The Patriot Post® · Historical Conflict: 1776 vs. CRT

The 1776 Commission, which former President Donald Trump established in 2020 to reinvigorate history and civics education, is still alive. Founded as a counterbalance to the wave of anti-Americanism that dominates school curriculums across the country, the 1776 Commission was disbanded by President Joe Biden in his first hour in office. Nevertheless, it persists. Despite — or rather because of — the Left’s attempt to keep the American people from learning our true history and values, it was recently announced that the commission will be gathering on May 24 in Washington, DC.

Although it is no longer associated with the federal government, the commission will continue to operate in some form. Its current focus is to combat the indoctrination of American school children with the pernicious and racist dogma of Critical Race Theory.

CRT, which Mark Alexander dissected recently, is the primary tool in the Left’s attack on American history and culture. It essentially looks at all of history through a racial lens, claiming that pretty much everything white people have ever done in America is racist. CRT was on full display with the New York Times’s 1619 Project, a collection of vehemently anti-American opinion pieces that has been passed off as scholarly work but is riddled with errors and lies. The 1619 Project has since become a component in hundreds of public school history courses, despite being riddled with factual errors and rejected by numerous historians.

This rewriting of American history reflects the views of the Left — that America is an irredeemably racist nation and that all its public and private social structures must be totally dismantled to create a socialist paradise where everyone is equal (in misery). Biden has done yeoman’s work since taking office in pushing the Marxist dogma of his leftist puppeteers. Disbanding the 1776 Commission was just the beginning.

Biden has now called upon the Department of Re-Education to push CRT in public schools. The department’s recent proposal would make CRT a cornerstone in teaching history in America, a move that the 1776 Commission is trying to prevent.

Matthew Spalding, vice president of Washington operations for Hillsdale College and executive director of the commission, wrote to members of the commission earlier this week. He noted, “As we said in our statement on January 20, ‘the Commission may be abolished, but these principles and our history cannot be. We will all continue to work together to teach and to defend them.’”

The commission’s report, released shortly before President Trump left office in January, calls for a return to America’s unifying ideals, and it does not turn away from America’s darker moments, like slavery and the restriction of voting rights. Instead, it calls for an honest assessment of America’s founding and its past.

The Left doesn’t want American school children to look honestly at our history, because then the kids will realize that it is the Left that is the enemy of Liberty. And that’s exactly why the work of the 1776 Commission is critical.