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WASHINGTON, D.C., July 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a recently approved plan designed to “fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric,” the nation’s largest teachers union has committed to advancing critical race theory in schools across the country. The move comes as more than half of all U.S. states have moved to suppress or ban CRT in schools, and is a startling contradiction of claims that the theory is not being taught at the K-12 level at all.

The National Education Association (NEA) approved “New Business Item 39” to promote the teaching of critical race theory throughout the United States, despite backlash against the theory that many consider to be racist in itself.

“The teachers union has made critical race theory its #1 priority—and want(s) to implement it nationwide,” tweeted Christopher Rufo, a conservative writer and filmmaker who has worked to bring the threat of critical race theory into public consciousness.

According to Rufo, “critical race theory isn’t an exercise in promoting racial sensitivity or understanding history. It’s a radical ideology that seeks to use race as a means of moral, social and political revolution.”

Rufo said the NEA, which represents 3 million employees, boasts a $350 million annual budget and has “an army of operatives,” plans to “promote critical race theory in all 50 states and 14,000 local school districts.”

According to its “New Business Item,” the NEA wants to “(s)hare and publicize, through existing channels, information already available on critical race theory (CRT),” and commits to having “a team of staffers for members who want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric.”

The teachers union plans to use existing media to promote teaching “truthful and age-appropriate accountings of unpleasant aspects of American history, such as slavery, and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other peoples of color.”

The plan goes on to explicitly approve the use of critical race theory, adding that “it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by academic frameworks for understanding and interpreting the impact of the past on current society, including critical race theory.”

The NEA’s declaration stands in stark contrast to persistent claims that CRT is an obscure legal theory that is not being taught in public schools. On July 1, NBC reported that “(t)eachers nationwide said K-12 schools are not requiring or pushing them to teach critical race theory.”

“(R)esponses from more than 1,100 teachers across the country … appeared to suggest that the panicked dialogue on critical race theory made by lawmakers and the media does not reflect the reality of American classrooms,” NBC reported.

“What is the fuss about?” asked ninth-grade English teacher Lynn Daniel of Phoenix, Arizona. “This objection is being pushed upon us, and it’s not even happening in our classes. I don’t understand it.”

Despite such protestations, the NEA clearly outlines its support for CRT, acknowledging that curricula designed to teach radical concepts to children have already been created.

According to the document, the association plans to “(p)rovide an already-created, in-depth, study that critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society,” and states the union’s opposition to “attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project.”

Rufo said the NEA’s plan contradicts claims that CRT is not being taught in schools.

“The argument that ‘critical race theory isn’t in K-12 schools’ is officially dead,” he said.

The NEA’s “Business Item” comes amid increasingly vocal protests from parents expressing their disapproval of critical race theory being taught to their children. Parents in the Loudoun County Public School District in Virginia made national news for standing up against the theory, which they say is teaching kids to be racist. Last month, several parents were arrested after the school board abruptly ended a meeting and called the police to arrest remaining participants for trespassing.

The NEA failed to dispel any concerns about divisive political ideology when it announced its plan to “(j)oin with Black Lives Matter at School and the Zinn Education Project to call for a rally this year on October 14 — George Floyd’s birthday — as a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression.”

Howard Zinn, whose A People’s History of the United States has had a profound influence on the teaching of American history in schools, is alleged to have been a member of the Communist Party.

So far, 26 states have moved to restrict or ban critical race theory in the classroom.

Just prior to banning CRT in Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “There’s no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory. Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.”

Rufo said the NEA has “declared war on parents who oppose critical race theory,” and encouraged parents to “fight back.”

To date, the association says its plan to promote CRT nationwide is stymied by its budget. The NEA says it will need another $127,600 to implement the scheme.