© Reuters / Lee Smith
President Donald Trump has ordered all federal agencies to end critical race theory trainings, which the White House calls "divisive, anti-American propaganda," a White House statement announced Friday.
Russ Vought, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, was
directed by Trump to ensure that all federal agencies cease and desist from holding
critical race theory trainings, which have included mandatory sessions for white employees who are tasked with recognizing their role in perpetuating racism.
"These types of 'trainings' not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce," the statement said.
As the following steps for the directive are developed, "all agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on 'critical race theory,' 'white privilege,' or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil."
"The President has a proven track record of standing for those whose voice has long been ignored and who have failed to benefit from all our country has to offer, and he intends to continue to support all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed. The divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda of the critical race theory movement is contrary to all we stand for as Americans and should have no place in the Federal government," the statement concludes.
The directive comes weeks after leaked documents revealed that a federal lab reportedly hosted a three-day mandatory training for its white male executives where they were instructed to apologize for their privilege, along with other tasks such as acknowledging the connection between "white male culture" and mass killings.
Similarly,
leaked documents also showed that the federal agency United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had distributed manuals to employees to inform them about topics like "gender & sexual minorities," "microaggression" and "misgendering," and directing employees to not "make jokes or reinforce stereotypes about LGBTI+ people, such as about behavior or gender expression" which are a "common microaggression."
Comment: More
detail:
Though Vought said that the president remains "fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of all individuals," he said "false" and "demeaning propaganda" had no place in the federal government, pointing to training sessions which teach that "virtually all white people contribute to racism" or require staff to state that they "benefit from racism."
According to internal documents obtained by Christopher Rufo, the director of the right-leaning Center on Wealth and Poverty, the training courses for government officials have encouraged personnel to "own their racism," as well as to accept their "unconscious bias," "white privilege" and "white fragility." Agencies including the FBI, the Sandia National Laboratories, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, among many others, have undergone such training.
Apparently Trump's crusade against the critical race theory ideology infesting government agencies is only
beginning:
After ordering federal agencies to stop spending tax dollars on 'anti-racism' training, President Trump called 'critical race theory' a "sickness," and vowed to "quickly extinguish" it from the government.
As Trump's supporters cheered the ban, the president himself doubled down on Saturday.
Critical race theory has existed in academia since the 1980s, but exploded into the mainstream in recent months, as 'Black Lives Matter' protests and riots swept across the US following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Its core concepts are the existence of 'white privilege' - the notion that America is founded on "white supremacy" and "institutional racism," and that all white people must be pushed to confront their own "unconscious racism."
Some of its most ardent preachers have spun their teachings into a viable cottage industry, with author and academic Robin DiAngelo, for instance, charging upwards of $20,000 to lecture corporate boards on the original sin of whiteness.
Trump's ban came after a number of conservative reporters revealed that federal employees - from FBI agents through treasury officials to nuclear scientists - were being 'educated' on how to deconstruct their "white male culture."
The progressives clutched their pearls and took to social media:
But others applauded, including Tucker Carlson:
Comment: More detail: Apparently Trump's crusade against the critical race theory ideology infesting government agencies is only beginning: The progressives clutched their pearls and took to social media:
But others applauded, including Tucker Carlson: