John Klar: CRT and Vermont’s abolitionism deniers

In an effort to discredit those who dare challenge critical race theory, VTDigger’s Bill Schubart in a July 4 article (“Conservative Hysteria”) claimed that my article in True North Reports challenging CRT was “heavy on political whining but light on understanding and facts.”

I’m delighted that Mr. Schubart is engaging in this conversation. Let’s discuss some facts.

Bill Schubart’s article actually displays critical race theory in action, including “enlightened” dismissal of anyone who dares challenge it. Mr. Schubart writes:

The far right’s invectives against a sincere effort to confront the implicit bias and racism of the past at a deeper level seems to me sound and fury signifying nothing. … Klar’s impassioned screed against historians, academics and politicians open to the idea of exploring what is called ‘critical race theory’ as an ongoing part of historical inquiry. … Many Republicans and conservatives have seized on the term and weaponized it in their fight against academics, elites and liberals whom they perceive to be denigrating not only them but their vision of America. This is white racial anxiety and grievance in its bluntest form.

John Klar

Actually, what you just read was Bill Schubart dismissing as a racist right-winger anyone who dares challenge this toxic, hateful ideology (portrayed here, quite laughably, as “a sincere effort to confront the implicit bias and racism of the past”). Bill has previously disparaged Vermonters and their past when he had “recently learned” what gender he was.

Bill references scientific truth while seeking to implement a deservedly controversial theory. But instead of truth he invokes deceptions, such as that CRT is “an ongoing part of historical inquiry.” No, it is a re-writing of our known history, and it is an affront to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the liberal values it seeks to eliminate. I have a law degree and studied social justice extensively in law school. I study Thomas Sowell as well, a black conservative Harvard economist who demonstrates repeatedly that not all racial disparities are caused by racism. Sowell compares CRT to the eugenics and Nazi movements, both of which also arose from elitist academia, and both of which also invoked a single-issue determinism to then ideologically subdue anyone who dared disagree. (Perhaps Bill Schubart would also care to discuss the writings of John Rawls.)

Here’s why I am a threat to Bill Schubart. Readers should learn what he is hiding. My grandparents are being slandered as white supremacists based on lies about history. Mr. Schubart dismisses my justified outrage as “white racial anxiety.” Yet I’m the guy who openly voted for Obama. I ask you to read my article and judge for yourselves — does it raise valid questions? Is it an “impassioned screed against historians and academics,” or an accurate critique based in academic rigor? Judge for yourselves.

Here are some facts for Vermonters to understand:

We are told racial disparities prove racism in Vermont. Why then do progressives manipulate statistics? Arrests of nonresident black drug dealers are measured against Vermont’s resident black demographic to allege our police are targeting people of color. This is an abuse of statistics to support a patently false narrative.

Similarly, median black incomes have dropped precipitously in the last few years, and progressives allege this was caused by white supremacy. That is simply a lie, and a distortion of statistics to further an ideological agenda.

H.273 claims Vermonters used Jim Crow and sharecropping laws to push black people off land here. Does Bill Schubart claim this is historically accurate? Facts matter.

Racially hateful poetry is being taught in Vermont classrooms in the name of “equity.” Fantasizing about hacking white people to death with machetes as recompense for past wrongs is apparently “exploring historical inquiry.”

My articles and speeches repeatedly invoke Martin Luther King, Jr. and existing laws that are being violated right now. Separating children by skin color is already in the Vermont CRT curriculum, but violates federal law. This is a fact that maybe Bill doesn’t understand. But parents must.

CRT holds that all white people are innately racist and must atone for this sin. It says Vermont is a white supremacist state because it is majority white.

Vermonters who “examine” not only Vermont’s past sins but its virtues, are silenced. Articles pointing out that Vermont was prominent in the abolitionist movement, that it was the first state to ban slavery, the first to graduate a black man from college, and the only state to elect a black man to its legislature pre-Civil War, have been consistently banned from publication.

Opposition to CRT is by no means a “right wing” phenomenon. CRT states that the First and 14th Amendments, as well the Constitution, are tools of white supremacy that must be dismantled. Please learn from psychology professor Aaron Kindsvatter about how harmful this “theory” is to the human psyche.

There are different kinds of extremism. There are Holocaust deniers (I’ve never met one in Vermont). Then there are abolitionism deniers, of which we are witnessing many in this CRT extremism. A sane view of history allows for analysis of both good and bad, of the yin and the yang. CRT does not tolerate such dissension — if you are white, your ancestors have sinned and you must pay now. It is an endless cycle of hate and retribution, couched in language of “equity.” And it is not about helping people of color — it is about weaponizing racial friction against white people (who are called racist if they exhibit “white racial anxiety” in response).

