20 State Attorneys General Challenge Biden To Not Allow Critical Race Theory In Public Schools

President Joe Biden was challenged by a group of 20 state attorneys general on Wednesday not to promote education policies that support critical race theory and the “1619 Project” in public schools.

“As the chief legal officers of our respective states, we write to express our deep concerns with the proposed priorities recently issued by the United States Department of Education. The proposed priorities are a thinly veiled attempt at bringing into our states’ classrooms the deeply flawed and controversial teachings of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project,” according to the letter.

“The Department should not adopt the proposed rule or, at a minimum, should make clear that grants may not fund projects that are based on CRT, including any projects that characterize the United States as irredeemably racist or founded on principles of racism (as opposed to principles of equality) or that purport to ascribe character traits, values, privileges, status, or beliefs, or that assign fault, blame, or bias, to a particular race or to an individual because of his or her race,” the attorneys general wrote, led by Republican Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

“Congress made clear that the purpose of the programs is to advance a traditional understanding of American history, civics, and government,” the attorneys general said.

“The proposed priorities would do little to advance that goal and, based on the proposal’s support for the ‘1619 Project,’ would endorse teaching factually deficient history,” the letter continued.

“While the Department might have an interest in changing perspectives on American history to take a more radicalized view solely through the prism of race, Congress enacted programs to encourage a better grasp and understanding of American history, founding documents, civics, and government,” it also wrote.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia were among those listed.

In January, Biden signed an executive order ending the “1776 Commission,” a project started by former President Donald Trump.

The commission was established by Trump as a patriotic answer to the “1619 Project.”

According to its website, the New York Times’ “1619 Project” “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”

According to Fox News, supporters of the “1619 Project” argue that the curriculum “is a necessary critique of systemic racism and the country’s failings.”

The project has also been implemented as part of the program of several public schools, causing uproar.

Trump had blamed some of the destructive riots in 2020 on “left-wing indoctrination” in high schools.

According to CNN, Trump claimed in September that “left-wing rioting and mayhem are the direct result of decades of left-wing indoctrination in our schools.”

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas introduced legislation in July that would place financial fines for school systems that utilize the “1619 Project” as part of their curriculum.

Cotton said in a statement on his website that, “The New York Times’ 1619 Project is a racially divisive, revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded.

“Not a single cent of federal funding should go to indoctrinate young Americans with this left-wing garbage.”