The battle over critical race theory (at its core, a “different” way of looking at race relations in the United States) continues to heat up. As a community organizer in a very divided Orange County, I am witnessing top-down efforts to implement and fund critical race theory curriculum in our local schools. I am also of Asian descent and ready to lead pushback from those who see critical race theory for what it really is.

Critical race theory is, in a word, racist. While supposedly honoring the minority experience, it is condescending and hateful toward the dominant culture experience, calling anything “white” racist, ugly, and guilty. Anyone who conforms is “white adjacent” and therefore also guilty. The entire premise of the theory is rooted in disdain and rejection.