A former Trump administration official says that a close look into the Biden administration will expose that government officials “are intimately involved with critical race theory” as well as with advocates of its ideology.
Russ Vought, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, said a probe would reveal close ties between the Biden administration and Abolitionist Teaching Network, a pro-critical race theory organization.
Vought says he has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the numerous communications between the Abolitionist Teaching Network and the Department of Education officials.
He also has requested any other communications concerning the group and its materials. In addition, he asked for any related communications between the White House and the department.
If there is no response to the request, Vought said the Center for Renewing America planned to sue the Department of Education.
According to the Abolitionist Teaching Network guidebook, abolitionist teachers should “build a school culture that engages in healing and advocacy. This requires a commitment to learning from students, families, and educators who disrupt Whiteness and other forms of oppression.”
The network’s co-founder and board chair, Bettina Love, has previously made controversial statements, including, “I want us to be feared.” Both Love and the Abolitionist Teaching Network have a long history of pushing radical agendas.
This history concerns Vought.
“We want to know the extent to which the connections are there within the federal bureaucracy,” he said. Vought now leads a conservative think tank, the Center for Renewing America.
“I think what it’s going to reveal is that Biden administration officials are intimately involved with critical race theory, that they are tracking with many of the influential people in the critical race theory community,” Vought continued.
Questionable handbook
A handbook issued by the Department of Education was created to spend funding received through the American Rescue Plan to help public schools.
The guide used wording and rhetoric commonly associated with critical race theory. It also refers to whiteness as a form of “oppression.”
The handbook is linked to a guide published by the Abolitionist Teaching Network.
Soon after the connection between the Department of Education and the Abolitionist Teaching Network was revealed, a department spokesperson said “it was an error” to link to the Abolitionist Teaching Network.
Vought thinks there is more to it than that. “They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. This is just a reflection of the political poison that is critical race theory.”
“You’re talking about 13,000 different schools that April guidance went out to, impacting $200 billion worth of federal funding. It’s one aspect of the critical race theory indoctrination process,” he continued.
“It’s evidence of the way that this theory, this ideology is embedded in the school system. I think it’s had an impact. You certainly can’t just erase the link and expect that the influence is going to go away.”
