The Biden administration walked back their support of a radical pro-Critical Race Theory activist group named the Abolitionist Teaching Network and their handbook that calls for teachers to “disrupt whiteness and other forms of oppression.”
The administration said they made an “error” on Wednesday after promoting the radical group’s handbook that pushes for Critical Race Theory in schools and advocates for teachers to “disrupt whiteness.”
“The Department does not endorse the recommendations of this group, nor do they reflect our policy positions,” the Department of Education (DOE) made clear in a statement. “It was an error in a lengthy document to include this citation.”
Co-founder Bettina Love says that the network “is dedicated to not creating new schools or reimagining schools, but destroying schools that do nothing but harm Black and brown children.”
(Video Credit: Fox News)
Love bluntly stated that the network would “create a national database of antiracist school counselors, therapists, and lawyers.” She noted that they plan to pay their “activists in residence” to travel across the country and “go into schools or communities and do the work of dismantling.”
“If you don’t recognize that white supremacy is in everything we do, then we got a problem,” Love said. “I want us to be feared.”
Brandelyn Tosolt, who is another co-founder and fellow board member, described herself as an “educator of white teachers.” She said during a Zoom webinar that she has a “significant history” of “trying to help other white teachers trouble their internalized white supremacy and anti-blackness.”
The Department of Education linked to the group’s “Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning” in its handbook that is being used to reopen schools after being locked down due to the pandemic.
“Schools are microcosms of society; therefore, culturally responsive practices [and] intentional conversations related to race and social-emotional learning … are the foundation for participating in a democracy and should be anchor tenets in building a schoolwide system of educational opportunity,” the handbook posits.
“A districtwide or schoolwide approach … that is responsive to the trauma of COVID-19 and grounds itself in equity can help all students feel seen and valued,” the handbook notes. “It is important for educators to recognize that social and emotional competencies can be expressed differently across cultures, especially considering that young students of color are living through, witnessing, and making sense of historic moments in American history and their place in it.”
The radical group’s website refers to language that is part and parcel of Critical Race Theory, even though they avoid using the exact phrase because of its toxic connotations.
“Abolitionist Teachers” should “[b]uild a school culture that engages in healing and advocacy. This requires a commitment to learning from students, families, and educators who disrupt Whiteness and other forms of oppression,” the group proclaims in its guide.
“Abolitionist Teaching Network’s mission is to develop and support those in the struggle for educational freedom utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of Abolitionists in many forms,” the group’s website claims.
The group advises finding teachers who are committed to disrupting whiteness. They contend that educators should remove “all punitive or disciplinary practices that spirit murder black, brown, and indigenous children.”
It goes on to state that social and emotional learning “can be a covert form of policing used to punish, criminalize, and control black, brown, and indigenous children.” They contend that the standards for learning “are rooted in Eurocentric norms” and don’t “empower, love, affirm, or free” those children.
The Abolitionist Teaching Network’s guide lists “demands” which include “[f]ree, antiracist therapy for white educators and support staff.” Additionally, it states that teaching should be “grounded in the pursuit of black, brown, and indigenous liberation, criticality, excellence, and joy.”
The network began in 2020. Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten, while serving as the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, previously hosted Love.
According to Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo, Love conducted diversity training for managers and principals in September 2020. During that training session, she declared that schools didn’t see black people as humans and that they were anti-black. She also charged that schools “spirit murder” black students.
This summer, San Diego Unified hired critical race theorist Bettina Love for a district-wide training on "[challenging] the oppressive practices that live within … school organizations." The district forbade recordings, but my whistleblower took screenshots and detailed notes. pic.twitter.com/haprjyQxgB
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 6, 2021
“Spirit murder” is “a slow death, a death of the spirit, a death that is built on racism and intended to reduce, humiliate, and destroy people of color,” Love wrote in 2019.
According to the whistleblower notes, Love began by saying that “racism runs deep” in America and that blacks alone “know who America really is.” Love claimed that public schools “don’t see [blacks] as human,” perpetuate “anti-Blackness,” and “spirit murder babies.” pic.twitter.com/jumMapxZ79
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 6, 2021
During the presentation, Love argued that “Whiteness reproduces poverty, failing schools, high unemployment, school closings, and trauma for people of color.” She insisted that “white educators must take responsibility” because they uphold “white supremacy culture.” pic.twitter.com/Qmy3hj9r3y
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 6, 2021
To correct this, Love argued that “reform will not work” and that schools must adopt “abolitionist teaching” to “remove oppression from its roots.” Love told white teachers they must undergo “antiracist therapy for White educators” in order to overcome their ignorance and racism. pic.twitter.com/IddS9U5L3c
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 6, 2021
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