In a radio interview on “The Morning Drive” with Marcus Certa and Kurt Wright on Friday, new Essex School Board member Elizabeth Cady took aim at a new ideology being pushed in education — critical race theory.
“I don’t believe in teaching our children that the most important thing about them is their race, and that their race determines their interactions with others and that their race determines how they are perceived,” Cady said on the show.
“I think that creates a culture of shame, feeling shame for something that you cannot control. And when you are ashamed of something, you don’t try to better it — you try to hide it, you try to destroy it,” she added.
Essex Westford School District Board member Liz Cady
Cady, a young mom and part-time assistant teacher from Essex Town, made news in April by beating out six-year incumbent school board member Liz Subin, a climate justice activist. She did so in part by supporting school choice and opposing the Black Lives Matter political organization.
During the program, she said those pushing critical race theory are not open to public discourse.
“The question of critical race theory has been brought up in our schools and it is quite a concern,” she said. “And it’s a concern when we can’t have an open dialogue about it and know do we have critical race theory for certain, and what does our community feel about it. Do they have the presentation of all of it, and do they support it, and do they support their tax dollars going towards it?”
She shared a quote from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen on the matter.
“He said ‘teaching racial discrimination in the name of ending racial discrimination is illogical and illegal,'” and that’s what I really want to focus on. Critical race theory does put racial discrimination into it, and I don’t think that’s the best way for us to move forward,” Cady said.
Wright noted that the school’s administration claims critical race theory is not part of its curriculum. Cady countered that the issue isn’t so clear cut.
“On May 4, the Equity Inclusion Director Erin Maguire confirmed two times in that meeting that Essex Westford was using critical race theory in a program called ‘Courageous Conversations,'” she said. “However a week ago a message came out from the district saying that the district is not using critical race theory. So I believe there is some confusion there that needs to be cleared up.”
Wright shared his experiences with what seemed to him like critical race theory being applied in implicit bias training that he was put through.
“It’s very concerning to me, I’ve been through some training that wasn’t called ‘critical race theory,’ but it was implicit bias training, and we talked about ‘Courageous Conversations,'” Wright said. “But when I was in the training, when I agreed with some of it but disagreed with others, I was basically, you know, put down — you don’t challenge this. They didn’t want to have these courageous conversations. They basically wanted to tell me the way I need to think, and if I challenged any of it, then I told it was white fragility.”
At the Vermont Rural Development Council held the “Summit of the Future of Vermont” on Wednesday, Vermont NAACP president Mia Schultz, along with other social justice leaders, shared frustration that there’s been “pushback” at the selectboard and school board levels against critical race theory.
“We’re seeing pushback in the actual implementation of these equity statements and these inclusion statements that we’ve crafted so well, Schultz said. ” … And the school boards are being infiltrated.”
Cady said that the constant push for equity in all sectors of life is the wrong approach.
“Equity is wanting the same outcome … for everybody to kind of look the same at the end, and we know that students are individuals,” she said. “Parents obviously see their children as individuals, where they excel in certain subjects, and I feel like we should be encouraging students to excel in what is natural to them, and making certain that we are providing them to become individuals rather than be all the same.”
Cady was adamant that the residents who elected her to the board want her to be asking hard questions about equity and the critical race theory.
“I of course have opinions, as I’m a person. But the comments and the questions that I get from the community members, I want to make sure that those voices are represented,” she said.
Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.
I am thankful that the likes of Liz Cady have entered the fray and doubly thankful that voters have seen the need.
Vermont is desperate for leadership with wisdom and common sense.
Thank you Liz Cady!
I think that what Vermont teachers are so aggressively shoving at our precious young kids AMOUNT TO HATE CRIMES. Think about it. These are hate crimes against us our kids our history and hate is precisely what these teachers intend to generate. Think about it. LETS PUT A STOP TO THIS ACROSS VERMONT NOW……..NOW.
Great video by Epoch Times on DeSantis and his handling of Covid-19: https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-documentary-desantis-florida-vs-lockdowns_3834081.html?&utm_medium=AmericanThoughtLeaders&utm_source=Others&utm_campaign=ATL-DeSantis&utm_content=5-27-2021
Isn’t CRT promoting exactly the type of thinking that characterizes a totalitarian society: you must follow the doctrine, openly endorse the doctrine, and act according to the doctrine, or be punished?
Is CRT- – a doctrinaire, highly irrational theory that paints caricatures of people as one-dimensional unconscious racists– part of a scheme to destroy America? Does it go hand-in-hand with the lockdown mentality? Is it just an accident that it’s emerging right now, at this time, and that it’s widely supported by the very same people who support lockdowns and vaccine passports?
A narrative is being sold to us, deliberately, to bring us to our knees, and that narrative includes CRT but is bigger than CRT. Exactly who is doing all this is a bit of a mystery, but that it’s happening is not.
Here’s another excellent video published by Epock Times
Black Lives Matter St. Paul Founder Says He ‘Resigned’ After Learning the ‘Ugly Truth’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/black-lives-matter-st-paul-founder-says-he-resigned-after-learning-the-ugly-truth_3836825.html
A great meeting at Essex Center, exposing the idea that Every White Person is born with guilt over racial discrimination, and must be immediately and forever ashamed of their being, and of their White culture.
A lot of double talk and unstated motives were exposed
” Critical Race Theory ” just more liberal nonsense to taint the minds of our children,
thank you Liz Cady for standing up for the kids of Vermont !!
We need more educators like Liz Cady, education, not indoctrination wake up people it’s
all about their agenda, they could care less about your Children and just think about it,
you entrust your children’s health and well-being to these clowns and you’re being betrayed.
Please keep this in mind… while Liz Cady is what I characterize as the epitome of a courageous American, remember the many voters who elected her. Our destiny is controlled by our election preferences.
Truth is derived from a transcendent being in God; an intelligible nature; or linguistic man – i.e. the will to power – thorough language and consciousness raising.
The idea of equity, fly’s in the face of the bell curve. Not everyone has equal talents. That fact is proven and known. All who object to this reality are denying their own humanity.
CRT is similar to conservatism and liberalism and communism because it’s a theory about how the world works and how it should work. But, it’s simply a theory (it says so right in the name.) It has elements of truth to it, just as other theories do. People might strongly support one view over another. People might object to elements of any of these theories.
But when we go around insisting that people adhere to the conservative doctrine or the liberal doctrine or the communist doctrine or the CRT doctrine and question their loyalty to the doctrine as a test of worthiness or ability to do a job, then something is wrong. Now we’re talking about indoctrination instead of rational discussion or simply informing. Now, instead of controlling bodies– as for example slavery and other abuses did– we’re talking about controlling minds. Is controlling and abusing minds a good thing now? Is judging people by their skin wrong but judging them by their adherence to doctrine the best thing ever? The new normal? Part of a Great Reset towards peace and everlasting joy?
Are we really so far gone that we believe that “the truth” must be shoved down people’s throats in an updated totalitarianism? Is one side effect of Covid-19 that it’s made much of society insane and intolerant?
Some states are saying, no way, Jose, but not Vermont, this “brave little state.” Maybe they meant, “Brave New World little state”?
Liz Cady is good & thoughtful lady who deserves widespread attention.
Bravo TNR!!! It’s about time we started getting some of this on the table.