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What is critical race theory?

Developed by the former Harvard Law professor Derrick Bell and other scholars in the 1970s and 80s, critical race theory, or CRT, examines the ways in which racism was embedded into American law and other modern institutions, maintaining the dominance of white people.

CRT argues that racism is not a matter of individual bigotry but a systemic issue that creates an uneven playing field for people of colour.

Kimberl Williams Crenshaw, a law professor widely credited with coining the term, told the New York Times: It is a way of seeing, attending to, accounting for, tracing and analyzing the ways that race is produced, the ways that racial inequality is facilitated, and the ways that our history has created these inequalities that now can be almost effortlessly reproduced unless we attend to the existence of these inequalities.

A year or so ago few people had heard of it, yet Republicans have whipped up a moral panic that CRT is being rammed down the throats of schoolchildren. They caricature it as teaching Black children to internalise victimhood and white children to self-identify as oppressors.

Is it taught in schools?

No, it is not a part of the secondary school curriculum. The National School Boards Association and other education leaders are adamant that CRT is not being taught in K-12 schools, which teach students from five to 18 years old.

But Rupert Murdochs Fox News and other rightwing media have turned it into a catch-all buzzword for any teaching in schools about race and American history. They loosely apply it to concepts such as equity and anti-bias training for teachers.

Patti Hidalgo Menders, president of the Loudoun County Republican Womens Club in Virginia, told the Guardian last week: They may not call it critical race theory, but theyre calling it equity, diversity, inclusion. They use culturally responsive training for their teachers. It is fundamentally CRT.

Its dividing our children into victims and oppressors and whats a child supposed to do with that?

Efforts to weaponise CRT were reinforced by former president Donald Trump and a rightwing ecosystem including influential thinktanks. Last year Christopher Rufo, a conservative scholar now at the Manhattan Institute, told the Fox News host Tucker Carlson that CRT was a form of cult indoctrination.

In January the Heritage Foundation hosted a panel discussion where the moderator, Angela Sailor, warned: Critical race theory is the complete rejection of the best ideas of the American founding. This is some dangerous, dangerous philosophical poisoning in the blood stream.

What role did CRT play in Virginias election?

Winning Republican candidate Glenn Youngkins signature issue was education. He hammered government schools on culture war issues such as race and transgender rights and falsely claimed that his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, called his friend, President Joe Biden, and asked the FBI to silence conservative parents.

Youngkin said he would ban the teaching of CRT in Virginia classrooms. At a campaign event in Glen Allen last month, the candidate said to applause: What we wont do is teach our children to view everything through the lens of race. On day one, I will ban critical race theory.

McAuliffe was forced on to the defensive and had to engage with the issue. He accused Republicans of using the Trump playbook of division and deceit, a message that did not cut through in the same way.

Why did the issue resonate with voters?

This can be seen as a rightwing backlash to last years Black Lives Matter protests and conversations about structural racism that followed the police murder of George Floyd, an African American man in Minneapolis. It also can be seen as a response to Americas changing demographics, specifically the increase in the minority population.

It also comes after lengthy school closures during the pandemic infuriated many parents. School board meetings in Virginia and elsewhere have turned ugly, even violent, and protest signs calling for bans on masks and CRT are sometimes almost interchangeable.

This week conservatives targeted school board elections nationwide over masking rules and teaching racial justice issues. In Virginia, 14% of voters listed education as a top issue, and about seven of 10 of those voted for Youngkin.

McAuliffe did not help himself when, during a debate, he said, I dont believe parents should be telling schools what they should teach a line that was constantly replayed in Youngkin attacks ads.

Youngkin also highlighted a high school bathroom sexual assault case in affluent Loudoun county, in northern Virginia, to argue against allowing transgender students into their chosen restrooms.

Is it just Virginia?

No. Officials in Republican-controlled states across America are proposing numerous laws to ban teachers from emphasizing the role of systemic racism. Legislation aiming to curb how teachers talk about race has been considered by at least 15 states, according to research by Education Week.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has described CRT as state-sanctioned racism.

Brad Little, the governor of Idaho, signed into law a measure banning public schools from teaching CRT, which it claimed will exacerbate and inflame divisions on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or other criteria in ways contrary to the unity of the nation and the wellbeing of the state of Idaho and its citizens.

Red states are also targeting the 1619 Project, a series by the New York Times which contends that modern American history began with the arrival of enslaved people four centuries ago and examines that legacy.

Republicans are expected to use the Youngkin formula to woo suburban voters in next years midterm elections for Congress.

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How did Republicans turn critical race theory into a winning electoral issue? - The Guardian

Indiana Republicans have dominated state politics over this past generation, holding all Statehouse constitutional offices, super majorities in the General Assembly and all but two seats of the congressional delegation for much of the past decade.

