As a father and grandfather, my heart breaks when I think about what it’s like to be a kid in America today.
If you’re a white kid, you’re a racist. If you’re a black kid, the deck has already been stacked against you because of white racism. If you’re a boy, you’re oppressing women. If you’re a Christian kid, you’re a fundamentalist. If you’re a straight kid, you’re oppressing the alphabets. Oh, and you can be gender fluid. So if you’re a girl and things are rough, instead of engaging with the wisdom of family, friends, and faith, why not instead try being a boy for a while?
What’s worse, our kids are forced to wear a mask, even though science clearly confirms that children are at near-zero risk from COVID-19. This means kids can no longer read facial expressions, losing out on a critical skill in inferring emotions. Numerous studies are demonstrating the clear damage being done to the communication skills of our precious children through mask-wearing.
How did we get here? How did we arrive at an America so tragically unrecognizable from the country many of us grew up in?
The answer is that we are in the midst of an all-out, unprecedented assault against our nation, wholly separated from facts, evidence, or love. Critical race theory is just one piece of that revolutionary movement being forced upon our children by those we have allowed to take control of our education system.
It is a movement that seeks to transform every area of society based on a divisive, dystopian, totalitarian vision. Another core element of this sinister movement includes the transgender agenda, which seeks to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports and vice versa, forces kids to use absurd pronouns, and is even mandating gender-neutral bathrooms in schools.
Imagine being a girl today knowing that boys can waltz into your bathroom at any time? These ideologies are largely the product of the Frankfurt School in Germany in the 1930s, and their forceful promotion in our society today follows the standard playbook of communist revolutions, which always begin with the canceling, censoring, and blacklisting of those who don’t agree and always end with the deaths of millions of those who don’t comply.
Our children are being raised to enthusiastically support the wholesale dehumanization of those they are taught to hate. Those that object are forced to remain silent or face the wrath of cancel culture, a totalitarian blacklisting regimen that ruins reputations and costs people their livelihoods.
This is the future our children face if they stand up to the radical agenda being forced upon them.
Imagine being taught the poisonous idea that your race is the determining factor of all outcomes in your life. If you’re a white kid, that means you’re responsible for the failures of your non-white friends and classmates, or even people you don’t know. Imagine being taught that if you’re a black kid, you’re going to be disadvantaged your whole life because of your race, regardless of the individual choices you make. With a large and unfortunate achievement gap between black and white students, this is the very last thing that black students who are underperforming need to be taught.
As someone who grew up poor and black, if I had been indoctrinated in this ideology, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Americans of all backgrounds want a country where kids are taught to shoot for the stars and dream of being doctors, lawyers, and astronauts, just as I was; not where they’re taught that they’re destined to fail because of their race and the fault of others. This situation cannot continue.
All Americans and officials at all levels of government must act to stop this madness. Talk alone is not enough.
One piece of good news is that there are signs this is already happening. We’re witnessing significant pushback against critical race theory, with the hateful ideology drawing the opposition and righteous anger of people all across our land. Patriots are making their voices heard at school board meetings, and many school board members are facing recall elections for the first time in history. This action to protect our children must expand beyond K-12 education; it must eventually encompass higher education, media, medicine, corporations, and all other major areas of society.
Being a kid in America today is harder than ever, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, let us continue the fight for the future.
Ben Carson is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute and the former 17th secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
