One Teacher’s Fight Against CRT: Expelling CRT from the Classroom

One Teacher’s Fight Against Critical Race Theory (full series)
Taking a Stand | Exposing CRT Teaching
Key Tenets of CRT | Expelling CRT from the Classroom

Expelling CRT from the Classroom

When I first took a public stance against critical race theory, I prayed if it was the right thing to do. I had a sneaky suspicion that God doesn’t want us to solve racism with more racism, and I was seeking His blessing in this fight. Even if you aren’t a believer, I think we all desire a colorblind, equal society, like Martin Luther King’s dream. That same day, I was scrolling through social media when I saw a video of a middle school–aged white girl tearfully speaking to her school board. “How can a child born into an abusive drug and alcohol home, who lost her entire biological family, and has experienced all forms of abuse, be privileged? When I was told that, I was so upset, I cried myself to sleep.” She spoke about when her teacher told her she had white privilege. This was the sign I needed to carry on and fight.

It isn’t enough to prove that CRT is in our schools; we must make an effort to get this divisive theory out of the classroom and keep it out. But what do we do?

I recommend focusing on these three strategies:

• Academic Transparency. Academic transparency laws require the district to post all curricula on a public website for parents to see what is taught in the classroom. This may not stop woke teachers from having these divisive race-based conversations with their captive audience in the classroom, but it will slow them down.
• School Choice. Think about the students in my district who were required to take the Ethnic Studies class to graduate. School choice allows just that choice. If a parent doesn’t want their child in a school that pushes critical race theory, they have the option to pull them out and have the financial support through state vouchers to do that. This is why I founded Exodus Institute, to give parents another option.
• Fight the Teachers Union. Continue to support organizations like the Capital Research Center that expose the teachers unions’ one-sided interests. It has become clear that the unions’ priority is not the safety and well-being of the students or even the teachers. Their priority is to fund and promote far-left woke ideologies and teachers, ensuring that they continue in the classroom.

It’s shocking the amount of racist hate I have received since I have exposed the lessons containing CRT. Do you think that proponents of CRT are justified in telling a black teacher that she is a “white-washed house negro?” You would think that those in favor of CRT in our schools would rejoice to see evidence that it is in our K–12 classrooms, but instead, they attack the messenger. Even if you favor critical race theory being taught to our young people, no one deserves the racial abuse and threats I have received since exposing the lessons in my district and the lies being pushed by the media. But it should be no surprise that a theory full of “reverse racism” leads its defenders to lash out with racial slurs when exposed.

If anything, judge the theory by its fruit.

Kali Fontanilla is a former public school teacher of 15 years. Her rebuttal statement to Proposition 16 in California helped to stop the push for legal reverse racism and a new extreme version of affirmative action in 2020. She is the co-founder of Exodus Institute, a K–12 online school with a nationally accredited program: Thinkexodus.org.