Aug. 14, 2001, became the fateful date when they began to turn things around after Democrat Govs. Evan Bayh and Frank OBannon had won the previous four gubernatorial elections. That was the day The Phoenix Group had its open house at the Klipsch Audio Technologies headquarters near the Indianapolis pyramids.

It was a fundraiser like no other the party had seen in years. The Phoenix Group had formed earlier that year by GOP financiers Jim Kittle, Bob Grand and Randall Tobias in an effort to reinvigorate the once thriving Indiana Republican machine that had been shut out of gubernatorial races since the rise of Evan Bayh in 1988.

Kittle and other Republican financiers had grown frustrated over what they saw as a four-year cycle of reinventing the wheel when it came to statewide races. It seems like we start from scratch every time, he told Howey Politics in 2001. And theres been growing frustration over high-level campaigns run by John Mutz, Stephen Goldsmith, David McIntosh and Indianapolis mayoral nominee Sue Anne Gilroy where a lack of money hasnt been a problem. What had hamstrung Indiana Republicans had been top-flight competition, poor strategy and execution, and a lack of competitive technology.

The Phoenix Group was essentially a shadow party. When Mike McDaniel stepped down, it created a race between Kittle and Grant Countys John Earnest (who had lost a chair race to Rex Early a decade before), with Kittle prevailing.

It was all seen as a precursor to Mitch Daniels leaving his White House budget director post to run for governor. That notion had been speculated months before. I remember meeting Chairman McDaniel earlier that year when he said the Republicans had a secret weapon. He then wrote the name Mitch Daniels on a piece of paper.

Daniels was an acolyte to legendary Marion County Chairman Keith Bulen, then rose through the ranks as a staffer to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, at one point leading the National Republican Senatorial Committee. After Dan Quayle was elected vice president in 1988, Gov. Robert Orr had offered Daniels the open Senate seat, which he turned down due to family considerations.

Kittle, Grand and Tobias essentially created The Phoenix Group to lure Daniels out of the White House and into the 2004 governors race.

Daniels would say after Kittle was elected chair, I would walk across hot coals for Jim Kittle and Ed Simcox.

As we all know, Daniels did return to Indiana full time (he didnt move the family to Washington when he worked for President George W. Bush) coming back to defeat Democrat Gov. Joe Kernan in 2004, setting in motion the second GOP dynasty that is still intact today.

Rex Early enunciated the central truth about the reality of a major party power: Being state chairman with a governor and being state chairman without a governor is the difference between ice cream and dog poop.

Since 1960, there have been 37 Republican and Democratic chairmen and for two years, Ann DeLaney ran the Indiana Democratic Party. This club of power is almost exclusively dominated by white males. In addition to DeLaney, the only minority chair was Robin Winston, who led Indiana Democrats under Gov. Frank OBannon.

There were the transformational chairs like Republicans James Neal, Jim Kittle, Eric Holcomb and now Kyle Hupfer, and Democrats like John Livengood and Joe Andrew, who helped pave the way for gubernatorial party switches and prolonged power maintenance.

There were placeholder chairs like McDaniel and Democrats Gordon St. Angelo, Dan Parker and John Zody, who attempted with varying degrees of success to stabilize their parties while lacking resources (i.e. the governor).

There were those who served at the pleasure of their governors: Thomas Milligan and Bruce Melchert under Gov. Doc Bowen; Gordon Durnil during Gov. Orrs two terms; Murray Clark and Holcomb under Gov. Daniels; Hupfer under Gov. Holcomb; Democrats John Livengood, Michael Pannos and DeLaney under Gov. Bayh, and Winston under Gov. OBannon; Joe Hogsett and Kip Tew under Gov. Kernan; Tim Berry and Jeff Cardwell under Gov. Mike Pence.

And there were the rescue chairs Early and current Democratic Chairman Mike Schmuhl who took the job when their parties were at a low ebb.

Schmuhl took the helm of Indiana Democrats in March. The party has been relegated to essentially Indianapolis, Lake County and the university cities. There are only two Democrats in the General Assembly south of Bloomington.

He is now leading Democrats on a Small Town Tour hoping to show voters, as former legislator Melanie Wright said last week, that they dont have horns sprouting from their heads. According to Schmuhl, the party has to show up even in the deepest red counties. This past week Schmuhl, former congresswoman Jill Long Thompson and others have appeared in LaGrange, Cicero and North Vernon to talk about President Bidens American Rescue Plan.

Told about Rex Earlys quote about being a chair without a governor, Schmuhl knew about it, saying, Thats a really good one. I had ice cream last night.

The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at http://www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.

