'Antiracists are the new racists': Black civil rights veteran Bob Woodson slams CRT
By: Michael Gryboski Christian Post Reporter
The so called anti racists are the real racists in our society today. They are trying to destroy MLK Jr’s dream. They want us to be judged only on race. They seek to divide us and are opposed to a united color blind society. They rely on socialism and Marxism as the foundation of their belief system. Religion and capitalism are their enemies. The BLM and CRT are a rejection of the civil rights movement.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Distinguished African American civil rights activist Bob Woodson recently expressed his opposition to critical race theory, arguing that the ideology in question is "racist" in nature.
In an interview with conservative Christian author and radio host Eric Metaxas posted online Wednesday, Woodson discussed his issues with CRT and its proponents.
Woodson, who spent years coordinating community development programs local and national organizations, including the NAACP, said that the "so-called antiracists are the new racists."
“Let’s be very clear,” said Woodson. “They are propagating a theory that harkens back to the days of racism, where they are saying that we should not be judged by the content of our character, but by the color of our skin.”
He said that the arguments of CRT were an "esoteric debate on campuses for many years."
"But then after the George Floyd and other incidents, the radical left has migrated it into the public domain and using it now as an instrument to attack American whites, attack democracy," he added. "It’s being used as a pervasive strategy to really undermine the values and principles of the nation.”
Metaxas concurred, saying that CRT proponents are “trying to get people to think racially,” compelling people to think more in terms of racial identity than individual identity.
“It makes you look through the lens of race, which you and I know as Christians, as Americans, we know that that’s wrong no matter where it goes, no matter where it’s coming from,” Metaxas told Woodson.
“There’s something unhealthy about it, and it undermines our unity as Americans. It undermines our unity as believers. … What’s wrong with Critical Race Theory? The first thing I would say is that it encourages people to think about race more and not less.”
Woodson described CRT as “destructive to all Americans,” but especially for African Americans because it tells them that “personal responsibility has no role in our future.”
Despite being opposed to CRT, Woodson disagreed with the plans of some lawmakers and others to censor the ideology, believing that debate and dialogue were better alternatives.
“The pushback from that is not to ban it,” continued Woodson. “The best disinfectant is sunshine. So what we should do is challenge those who are propagating this destructive theory to prove how does it improve the quality of life of the people.”
“How does it improve the quality of life? Does it increase performances in schools? Does it promote the kind of unity that we need to address the problems confronting America?” he asked.
Born in Philadelphia in 1937, Woodson became active in the civil rights movement and community development efforts. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965 and served with the National Urban League in New York City the early 1970s. From 1974 to 1981, Woodson was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He also directed the Neighborhood Revitalization Project in Washington, D.C.
He founded the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, D.C, which was re-christened the Woodson Center in 2016. The center seeks to empower indigenous leaders in troubled neighborhoods to increase public safety, spur upward mobility and inspire racial unity in America.
In March, Woodson penned an op-ed arguing that the "Civil Rights Movement of which I was proudly a part has been betrayed by a twisted progressive ideology that hyper-racializes our country."
"It divides our country into two groups: on the one side, blacks and other minorities who are permanent and powerless victims; and on the other irredeemable white supremacists, bent on their destruction," he warned. "Instead of helping to create a society in which all have an equal opportunity to thrive, it insists that systemic racism prevents anyone except 'privileged' whites from succeeding."
Critical race theory drew its origins to the 1970s when academics and other intellectuals sought to explain the apparent loss of momentum of the 1960s civil rights movement.
By and large, CRT proponents came to believe that the fundamental institutions of the United States were inherently and pervasively racist and geared towards defending white elites.
Notable intellectuals of the movement include Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Charles Lawrence III and Mari Matsuda, who in 1993 co-wrote a book titled Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, And The First Amendment .
In the introduction of the 1993 book, the CRT proponents explained that their views were “[b]orrowing from and critiquing other intellectual traditions,” among them Marxism, feminism, postmodernism, and liberalism.
“Our work presented racism not as isolated instances of conscious bigoted decision making or prejudiced practice, but as larger, systemic, structural, and cultural, as deeply psychologically and socially ingrained,” they explained.
CRT has been criticized by many, especially conservatives, under the accusation that the movement wrongly vilifies the U.S. and is more racially divisive than informative.
Many school boards have debated proposals to add CRT-inspired materials to the curriculum, while some state legislatures have advanced measures to ban CRT from classrooms.
Well, there you have it. I am still waiting for someone who has actually studied CRT analytically, critically to comment on it.
You wont get that here because no one here has. CRT isn’t something you are going to encounter outside of the higher levels of academia. It is nothing more than an academic lens for examining the US legal system and the role race has played in it.
Never gonna see it below a 3 or 400 level college class.
So why does the radical left want it taught beginning in high school...or even earlier.
Haven’t heard anyone calling for that.
It absolutely shouldn’t be because if the “conversations” around it going on now on sites like this or in the media are any indication, most adults are too stupid to understand it or discuss it rationally. If most adults are too dumb then kids definitely are.
The debate is a bit of a semantics game. CRT per se isn't going to be taught below college. It's too esoteric and academically niche for that.
