Commentary
The only way to advance change in California is through initiatives. That’s why, to ban the odious critical race theory (CRT) indoctrination sessions in all public institutions, a statewide initiative is needed.
California now is a one-party state, like North Korea or Communist China. But we do have recourse to referendums, initiatives and recalls. Voters soon will decide whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, likely in early November. There’s also an effort to
recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon for his policies increasing crime.
The Epoch Times has
reported several times on CRT in California and nationally. From a June 9 story, “Parents of children in the
Tustin Unified School District say they’re frustrated after the school board’s emails exacerbated their fears of
critical race theory being taught in
schools.
“After a group of about 20
parents learned their children were given a ‘white savior assignment’ and ‘healthy kids’ survey—which they said contain elements of CRT—without their knowledge, they submitted a public records request for all information and communication regarding these assignments.”
By the way, aside from CRT, the “healthy kids” survey is an
intrusive assault on parental rights.
Another example is the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, which at its June 22 board meeting discussed a
proposed CRT ban.
What Is CRT?
Before we go on, what is CRT? The Epoch Times featured a great
interview with Dr. Carol Swain, a constitutional scholar. She said CRT’s main tenet divides everyone into oppressors and oppressed, and “all white people are considered oppressors who benefit from undeserved advantages. [Whites] are deemed guilty of having set up a system of systemic racism. The demonization of one group of people because of the color of their skin is something that is discriminatory.”
She added, bringing up the 14th Amendment, “We’re not a country where it’s acceptable to bully and shame people because of the color of their skin.”
Right.
Having studied Marxism since I was 10 years old in 1965, I’ll offer my definition: CRT is Marxist racism, turning people against one another, as Marxism always does, to advance a communist agenda. Wasn’t Marxism supposed to be non-racist, based on class warfare? In fact, Karl Marx was a major racist, as detailed in the book “Karl Marx, Racist” by Nathaniel Weyl.
As one reader
summarized it, “Weyl’s research peeled away the accumulated layers of Communist hagiography and reveals Marx to have been a bigot of the first order. He used the proverbial ‘N word’ just the way a Klan thug would. He hated the Jews, the Slavs, the Chinese and everybody else …. Appalled by Stalin’s cynical alliance with Hitler in 1939, Weyl left the Communist Party and began to notice some of the warts on its founder, Karl Marx. This book is his gift to us and it stands as a reminder of the kind of flawed man Marx really was.”
And let’s now forget Marxism, according to the “
Black Book of Communism,” murdered at least 94 million people, beginning with: People’s Republic of China, 60 million; Soviet Union, 20 million; Pol Pot’s Cambodia, 2 million; the Kim family’s North Korea, 2 million; Mengistu’s Ethiopia, 1.5 million; Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and occupation, 1.5 million; Communist Vietnam, 1 million; Eastern Europe under Soviet domination, 1 million.
The Chinese Communist Party, the Kim family, and the Communist Party of Vietnam remain in power.
Running a CRT Ban on the Ballot
How would one go about putting a ban of CRT on the California ballot? This would be the fun part. And why not have fun at the expense of the CRT leftists torturing us? Because from the beginning, it would involve controversy and debate over CRT, exposing what it really is.Let us thank the memory of Gov. Hiram Johnson, the great Republican reformer, for giving us this reform process in 1911 to fight the entrenched interests of his day. With times like this in mind, he
said the reforms “give to the electorate the power of action when desired, and they do place in the hands of the people the means by which they may protect themselves.”
The process, which will involve lawsuits and much publicity along the way, is based on the Secretary of State’s (SOS) “
Statewide Initiative Guide.”
The first step is writing the initiative.
From there, circulate petitions statewide. The SOS’s office told me 623,212 signatures are required for an initiative to qualify. It’s based on five percent of the votes for governor in 2018.
But due to defective signatures and other problems, at least 50 percent more are required as a general rule. For the Newsom recall, petition gatherers didn’t take any chances and garnered twice the needed number. For the CRT ban, plan on getting about 1.3 million signatures.
The next move is formatting the petitions, which can then be circulated. Care will have to be taken that signature gatherers are not assaulted by pro-CRT bigots.
When all of those steps are completed, it’s time to turn in the signatures. Numerous lawsuits should be expected at this point especially.
Lastly, win the election. Ban CRT in California.
Have Fun, Cause Trouble
A couple final points. As with the Newsom and Gascon recalls—and any recalls and initiatives—victory should be declared even with failure at the box office. Yes, we want to win. But we also want to disrupt the system. If only the disruption occurs, then that, too, is a win.Even if legal delays postpone the anti-CRT initiative to 2024, or later, the battle itself will generate publicity. Local school boards will take heart and pass their own bans.
The cost of getting statewide signatures nowadays is around $3 million for one initiative. But putting a CRT ban on the ballot would force the enemies of freedom—the Democratic Party and the public employee unions, especially the California Teachers Association—to spend many millions more fighting it. That money won’t be available to use against good initiatives and candidates in other elections.
For decades I have encouraged Republicans to put on every ballot at least two initiatives, one a tax cut, the other something like banning CRT. And to try to recall nuisances like Newsom. Republicans have been too nice. They need to get tougher, and smarter.
A CRT ban initiative will sell itself because almost all Americans endorse Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he called for an America in which people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
John Seiler is a veteran California opinion writer. He has written editorials for The Orange County Register for almost 30 years. He is a U.S. Army veteran and former press secretary to California State Sen. John Moorlach. He blogs at [email protected] 
