Not So Fast: VA Gov. Glenn Youngkin Didn’t Actually Ban Critical Race Theory

Since before the Virginia election, I’ve been skeptical of Republican Glenn Youngkin. I supported him against Democrat Terry McAwful, of course, but I never considered him to be a constitutional conservative which we desperately need in America right now.

It’s for this reason that I was skeptical about posting an article regarding his flurry of executive orders after officially taking office today. While the vast majority in conservative media claimed that he had “banned” Critical Race Theory, I wasn’t going to write my own article about it until I read the actual executive orders. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that yet. Anti-CRT activist Karlyn Borysenko did it for me and revealed what I feared. According to her Substack article:

Here’s the problem: Youngkin banned the teaching of “divisive concepts,” defining “divisive” as anything that violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Except that the vast majority of the time that critical race theory is taught in the classroom, they are not teaching it in a way that violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They are teaching it based on the concept that America is a country founded on racism – they focus on the racism of the system, not of individuals.

It’s easy to understand why conservatives might believe this is enough to be effective. After all, Fox News constantly runs stories on the “anti-white” nature of critical race theory and there are absolutely instances of overtly discriminatory practices taking place in public schools that make for great clickbait fodder. But the fact is that what you hear on Fox News is only one small part of what the truth is.

I know this because I’ve spent thousands of hours watching how critical race theory is taught in the real world. I’ve seen the curriculum. I’ve seen the teacher trainings. Every week on Fridays on my second YouTube channel, we watch how CRT is actually taught and it’s rarely taught in the way that shows up in conservative media. It’s much worse than you think.

The problem between perception and reality that we are dealing with is that most teachers who are teaching critical race theory are much more subtle in their approach. They aren’t teaching that white people are bad – they’re teaching that America is a fundamentally racist country and therefore the entire system needs to be overhauled.

This is not something that is banned by Youngkin’s executive order.

I will read the executive orders myself over the weekend, but I trust Borysenko’s assessment. The last time we spoke was after she exposed the wokeness at Coca-Cola, and while we do not always agree politically or culturally, I have the utmost respect for her perspectives and I defer to her judgment on Critical Race Theory legislation.

I’ll be watching Youngkin very closely. RINOs tend to seem conservative until actual conservatives dig a bit deeper. If he’s legitimate, I’ll happily say I am wrong about him. But this first “CRT ban” isn’t as impressive as some are saying.