However, there has been some effort to incorporate some its central ideas into K-12 classrooms. Ideas like lingering effects of slavery, white privilege, unconscious racism, systemic racism, etc. So there is - and isn't - a desire to teach CRT in K-12 classrooms, if you see what I mean.
I think there is fear around it because most white parents don't want their kids being shamed for any reason, much less being white oppressors. Is that how most teachers will approach these issues? I doubt it, but you do see stories of kids being taught to examine their white privilege and this seems like too far for many parents.
Parents worry, I think, because especially at younger ages, kids are taught more in the vein of "this is how it is" rather than "here's an idea; let's discuss." That's where you get the notion of indoctrination.
Personally, I think this examination of our systems is something schools could have used a lot more of 50 or 60 years ago. It seems less and less relevant with each passing generation.
And that's another part of the pushback. People look at the Civil Rights movement and all the progress we have made in popular culture, corporate culture, and government (black president and VP, e.g.). You can hardly blame them for thinking, "I thought we were making progress. Now you want to talk about racial justice?"
Except that it is being taught, albeit not necessarily being called that. But as you well know, calling a pig a horse does not in fact make the pig a horse.... it's still a pig being called a horse by a fool.
That's what I mean by calling it a semantics game. CRT is technically more of a legal theory positing that systems of government and law were developed in a way that specifically benefitted whites, and continue doing so today, sometimes unintentionally. That kind of exploration of theories of law and government isn't the kind of thing you generally cover in K-12 classes.
So, I think CRT has become a kind of political boogeyman that will supposedly infect all schools. It would be more honest to look at individual curricula and spot where it is or isn't problematic for whatever reason.
Nevertheless, the cloud of CRT is the kind of thing that will motivate people on Election Day. Voters can be encouraged (or frightened into) voting out all those Dems who are spreading evil ideology in the schools.
There are reasonable middle grounds available, but focusing on those doesn't win elections.
They want it taught even to kindergarten level. The teachers Union and randi weingarten have made that clear.
It is parents who have seen things their kids brought home or repeated at home or saw being taught on line in distance learning that are leading the resistance to this racist crap being taught to their kids.
I give children more credit.
Great link! Thanks!
Bob Woodson qualifies. He knows exactly what it is and that’s why he as an African American civil rights veteran is so opposed to it.
Most of the things you seed on this forum come from totally discredited weirdo sources. Its good for you that you dont have any shame about what you seed.
I see where once he was a part of the civil rights movement, and the founder of the Woodson Center, which gives him a certain amount of credit for those worthwhile activities but does not mean that he automatically gets anything about CRT. When reading some of the material and interviews that he has out there, it becomes clear that he is not an expert on CRT and in fact holds many of the same distortions of CRT as fact. So, in short, he is not an expert on CRT. He is a conservative black man echoing conservative talking points. I am in agreement, however, that CRT should be given the full light of day and left to stand on its own merits and deficiencies. Certainly it should not be banned.
You think that Faith Wire and Christian Post are totally discredited weirdo sites? I have absolutely no shame at all seeding from them. They are very fine sources.
The so called self described anti racists truly are the real racists in our society today. They are literally trying to destroy MLK Jr’s dream for America and our society. They want us to be judged only on race, content of character be damned. They want to divide us and are opposed to a united color blind society. They rely on socialism and Marxism as the foundation of their belief system. The Christian Religion and free market capitalism are their enemies. The BLM and CRT are a complete and total rejection of the civil rights movement and its accomplishments.
A melange of false sweeping mischaracterizations!
You are wrong! What I wrote above is all true.
Why would a "distinguished civil rights activist" go on Eric Metaxas radio show?
Eric Metaxas hangs around with Michele Bachmann , Q Anon weirdos, and other assorted Trump morons.
The seeded article is incongruous.
Eric Metaxas and Lance Wallnau Talk About Trump's ...
Eric Metaxas and Lance Wallnau Talk About Trump’s ‘Circumcision’ and How ‘Globalists’ Control the Media and the Banking System. Lance Wallnau, the author and motivational speaker who “prophesied” before the 2016 election that Donald Trump had been anointed by God, participated in a mutual love-fest with author and radio host Eric Metaxas on Monday. Wallnau, a promoter of Seven Mountains …
A radio talk show host interviews people and explores their ideas and opinions. How utterly shocking and unheard of.
Eric Metaxas is a great American Patriot.
Welcome my friends, to the right wing freak show that never ends.......
The fact that there are African Americans involved with civil rights that are conservative irritates liberals like few other things do.
The Republicans who supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were liberals and the minority of Democrats who opposed it were conservatives!
Who is buying Orwellian Double Talk such as this?
It is CRT and it’s advocates that are into Orwellian double speak. Bob Woodson is exactly right.
Bob (Never Heard Of Him) Woodson is one man with a wrongheaded revisionist view of history.
He lived the history that is our civil rights movement and unlike today’s CRT and 1619 advocates had nothing to need to revise.
So? His is still just one man's (Wrong) opinion.
Article: CRT is racist.
Immediate Deflection: CRT isn't taught in schools...
The script is really ingrained. Whenever CRT is brought up in any context, just deny it's taught in schools and ignore the substance.
No one believes the denials because students, teachers, and parents know the truth.