Mainstream media outlets have assured their viewers time and time again that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is not taught in public schools. MSNBC host Joy Reid insists it’s merely “anything that makes a white parent uncomfortable.” Another host, Nicole Wallace, went so far as to say, “There is no Critical Race Theory.” These pundits have attempted to convince people that CRT in schools is a “racist dogwhistle” or a “coded boogeyman.”

There’s only one problem: It’s not true.

Critical Race Theory does exist.

The architects of CRT — people like Kimberlé Crenshaw and Richard Delgado — would be very distressed to learn that their theory does not, in fact, exist. CRT has been taught in schools like Harvard Law for many years, though it has increasingly filtered its way down to K-12 schools.

A lot of parents know that this narrative by the mainstream media is a lie.

This worldview lens through which CRT advocates teach history and social studies has been part of the education curriculum in K-12 schools for a while. And thanks to COVID-19, parents were able to see during their children’s Zoom classes exactly how this ideology is taught. In Loudoun County, Virginia, parents are at the forefront of this conversation. They have been attempting to make their voices heard with the Loudoun County School Board, letting the members know they don’t want CRT in their schools. One white mother told the school board she pulled her child from public school because she came home asking if she was born evil because of her skin color. Another mother cited how this very theory was used to dupe black people during the Nazi regime. And yet another mother said she didn’t want her black child being told that because of his black skin, he couldn’t succeed or that his white classmates were guilty of “white privilege.” But the Left’s message to these concerned parents was, Don’t believe your lying eyes.

Critical Race Theory is taught in K-12 schools.

CRT is not explicitly a part of the curriculum. No, they don’t have books labeled “Critical Race Theory,” but teachers are aware of it and are using the tenets of CRT — racial essentialism, institutional systemic racism, and claims that America was bad from the start due to slavery — as lessons in all sorts of subjects. There have been stories about third-graders being made to rank themselves based on the amount of privilege they have according to CRT. One math curriculum in Seattle put more emphasis on CRT activism than on math itself. Reporter Christopher Rufo has a list of the terms that schools use to mask the fact they are teaching Critical Race Theory. Teachers are also undergoing trainings on this worldview with the explicit purpose of using it in the classroom. As a former teacher myself, I can attest that this is most definitely the case. A simple search into a popular teacher resource exposes the lie.

I had the honor of teaching a high school U.S. Government class last year. In one of our discussion-led lessons, CRT was a topic brought up by a student. He had been told by another teacher at his previous school that because he was white and male, people (in his words) “hated him.” This child was only 16. How is he supposed to process that? This goes beyond making “white kids uncomfortable.”

Why the continued gaslighting?

Leftists across the board know that if argued on its merits, Critical Race Theory is not palatable to the American people. It is actual racism toward those they see at the top of the privilege hierarchy, a.k.a. straight white men. CRT is also a tool of Marxist origin that uses race as a way to gain power and destroy democracy. That is why leftist pundits are so quick to say it doesn’t exist, but don’t you dare take it out of our schools. They twist the narrative and say that white parents just don’t want their kids to be taught about slavery. By this they are referring to history via the 1619 Project, which is a tool for CRT-type activism, according to its author, Nikole Hannah-Jones.

The mainstream media (the Left’s propaganda machine) and Democrat politicians found out in Virginia just how much of a mistake it is to pretend CRT isn’t real. It is a losing strategy that, if they continue with it, will lose them more important races in 2022.