North Carolina Lt. Governor: Critical Race Theory Mirrors Ku Klux Klan Ideology

Joe Cook Gines holds an anti-KKK sign during a protest against white supremacy in Huntington Beach, Calif., on April 11, 2021. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson likened Critical Race Theory (CRT) to theories of the KKK in an appearance on Newsmax.

Critical Race Theory branched out from Marxist “critical theory,” which has been progressively finding its way throughout American universities during recent decades. It argues that a person’s skin color is a determinative factor for character or thought and that America is racist at a fundamental level.

Mark Robinson, a Republican, is the first black American to serve as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, the second-highest position in the state.

‘‘It is absolutely insidious,’‘ Robinson commented, ’‘What’s happening here, you go and take critical race theory is that is applied down and ... then take some of the ideologies that were pushed by groups like the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups, you can almost set them on top of each other, and they mirror each other in the way that they divide and the way they demonize people by race.’’

The 52-year-old U.S. Army Reserve veteran also severely criticized Black Lives Matter, maintaining that if they really cared about black lives, they would address the gang violence problem that results in thousands of black deaths each year.

‘'If Black Lives Matter really lived up to their moniker and say that black lives matter, they would not be standing up to the headache of police brutality, they would be standing up to the cancer of gang violence and drug proliferation in black neighborhoods,” Robinson stated.

‘'This has nothing to do with social justice. Social justice is simple. Social justice is a concept like you earn your keep and you keep what you earn. That’s social justice, and that’s not what they’re talking about. They are talking about introducing socialism into this country.”

Recently, a joint letter by 20 state attorneys general directed to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asked the Biden administration to retract its education plans that would promote CRT and The New York Times’ “1619 Project” in schools.

In a proposed rule released April 19, the Education Department outlined new priority criteria for a $5.3 million American History and Civics Education grant, as well as exemplary materials for K-12 educators to use.

The letter (pdf), led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, claims that the proposed priorities issued by the Education Department are a “thinly veiled” effort to insert CRT and the 1619 Project into American classrooms.

The 1619 Project, which centers around the idea that the United States is inherently racist, consists of a collection of essays that argue, among many other controversial claims, that the primary reason for the American Revolution was to preserve slavery. Its historical accuracy has also been challenged by a variety of scholars, including the project’s own fact-checkers.

GQ Pan contributed to this report.