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Brian Howey: How Indiana Republicans found their way to ice cream - Terre Haute Tribune Star

The Republican candidates in New Yorks competitive races differ from one another in tone, experience and the local issues that reflect their distinctive districts.

But all of those contests, party officials and strategists say, are shaped by the continued salience of public safety in the minds of voters, discussion of education matters like the gifted and talented program that Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to phase out, and intense feelings over vaccine mandates. Some Republicans even argue that the challenging national environment that Democrats appear to be facing may be evident in a handful of city races, too.

This has a lot of likenesses to 2009, when Obama came in on hope and change and then fell flat, said Nick Langworthy, the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. In 2009 we had great gains at the local level, and then had a cataclysm in 2010. Are we facing that, or is there going to be flatness all the way around?

Whatever the turnout, Republicans are virtually certain to be shut out of citywide offices. Indeed, by nearly every metric, the Republican Party has been decimated in the nations largest city. They are vastly outnumbered in voter registration and have struggled to field credible candidates for major offices.

At the City Council level, Republican hopes boil down to a matter of margins.

The most optimistic Republican assessment, barring extraordinary developments, is that they could increase their presence to five from three on the 51-seat City Council, as they did in 2009. But even that would require a surprise outcome in a sleeper race and it is possible they retain only one seat (setting aside the candidates who are running on multiple party lines).

Officials on both sides of the aisle believe a more realistic target for the Republicans is three or four seats, a number that could still affect the brewing City Council speakers race and may indicate pockets of discontent with the direction of the city.

What to Know About the 2021 New York Election

The most high-profile of those contests is the last Republican-held seat in Queens.

Ms. Singh, a teacher who is endorsed by the left-wing Working Families Party, is running against Joann Ariola, the chairwoman of the Queens Republican Party. The race has stirred considerable interest from the left and the right and attracted spending from outside groups.

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The New York City Council Races Where Republicans Still Stand a Chance - The New York Times

Two Black Democratic state legislators from Virginia have accused the state'sRepublican Party of using racist tropes after it sentout flyersdepicting them as puppets hoisted in the air by handheld strings, The Associated Press reported.

The state GOP mailed out flyers targeting eight Democrats currently running for state House seats, five of whom are white and three of whom are Black, according to the AP. All of the candidates are depicted as puppets being held by strings under the phrase "D.C. liberals are pulling the strings in Richmond," while Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiSanders declined to sign statement condemning protests against Sinema: report Pelosi's office denies claims on Trump meeting from Grisham's book Legislative limbo how low can they go? MORE (D-Calif.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezMarkey endorses Michelle Wu in race for Boston mayor Manchin's 'red line' on abortion splits Democrats Far-left bullies resort to harassing, shaming Kyrsten Sinema it won't work MORE (D-N.Y.) can be seen looking on. But only two of the candidates Black lawmakers Del. Josh Cole (D) and Del. Alex Askew (D) are seen dangling over the ground, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The third Black lawmaker, Del. Roslyn Tyler (D), doesnt appear suspended above the ground, the Times-Dispatchreported.

Both Askew and Cole criticized their depiction in the mailers, suggesting they evoked Virginia's history of lynching. Cole called the mailers a "dog whistle" and accused the state GOP of "using racist tropes to get their voters to come out," according to the AP.

Thestate GOP denied any racist intent, saying the"mailers were sent against eight candidates of all backgrounds," the AP reported.

The party added in its statement that Democrats think their"only path to victory is trying to trick Virginians into thinking its racist for anyone to hold any candidate accountable."

The Virginia Republican Party did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

Askew, who represents a swing district in Virginia Beach, tweeted that the state GOP party"is depicting me as bound & hanging by rope." He said the flyers follow "an attack mailer that displayed a darkened, burning photo of my face."

Karen -- last month, you sent an attack mailer that displayed a darkened, burning photo of my face. Now, your party is depicting me as bound & hanging by rope.

YET AGAIN: These images rely on some of the laziest, most blatantly racist tropes about Black people in history. https://t.co/3fCQT2HjuD pic.twitter.com/F32KnpMLBX

Askewadded that "depicting any black person as burning or hanging propagates some of the most dangerous, racist tropes in history."

Cole, who is up for reelection against Republican Tara Durant,said that he heard that the mailers were being used in districts that the Republicans were hoping to flip, according to NBC Washington.

This year's election in Virginia is being closely watched as a potential bellwether for the midterms in 2022,when Republicans hope to regain control of both chambers of Congress.

Early voting in Virginia has already begun, with Election Day set for Nov. 2.

