The public debate over what is evolving in public schools has taken on a very heated tone over the last few months over a long-anticipated shift, by the left, in education that has scared parents and inflamed communities.
The debate has been at the school board level with concerned parents, angry taxpayers and grassroots lobbyists, and sometimes impatient or ill-informed fame-seeking activists, not always in the most helpful ways. As a result, not much has really changed the ways schools operate, as state lawmakers scramble to try to appease the public and determine what exactly is happening.
KEY POINT: Now there is a lawsuit that will help to expose where the pressure over Critical Race Theory (CRT) or Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is coming from. And it may surprise people, that it is coming from outside of the school.
Fox News broke the story about the lawsuit in their article on Tuesday titled, Illinois teacher sues school district, claims ‘equity’ push violates US Constitution where they reported, “The suit indicates, among other things, that the district stereotyped and divided teachers according to their race.”
Southeastern Legal Foundation, working on similar cases in other states, including North Carolina, is bringing the first lawsuit in Illinois for a drama teacher who objects to invasive teacher training and policies forcing to accept an outside funded curriculum.
I spoke with Kimberly Hermann, General Counsel for Southeastern Legal Foundation, an Atlanta-based constitutional public interest law firm and policy center. According to her Bio- Hermann is committed to promoting individual liberty, the rule of law, and accountability in government. She advances these principles through litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts.
KEY POINT: Hermann told me that having Teachers pursue lawsuits moves the debate and fight over CRT away from just people just trying to get famous on Youtube and focused on the role of the Federal Government, into the court systems, which is the only check’s on the Government power to force teachers to push Equity. Equity is just a way of punishing people for their skin color.
“I believe everyone has a role in this movement including the public, and teachers standing up to defend their rights and those of their students and of parents is powerful. Parents do not always understand where the changes in policies like Critical Race Theory come from, and this shows that the teachers training come from people who are paid to rewrite things and then force teachers to teach what they are told,” Hermann told me.
“If we want to fight for real changes, we have to go to the courtroom. People need to see that these demands are coming from higher than the teachers. We want to look at forced segregation. We are not opposed to voluntary affinity groups, like a ladies club or a Black Women’s group. But, we are concerned about segregation in public schools being forced on people. The topic was so concerning to us in 1954 that we had the National Gaurd at schools to prevent segregation, and now we are right back where we were then. These policies are taking us back 70 years, Hermann said.
Follow Hermann on social media:
I may only have 3k followers, but I know that you will all help me spread the word about about this historic lawsuit, show your support for this brave teacher, and let the govt schools know that they can't segregate students by race and teach them hate.
@slf_liberty #StopCRT https://t.co/XCnyU9l4JX
— Kimberly Hermann (@kimmiehermann) June 30, 2021
Bottom line: Teachers who wish to pursue lawsuits in their district can contact Hermann on her foundation’s website. She predicts there will be many challenges at the teacher level to the pieces of training and policy knows as “Critical Race Theory,” which she believes violated equal rights protection because “Equity” in itself means a license to punish people based on skin color.
Deeper Dive: Hermann told me that anyone interested in a deeper dive should read on their site The Letter from the Department of Education and the section on segregation; here are those links.
- Deemar v. Evanston/Skokie School District 65
- Letter from the Department of Education
- Federal Constitutional Lawsuit Filed Against School District for Mandating Segregation and Racial Division
Further Reading:
Kari is an ex-Community Organizer who writes about Cultural Marxism, grassroots activism, music, IndyCar racing and political campaigns. @Saorsa1776