As Thomas Sowell explains, equity comes at the expense of equality, the goal toward which America and Vermont have aspired for 245 years. Before we tear all that down, let us have an open conversation. We are told “white silence is violence,” yet if we say anything that demurs from the ideological stranglehold, we are condemned as racists. I stand with MLK and ask Bill to do so also.

Critical race theory is explicitly racist, and claims that only present discrimination against white people can heal past discrimination against black people. That’s not an exploration of history: that’s a dark prescription for our future.

I’m not the Joe McCarthy here — I’m not the one raising hysteria about phantom Nazis with Confederate flags dominating black lives in Vermont’s Green Mountains. I’m not the one screaming during Legislative devotionals, or declaring racism a Vermont emergency during COVID (while opioid overdoses have tripled). I’m not the one breaking existing laws to dole out money and opportunity based solely on skin color and a dubious theory.

I thank Bill for engaging in this important discussion. My response here ensures Vermonters enjoy a diverse, inclusive and equitable discussion of critical race theory — including the voice of an attorney well-studied in the subject of CRT and constitutional law.

John Klar is an attorney and farmer residing in Brookfield, and the former pastor of the First Congregational Church of Westfield. © Copyright True North Reports 2021. All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Pax Ahimsa Gethen

26 thoughts on “John Klar: CRT and Vermont’s abolitionism deniers

  1. Boy, that is a bingo on Vt digger! So obvious. Look back to when they were censoring so many that disagreed with then! Cancel Culture at it’s finest. but they could not censor all…they did me often. WHY? Because I hit them back with facts of their twisted fibs. Then magically sometimes I got well over 100 “likes” and maybe 3 dis-likes. What is a propaganda machine to do? erase all comments section forever.

    I took matters….. (and the rest of my one time life on earth), and left VT for AZ 2.5 years ago. AZ is exploding. VT will miss all my free income, capital gains, dividend and interest taxes. I save several tens of thousands, every year, by leaving. VT will never change. You CANNOT change the majority voting of the “woke indoctrinated”. better to leave. And HOW does VT have a $7.3 BILLION budget for maybe 630,000 people? Only thing that saved VT was free federal gov’t covid money….which VT will piss away. they should use it to pay down the billions in pension deficit. Trust me, in a handful of years, if you are upper incomes…you do not want to be in VT. I feel like a kid again being in AZ!

  2. Wonderful article. We’ll researched and we’ll written. My kids middle school in Burlington teaches CRT in all classes except math. He has to lie, censor himself constantly and repeat propaganda to get good grades. Thank you for bringing attention to it. It’s really, really bad in the schools in Burlington.

  3. Thanks Jay for providing this link to the advisory working group. In reading through what was provided I could find nothing about establishing a Vermont Critical Race Theory curriculum.
    It would seem that when one claims as Mr. Klar has that there is a Vermont Critical Race curriculum currently being taught in Vermont schools, he should be able to provide a link to that curriculum so that those of us who may have questions about it can review it and raise specific concerns with our school boards (as I have with proposed school policies on race).
    If on the other hand there is not a Vermont Critical Race curriculum currently being taught in our public schools it would be good to know that this was a simply mistake made in his commentary and something we should keep an eye out for. I will check with the Superintendent of our Supervisory Union on Monday and see what is going on in our District and be glad to share what I find.

    • What is Critical Race Theory?
      “Critical race theory is an intellectual movement and a framework of legal analysis according to which (1) race is a culturally invented category used to oppress people of colour and (2) the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, political, and economic inequalities between white and nonwhite people.”
      https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory

      What does the VT Agency of Education say about its Ethnic and Social Equity Standards?
      Standards shall be designed to:
      1. Increase cultural competency of students in prekindergarten through grade 12;
      2. Increase attention to the history, contributions and perspectives of ethnic groups and social groups;
      3. Promote critical thinking regarding the history, contributions and perspectives of ethnic groups and social groups;
      4. Commit the school to eradicating any racial bias in its curriculum;
      5. Provide, across its curriculum, content and methods that enable students to explore safely questions of identity, race equality and racism; and
      6. Ensure that the basic curriculum and extracurricular programs are welcoming to all students and take into account parental concerns about religion or culture.

      ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ W.S.

