North Carolina Task Force Reports Themes of Critical Race Theory in K-12 Schools

Children hold up signs during a rally against critical race theory being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Race shaming and allusions to surgical castration in children’s literature—as well as accusations of xenophobia against political figures—are among the themes found in Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s “Indoctrination in North Carolina Public Education” report.

Robinson previously told The Epoch Times that he created the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students task force (F.A.C.T.S.) to gather evidence of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the K-12 North Carolina school system.

CRT is a Marxist philosophy that suggests society is a class struggle between oppressors and the oppressed, labelling white people as the oppressors and all other races as the oppressed.

The task force, according to the report, consists of volunteer education professionals with experience in various roles in education, such as teachers, administrators, university professors, education policy experts, and elected members of the state Senate and House.

Through an online portal, parents, teachers, and students could anonymously submit evidence from curriculums by email.

The report was released on Aug. 24 and was gathered from over 500 submissions.

What has surfaced are themes of CRT, bias, sexualization, and race shaming of children, Robinson said in a press release posted on Facebook (pdf).

In one parent’s submission, a child, in learning the word “xenophobia,” was instructed to use former President Donald Trump as an example.

“The teacher had definitions on one side and sentences on the other and the sentence that described xenophobia was ‘President Trump has xenophobia,’” the parent said. “Another example was a definition of Republican was that Republicans don’t care for people’s issues and Democrats are people who care for people.”

The example provided in the image was a prompt for the student to define “xenophobia.”

The prompt said: “It can be said that Donald Trump has xenophobia, because of his fear of people from other countries than the United States.”

Allusions to Surgical Castration

Another submission involved a book titled “George,” by Alex Gino, which is a children’s novel about a transgendered, fourth-grade girl.

According to the report, the book is used in North Carolina classrooms to illustrate the story of a biological boy in the fourth grade who wants to be a girl.

“The book talks about cutting off male genitalia and hormone therapy,” the report stated. “The submitter who shared this information said the book was included in their child’s elementary school. This book is recommended for third to seventh-grade students.”

An excerpt from the book as follows was provided in the report: “’So, like, do you want to’—he made a gesture with two fingers like a pair of scissors—‘go all the way?’ George squeezed her legs together. ‘Maybe someday,’ she said.’”

Faculty Microaggression

A submission from a teacher alleged “microaggression” training class requirements for faculty and staff.

The teacher, who remained anonymous, said she’s been teaching high school for 14 years.

“Faculty and staff are required to attend professional development related to ‘equity’ and ‘microaggression’ as it relates to race, gender, and other areas,” the teacher said. “They define microaggression as ‘The everyday slights, indignities, put-downs and insults that people of color, women, LGBT populations of those who are marginalized experiences in their day-to-day interactions with people.’”

White staff members are told that they are unaware of their racism, the teacher reported, in these personal development sessions.

“We are given examples of microaggression such as a statement: ‘I believe everyone can succeed in today’s society if they work hard and the most qualified people should get the job,’” the teacher said, adding that this statement, according to the tenet of microaggression, translates as: “White people believe people of color are lazy and don’t work hard.”

‘We Didn’t Hide in the Dark’

 The Senate Education Committee passed House Bill 324 on Tuesday after a heated exchange between state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson regarding the task force’s mission.

According to the bill, its purpose is to ensure “the equality and rights of all persons” by requiring that “students, teachers, administrators, and other school employees recognize the quality and rights” of people by prohibiting the promotion of “certain concepts that are contrary to that intent.”

Chaudhuri, a Democrat, said that, during the first week of school, students should be honored instead of debating what he called a “Fox News-driven issue that’s more about fearmongering that’s turned into a fishing expedition of our public-school teachers.”

The task force, Chaudhuri added, operated without abiding by open-meeting laws.

“We didn’t hide in the dark,” Robinson, a Republican, said.  “We didn’t ask to do it.”

Parents, teachers, and students within the North Carolina school system demanded it, Robinson said.

“And to sit here and call it a ‘Fox News-driven issue’ when I have stood with teachers who have cried because they feel like their jobs, livelihoods, and professions have been threatened, for you to call it that is an insult—an absolute insult,” Robinson said.  “And you know where my office is, and you know that this task force is going on. When did you contact me? Please don’t turn this into some partisan issue.”