campaign to impose toxic new curriculums and to force our kids into divisive identity groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, and gender. Many schools have already embraced this campaign, and many more are preparing to embrace it. This new educational mission is not only at war with basic American values, but with our kids’ happiness and ability to succeed in life. Couched in vague slogans such as “social justice,” the new curriculum divides our children into “oppressor” and “oppressed” groups. To one, it teaches guilt and shame. To the other, grievance and anger. To all students, it spreads unhappiness, radicalism, and failure.”
Citizens for Renewing America
The mission of Citizens for Renewing America is to “renew an American consensus of a nation under God with unique interests worthy of defending that flow from its people, institutions, and history, where individuals’ enjoyment of freedom is predicated on just laws and healthy communities.” CRA is led by Russ Vought, former head of the OMB under Trump, who lead the attack on diversity training in the US government, Wade Miller, an outspoken racist and bigot who has been involved with efforts to pack local school boards of education with right-wing supporters, and Rachel Semmel.
From their website:
“The threats to our communities, our families, and our faith–the pillars that allow us to live out our freedom–are vast, real, and increasingly hostile. Among these threats is a radical philosophy, rooted in Marxism, known as Critical Race Theory. This framework views all of society through a racialized prism of identity groups, with minorities being the oppressed and white people serving as the oppressor. Where Karl Marx separated society into the capitalist bourgeoisie and the oppressed proletariat, adherents of Critical Race Theory have substituted race for Marx’s class and economic distinctions.
Proponents of this radical belief system have succeeded in pushing their ideology into nearly every facet of American society. Their goal is to tear down and destroy institutions that they claim serve as “white dominant” power structures that perpetuate societal ills. It is no coincidence, therefore, that nearly all of these institutions or “systems” mirror Marxism’s alleged culprits: capitalism, the nuclear family, a republican form of government, rule of law, and Christianity.”
State Freedom Caucus Network
The State Freedom Caucus Network aims to help provide resources, networking, and support for conservative activists and politicians to take over their local statehouses and advance an ultra-conservative political agenda. This network, part of the larger national Freedom Caucus, which now has a growing cadre of ultra-radical far-right members of Congress (MAGA Squad) that are part of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Freedom Fund.
As they note on their website, their work runs the gamut, from “Election Integrity to Critical Race Theory, the most important fights of today are happening in the states. SFCN will provide conservatives in state capitals nationwide the resources they need to win.” This group was just formed in late 2021 as part of the effort to take over both national and local politics, education, and legislation.
From their website:
“The states are increasingly the primary battleground. We need patriots who will serve in our state capitals to fight federal overreach and stand firm against those — in both parties — who prioritize seizing political power over representing constituents. Today, the federal government is larger and has more authority than ever before. The permanent administrative state, filled with unelected bureaucrats, has run roughshod over our state legislatures and consolidated power. The principles enshrined in the 10th Amendment have never been more critical: “Those powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