      • Thanks Jay,

        As with most things, the devil is in the details. The Vermont Agency of Education Standards in themselves are not the problem as there is a need to understand how race has been a factor in our nations history and how it plays a part in our lives today. The Standards do not in fact mention or mandate the teaching of Critical Race Theory as defined by your post.

        What is important for those concerned, like myself with our Supervisory Union’s policy on racism, is to actually look at the details, engage, and work to change things if we feel curriculum is based more on grievances and promoting a sense of guilt in our children rather than a broader approach that recognizes both the sins of the past and the enormous strides and continued hopes for the future embodied in our nations founding and the continued difficult path towards a more just society where we indeed judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

        As stated earlier I will be checking with my own Superintendent regarding if there actually is a Vermont Critical Race curriculum and if so what it is. I would encourage others to do the same.

        • Re: “The Standards do not in fact mention or mandate the teaching of Critical Race Theory as defined by your post.”

          The ‘devil’ is, indeed, in the details, John. But you should have said, ‘As far as I know…..’ because you continue to ignore or avoid ‘the details’.

          Yes, the standards actually do cite Critical Race Theory, specifically. Check out the Vermont Department of Libraries and its reference to the VERMONT STANDARDS BOARD FOR PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS?
          https://racialequity.vermont.gov/sites/reap/files/doc_library/Action%20and%20Allyship%20Guide.pdf

          Under ‘Suggested Media’: “The following items are recommended as a way to learn more about equity, but consuming these media is not a replacement for concrete actions that you can take to advance equity and support marginalized people. Note that some of these items may contain sensitive content—please use discretion.”

          The FIRST item on the list is “Critical Race Theory & White Allyship”. Look it up!

          Yes. One must often dig into the weeds to find formal evidence of the insidious nature of our public education system. And anecdotal references (like those of the Essex school district) shouldn’t be discounted either.

          I’ll continue to give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to your poor research in this regard. Public institutions do, after all, excel in hiding their agenda when it is so obviously intended to deceive those believing it, not to mention the government that enables it ostensibly to serve ‘We The People’. ‘Please use discretion’, indeed.

          As in Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone episode of Damon Knight’s 1950 short story of the same name, ‘How To Serve Man’: When the last half of the alien Kanamit handbook (How to Serve Man) is finally deciphered, too late do many earthlings realize it’s a cookbook.

          Make no mistake. Our public education system has long since passed beyond its incompetence phase. The indoctrination of the entire population is underway, and you are a classic example of its success.

          • In fairness, I tried to replicate the pathlist I used to reach the above referenced .pdf through the VERMONT STANDARDS BOARD FOR PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS and have, as yet, not been able to do so.

            The .pdf is a Racial and Social Justice Resources, Vermont Projects and Organizations document.

            https://libraries.vermont.gov/services/racialjusticeresources

            Action and Allyship – An on-ramp towards equity – Published by the State of Vermont, “… this guide has been adapted and aggregated from public and private sources, and should be considered a starting-off point for people seeking to learn about equity.”

          • There are also links to teacher resources provided by the VTNEA.

            The Vermont-NEA Racial Justice Task Force was established in 2015 as a response to the National Education Association’s initiative to eradicate institutional racism in our nation’s public schools. The Task Force is composed of representatives of Vermont’s education agencies, legislators and government agency representatives, school employees, parents, and students from around the state. Vermont-NEA’s task force decided that a virtual toolkit, “Advancing Racial Equity Vermont’s Public Schools” would be the best way to reach every school district in the state.

            Peruse the web site and its references.

            http://racialequityvtnea.org/watch-now-video/

            Also this:
            “The National Educator’s Association (America’s largest teachers’ union) recently approved a resolution to promote critical race theory through its existing channels, work to ‘fight back’ against opponents of the practice.”
            https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/national-educators-association-approves-of-critical-race-theory/ar-AALLton

  4. Like all the ‘woke’ liberals Bill Schubart is constantly wrong, but never in doubt. — If they could be reasoned with, they would not be liberals.

  5. Critical race Theory relies on taking down white people to the level of black citizens
    What a collossaly stupid idea !!
    We have tried, spent, supported, raising black lives for several generations, helping them to come to our level.

    What has happenned? The Black citizens who try, who crave education, who are willing to work hard, to stay out of crime and trouble – blend into All American Culture – and then we tend to look at the ghetto’s, at the youth gangs, the bloody shootouts in every large city with a Democrat culture.

    So what is it? Do we take the whites down,OR continue to try to raise the Black population up with education,
    encouragement, the rewards of a good life, law abiding, hard work, and prosperity and respect.

