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Roger Kimball warned in Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education (1990) how higher education had become corrupted by radical politization. The renowned art critic, editor and media commentator has not been alone in this observation. Dinesh D’Souza, (Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus, 1998) and Allan Bloom (Closing of the American Mind, 1987) have been among other respected thinkers who have raised the same concern. There is no doubt that cultural Marxism has, detrimentally, managed to permeate profusely one of its most toxic intellectual artifacts, Critical Theory, into the curriculum of practically every American college and university. The socialist insurrectional offensive, in place since the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, has aggressively extended this indoctrination campaign to the elementary school level.
Given the priority that the left in America has given to the issue of race with its calculated false claims of systemic racism, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been the most overt manifestation of this subversive penetration into the grade school system. CRT, it must be noted, has not been the exclusive tool of the cultural Marxist’s propagandist war chest. Gender Ideology and Critical Queer Theory has also invaded America’s public primary level education system.
Recently, fifth graders at an inner-city Philadelphia elementary school paid homage to “Black Communism” and Angela Davis, a prominent militant of the Black Panther domestic terrorist movement. City Journal published a report from whistle blower documents and a source inside the William D. Kelley School, that related how a teacher structured social studies modules and classes to include simulating “Black Power” rallies and adulating the life of Davis, a devout Communist, radical Feminist and recipient of the infamous Lenin Peace Prize. A protégé of Herbert Marcuse, who studied under his guidance, Davis never wavered in her call for the annihilation of American democracy.
The Black Power, pro-Black Communism simulation carried out at Philadelphia’s William D. Kelley School, included the students marching on stage carrying picket signs that read, “Free Angela”, “Jail Trump”, “Black Power”, and “Black Power Matters”. Additionally, the students were made to discuss the life of Davis, a glorification of this Communist conspirator, as well as a discussion on Communism. Chants about Africa and the ancestral connections of the predominantly black ten- and eleven-year-olds were part of the ceremony.
This was not an isolated incident where a fifth-grade elementary school teacher took it upon herself to carry out Marxist proselytizing. This is part of a much broader scheme authorized by the School District of Philadelphia and its Superintendent, William R. Hite Jr. The school’s latest public artwork exhibition contains a mural of Angela Davis and Huey P. Newton, a convicted felon for murder and embezzlement, and co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Both figures, it should be noted, stood trial for murdering a police officer.
Superintendent Hite, Jr. issued an Antiracism Declaration as part of the School District’s policy. Essentially, it buys into much of the Marxist CRT rhetoric that “race is the social construction that set the foundation and built the infrastructure for the United States we know today. Racism is the root of all other forms of injustice and provides the nourishment needed for other systems of oppression to thrive…”. It continues with revolutionary zeal, “We must be bold and courageous, willing to do the necessary work to acknowledge and disrupt racist ideologies and behaviors…”. Apparently, the School District of Philadelphia has grossly forgotten that its role is to educate and not train future Communists to challenge American democracy.
When one considers the callous contradiction that exists in Philadelphia between a most generous budget to teach children and the abysmal record of its education results, one would conclude that politicizing schools and the ideologization of education should be the last thing in their minds. The School District of Philadelphia has an annual $3.4 billion budget, with over 18,000 employees. However, this school cited within the mentioned Philadelphia district has consistently been one of the worst-performing in the whole state of Pennsylvania, judged academically. Of Kelley school students, by the sixth grade, only 3% of them will be proficient in math, and 9% in reading. The minimal literacy rate of its students at graduation will be around 13%.
To the left, political power is everything. Race, a weapon in Marxism’s arsenal against the American Republic is being exploited at all costs. Philadelphia’s children are a prime example. This is a true example of exploitation. Black American Communists in control of school districts are diverting public funds for subversive indoctrination. Schools should teach, not mold potential Communist militias. Cultural Marxism’s CRT must be stopped.
Julio M Shiling, political scientist, writer, director of Patria de Martí and The Cuban American Voice, lecturer and media commentator. A native of Cuba, he currently lives in the United States. Twitter: @JulioMShiling // Julio es politólogo, escritor, director de Patria de Martí y The Cuban American Voice. Conferenciante y comentarista en los medios. Natural de Cuba, vive actualmente en EE UU.
Please fix the picture. Linus Pauling is not Lenin.
Ignore my previous comment.