Sen. Tom Cotton is introducing legislation to ban “critical race theory” training in the military.
“Our military’s strength depends on the unity of our troops and the knowledge that America is a noble nation worth fighting for. Critical Race Theory teaches that race is a person’s most important characteristic, and that America is an evil, oppressive place,” Cotton said in a statement on Thursday. “Not only will such racist ideas undermine our troops’ faith in each other, they’ll also erode their trust in our country’s guiding principles.”
The bill would prohibit the military from teaching that the United States is a fundamentally racist country, that founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are inherently racist, and that a person can be inherently racist based simply on skin color.
Cotton’s bill comes after the U.S. Navy released an updated reading list that included How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. The Navy said its reading list is designed to “extend their personal and professional development,” but Rep. Jim Banks said the book is “anti-American.”
“The views promoted in ‘How to Be an Antiracist’ are explicitly anti-American. According to Kendi, the author, America is fundamentally racist, so anti-Americanism is a moral imperative,” Banks wrote in a letter to Navy Adm. Michael Gilday, who is also the chief of naval operations. “Kendi’s ideas are divisive and will undermine morale and weaken our national security.”
The legislation comes after the Navy created controversy when a service task force meant to “combat discrimination” suggested that all sailors take a pledge to “acknowledge all lived experiences and intersectional identities.”
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“As a Navy — uniform and civilian, active and reserve — we cannot tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind. We must work to identify and eliminate individual and systemic racism within our force,” Gilday said of the task force. “That is why we are standing up Task Force One Navy, which will work to identify and remove racial barriers and improve inclusion within our Navy.”