  6. Mr. Klar,

    I have not been able to find any information on “the Vermont CRT curriculum” you mention in your commentary. Is there a link somewhere to the Vermont Critical Race curriculum that is being taught in our public schools in Vermont? In searching the State Education Department website I have not been able to find it. I would be interested in looking at exactly what is being taught and at what grade level. Thanks.

    • 30 seconds of searching would bring you to the Essex-Westford School District. Their “Equity Policy” is on ewsd.org website. The opening paragraph is directly copied from webpage:
      Background:
      The Essex Westford School District approaches equity through recognizing and redressing the impact of racism in the United States. This nation would not have evolved as it has without the genocide of the indigenous people, nor would the economic infrastructure exist as it does without the enslavement of native African people and their descendants. In an effort to recognize and undo the harm of centuries of systemic inequities and oppression, we begin with this lens and framework. EWSD recognizes the impact of systemic oppression of groups of people impacted by histories and current experiences of marginalization in addition to race including gender, abilities, and other identities. Given that identities are intersectional–meaning people have race, gender, abilities and other aspects of self, at the same time–this policy was developed to create equity in EWSD.

      Should Mr. Freitag choose to split hairs, the EWSD policy does not apply to the entire state of Vermont, however it is indicative of the type of policy being enacted in Vermont. Is a policy like this acceptable to Vermont’s residents?

      • Thank you Mr Bammo,
        I am aware of policy statements like this and criticized the draft presented in our own Supervisory Union for the same Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reasons as Mr. Klar. In doing this I and others received a good deal of push back, but the policy was changed.

        However, policy statements are not the same as curriculum which provides teacher the actual template on what they should be teaching at their grade level. My question still stands is there in fact a “Vermont CRT curriculum” and if so can Mr. Klar, who makes it a central part of his argument, or anyone else provide a link to it?

  7. Re: “I appreciate a well-reasoned conservative argument and often find myself in agreement with some or all of what I hear, but the far right’s invectives against a sincere effort to confront the implicit bias and racism of the past at a deeper level seems to me sound and fury signifying nothing.”

    This is the classic false dichotomy always presented by those who complain and yet, do nothing to improve our societal woes, real and imagined. Notice that Mr. Schubart offers nothing tangible as an alternative to Mr. Klar’s conservative view of constitutional republicanism (not to be confused with necessarily being a member of the ‘Republican Party’).

    While Mr. Klar maintains that, as a society, the best avenue is to follow constitutional law and due process, what does Mr. Schubart propose. Nothing!

    Why does Schubart offer nothing? Because he has no idea what to offer. He doesn’t know how our society works, except to complain about is failure to be perfect… a utopian high bar he and his constituents have demonstrated over and again that they have no chance in achieving. Instead, they throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

  8. The vibrancy ( a word that the left adores ) of the comments on the Digger were too much a media outfit” in pursuit of the truth ” could tolerate . So they kill it , they actually killed a vibrancy that they did not like . Many readers , mostly those who were writing comments understood that , those who do not must agree with cancel culture and elimination of free speech . We should find out why readers can possibly disagree with a forum where people could express themselves . If those readers do not want the narrative they like to be challenged in comments ,those readers are either weak of mind or totally totalitarian, I am not sure yet which option to choose.
    Another factor, Ann Galloway had used the pandemic as a cause to stop comments because of the extra work brought on by the pandemic coverage made it impossible to monitor comments. Will the comments come back now that the added burden has dissipated ?

    • That’s not why she did that…and you properly put the onus where it should be: On the editor and the publisher, both of whom are beholden to their funding and advertisers. Believe me, I know.
      She absolutely cut off comments because it was a real portrait of Vermonters NOT accepting the established and dictated narrative, and its best if Vermonters do not know how many people share their views.
      Because the VTCoverup would rather have you thinking what the Chinarmont controllers need us to think in order to install order and control.
      Vermont in 2021: Case in point.
      Ann Galloway is a collaborator of the worst kind: she knows better and is doing it anyway.

      • Yes Allison , I realize that and the work overload was the only argument she could possibly come up with, now she could prove us wrong by reinstating the comment section , and then we could appreciate her intellectual honesty and her total independence. To be wrong here would be a delight and then the conversation can start again . With the help of True North Report and the Vermont Daily Chronicle information material , all Vermonters could then see a full picture of how their state is governed as it be would be debated in the Digger comment section as well as in TNR and VDC .

