Republican lawmakers say they will not allow critical race theory and other divisive indoctrination to be imposed on American military service members.
Led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), GOP members of Congress are speaking out and taking action against the use of CRT in military training.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AZ) confronted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with concerns about political indoctrination in the military. Cotton said he has received many letters from servicemembers complaining about the type of training they are receiving. Instead of learning military tactics, they are required to attend progressive diversity training sessions.
Cotton said the military has always been a merit-based system and incorporating race and equity policies will reduce military preparedness. It will create division where unity is most needed, the senator said.
“By promoting critical race theory, the military is peddling ideological poison that will degrade the cohesion and combat effectiveness of its troops,” Cotton writes for National Review. “As I learned during my tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting alongside courageous soldiers of every race and background, the military’s strength is not its ‘diversity’ but its ability to weather adversity through unity.”
Implementation of critical race theory will have a punitive impact on sailors and marines, The Federalist reports. Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion requires improving diversity representation and promoting to positions of power only people “aligned with DEI theory.”
“People need to understand that these words, ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion,’ don’t mean what people think they mean, and they’re used by the people pushing them to install politically friendly apparatchiks under a socially responsible-sounding cloak,” James Lindsay, founder of New Discourses, told The Federalist. “The easiest way to realize this is what’s going on is how overtly political yet operationally vague these projects are.”
Legislation to ban CRT and any other racially divisive teaching in the military has been introduced by Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-GA).
Senate Republicans are also holding up the nomination of President Joe Biden’s selection to head the Office of Personnel Management, Kiran Ahuja, because of her adherence to radical race theories.
“In the course of her career, Kiran Ahuja has embraced and promoted radical racial theorists as thought leaders,” Sen. Josh Hawley (D-MO) told FOX News. “I’m highly concerned about this politicization of the federal government and cannot stand by as the Biden administration attempts to use taxpayer dollars to divide Americans based on race.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) recently confronted Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, regarding a recommending reading list Gilday provided to Navy sailors, the Washington Examiner reports.
Banks said he was surprised that the book, How to Be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram X. Kendi, was on the list. Consistent with CRT teachings, the author claims America is a racist nation. Banks questioned Gilday about his support of the book.
Gilday said he included the book because “it evokes the author’s own personal journey in understanding barriers to true inclusion” and Navy personnel should engage in self-reflection.
“If sailors accept Kendi’s argument that America and the United States Navy are fundamentally racist, as you’ve encouraged them to, do you expect that to increase or decrease morale and cohesion or even recruiting in the United States Navy?” Banks said
“Our strength is in our diversity, and our sailors understand that,” Gilday responded. “Racism in the United States is a very complex issue. What we benefit from is an open discussion about those issues, that we don’t try to ignore it or rewrite it, but we actually have a discussion about it.”
McCarthy says this premise conflicts with the nation’s fundamental values.
“Critical race theory doesn’t belong in our schools, in our military, or the federal government,” said McCarthy in a tweet. “Our guiding principles should be based on treating every single person with dignity and respect, not on liberal activist propaganda.”