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Black Virginia lawmakers criticize Republicans over flyers depicting them as puppets - The Hill

A new ad released by the Murphy campaign holds Ciattarellis claim this summer that the virus poses no risk to children alongside similar comments made by then-President Donald Trump, who lost New Jersey by more than 15 points last year. The 30-second spot echoes a series of advertisements released by California Democrats in the final weeks of the recall in both style and substance: black and red text, urgent phrasing and the looming presence of an unpopular former president.

On the debate stage last week, Murphy compared Ciattarellis positions granting leeway to parents and individuals when it comes to masks and vaccines as akin to supporting drunk driving it impacts both the person driving drunk and all the rest of us.

The Murphy teams renewed focus on Ciattarellis stances around Covid-19 comes even after a recent Monmouth University poll found a majority of voters assign some blame to the governor for failures that caused nursing home deaths to spiral in the early days of the pandemic. Even with New Jerseys leftward slant, Republican leaders had hoped a reassessment of Murphys pandemic response would steer voters into the GOP column in November.

But Covid-19s late summer resurgence scrambled those plans, forcing Ciattarelli a former state lawmaker to defend positions against public health policies that are largely reflective of the CDCs current guidance.

Ciattarelli has been condemned by public health experts, widely, for those types of positions. And we thought it was important to amplify that and that voters know the stakes, Murphy campaign spokesperson Jerrel Harvey said in an interview. We believe that this is a clear and present danger to our state.

The governors allies are also increasingly raising Ciattarellis appearance at an August school board meeting in coastal Toms River, where he encouraged parents to push the board to reject mask requirements at schools.

In the month since schools in Toms River reopened with a mask-optional policy, taking advantage of a loophole Murphys order made for districts to shed face covering requirements during extreme heat, more than 300 cases among students and staff have been reported and hundreds more are in quarantine.

A third grade teacher works with students in a New Jersey classroom. Ciattarellis opposition to school mask mandates complicates some of his more nuanced critiques of Murphys policies. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo

The district has defended its policy it only applied to buildings and classrooms that lacked air conditioning and was only in effect during a period when temperatures in town were at or above 75 degrees arguing many students were infected before the start of the school year.

Given the outbreaks at schools, Ciattarelli, a former member of General Assembly, backtracked on some of the comments regarding childrens risk of contracting Covid-19, telling the debate audience that if I had the chance to say it again, I would say it differently and more perfect.

Even so, Ciattarellis opposition to mask mandates, coupled with his earlier courting of anti-vaccine advocates, complicates some of his more nuanced critiques of Murphys policies.

There are still unresolved questions about how Murphys policies contributed to more than 8,500 Covid-19 deaths across long-term care facilities and state-run veterans homes the latter of which are the subject of state and federal investigations.

As Ciattarelli pointed out during the debate, Murphys vaccine-or-test order for school employees wont take effect until Oct. 18 weeks after the start of the school year. And while the governor has criticized Ciattarelli's positions as offering wiggle room to individuals who have been unwilling to get vaccinated, the Republican counters that Murphy providing unvaccinated workers the option to regularly test serves the same function.

The great fear here in New Jersey, especially since Governor Murphy said he wants to make New Jersey 'the California of the East Coast, is that a Phil Murphy not worried about reelection will only get more aggressive in handing down Trenton mandates that encroach on personal freedom and choice and, ultimately, push us towards another devastating economic lockdown, Ciattarelli spokesperson Stami Williams said in an email. As Governor, Jack will bring the legislature back into the decision-making process and chart a path that saves lives and livelihoods and protects our children.

For now, public polling suggests a majority of New Jerseyans favor Murphys top-down decision making when it comes to the pandemic.

The same Monmouth University poll in which New Jersey voters tagged Murphy on business closures and nursing home deaths found that the governor still has a broad base of support when it comes to Covid-19 prevention strategies, which include requiring students and teachers to mask up. More than half of those surveyed say the states pandemic strategy has been appropriate another 17 percent say it hasnt gone far enough.

Thats in keeping with whats been occurring at the national level. An Axios/Ipsos poll released in late August found that a majority of Americans favored masks in schools and vaccine requirements in the workplace. A Monmouth poll released last month showed national support for vaccine mandates among health care workers, teachers and federal employees and contractors.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at a school in San Francisco. The state announced this month the nation's first coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

One of Newsoms top advisers told POLITICO in September that the main takeaway from Californias recall results was dont be timid on Covid. That was the turning point in this campaign, when Newsom came out and took bold action on vaccine mandates.

Murphys allies are hoping the same holds true in New Jersey.

The majority of people trust the science, New Jersey state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) said in an interview. The outcome of the Newsom race illustrated that. Period. The same thing applies here. People don't think any differently about the coronavirus in New Jersey as they do in California."

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Republicans think voters hate Covid restrictions. This Democratic governor disagrees. - POLITICO