  9. “ Critical race theory is explicitly racist, and claims that only present discrimination against white people can heal past discrimination against black people. That’s not an exploration of history: that’s a dark prescription of our future”
    What a great quote. I plan to send it to my state reps. Today (Crediting mr. Klar of course)
    I have the misfortune of having three insane liberal representatives “representing” my county (Windsor) and I’m sure they’ll reply with their usual snarky elitist comments.

  10. Where was it the Underground Railroad ran, again?
    Oh yeah… straight through Vermont.
    What is the Rokeby Museum’s claim to fame again?
    Oh yeah… the Underground Railroad.

    You’d better bookmark this page for your wayback machine to get hold of before its deleted and rewritten:

    “UNDERGROUND RAILROAD PROJECT: ANTI-SLAVERY
    Funded by the Vermont Humanities Council. The following materials were compiled in 1997.

    The Beginnings of the Anti-Slavery Movement in Vermont
    The Vermont Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1834 just one year after the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society. One hundred delegates from 30 towns throughout Vermont came to the first meeting. The Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society was Rowland Robinson. The purpose of the organization was to abolish slavery in the United States, and improve the mental, moral, and political condition of the “colored population.”

    The Anti-Slavery Society did not wish to interfere with slavery or encourage slaves to revolt. Rather, the Society tried to accomplish its goals in a moral way. They wished to “expose the guilt and danger of holding men as property” by publishing pamphlets, newspaper articles, and songs as well as lecturing in churches and at public meetings. This song, “The Slave’s Lamentation,” was written by Fairbank Bush of Norwich, Vermont. It was published as a broadside and circulated throughout the state.”

    That this history is being rewritten as we write… part of the great reset people.
    Capture your real history while its still accessible: https://vermonthistory.org/underground-railroad-project-anti-slavery

    CRT is a MANUFACTURED problem as part of the Hegalian dialectics… familiarize yourselves with the phrase all fascists just love: No crisis should go to waste.

  11. Schubart is the little fascist nazi in his silencing what he can’t deny attempt.

    If it’s a “Theory” then it has to be open to discussion and advancement on it’s agreed merits.. CRT is propaganda not theory and he knows it. He’s disingenuous in his attempt to change fact history for made up history.. of course he represents the proggie left so it is to be expected..

  12. CRT and Vermont’s abolitionism deniers, nothing more than liberal nonsense, Vermont’s
    abolitionist is our history and we know liberals hate history, just wait until the history books
    talk about these, guilt-ridden fools !!

    Critical race theory, a slanted view put together by an academic movement of civil-rights
    scholars and activists taught in liberal colleges … you get the picture !!

    Vermont needs to send all the carpetbaggers back where they came from, we’ll follow
    our history and that’s how we learn, not from agenda-driven nonsense.

    Any parent of a school-aged child should take notice, educators of today don’t educate they indoctrinate…..It’s your child and your tax dollars.

  13. The fact that you can agree or disagree with Mr. Klar on TNR but you can’t agree or disagree with Mr. Schubart on VTDigger says it all.

    Mr. Schubart should submit his commentary to TNR. The only problem, as VTDigger found out, is that usually the only people who actually think about things instead of repeating dogma are conservatives. That’s why VTDigger had to stop comments. I know: I was there. And I was banned.

    • Exactly.
      VTDigger is the VTCoverup now and brooks no dissent, and even goes after those who question their narratives.
      Closing comments protects them from having to defend their inverted lies as truth, and calling no reporting and copy and pasting press releases, news.
      VTDigger has done more damage to journalism and truth and promoted and colluded with CCP biological weapon distribution on Vermonters.
      That they court venomous forked tongue commentators is NOT a surprise but to be expected.
      VTDigger is heavily funded by advertisers who support the NWO and Karl Schwab’s view of the world: You will own nothing and be happy.
      Vermont is headed that way thanks in great part to media that can only be called presstitutes now.
      I REALLY appreciate being able to comment on TNR – and reading the comments.
      Its SO refreshing not have THAT coverup – the people’s voices – here.

      • VTdigger and other media that subscribe to their censorship is the cancer on a free press and should be removed. When the press becomes the political party of an ideology instead of true fact finders, our state and country dies from the suffocation of group think, manipulation of facts, censorship by omission and down right lies. In order to continue a lie, the truth must be suppressed. Ann Galloway’s pursuit of truth is actually the smothering of fact and discussion of a free society and VTdigger is an extension of the Dem/Prog Party of Vermont. You can go there to read where truth and free expression die. I’m so glad that I no longer read there policy statements disguised as news!

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