For the People - Divisive propaganda exposed
July 28, 2021
Elaine Phaneuf
On July 26, State Sen. Mike Moon. R-Ash Grove, co-hosted a Branson town hall event to push conservative talking points, including demand for the government to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools. Dr. Mary Byrne, a national speaker known for denouncing CRT as Marxist and racist is currently presenting “Critical Race Theory Exposed” at several Southwest Missouri venues. Byrne was slated as the expert speaker on CRT at Sen. Moon’s town hall event. There was no expert present to rebut Byrne’s deliberate - strawman - misrepresentation of CRT as something dark and dangerous.
I say ‘deliberate’ on the assumption Byrne is familiar with CRT - an academic analysis of racism’s role in shaping public policy. One example is the lending policy known as redlining. Starting with the New Deal of the 1930’s, banks would not issue home loans in black neighborhoods marked on the maps - as poor lending risk - with red lines. The result of redlining and other legal racially discriminatory housing policies is a disproportionate gap in home ownership- and the generational wealth that goes with it - between whites and blacks. Racist housing policies went on unchecked until The Fair Housing Act of 1968.
An article promoting Dr. Byrne posted on concernedwomen.org titled “Critical Race Theory Exposed Events in Missouri”, by Bev Ehlen, July 2, 2021, describes Dr. Byrne’s CRT presentation as “...an important educational presentation…” “Find out what Critical Race Theory is, why it’s very concerning for our public schools and what you can do to protect the children in your community.”
Byrne’s CRT events are further promoted by claiming - by some impossible feat of logical gymnastics - that CRT is “...ground in Karl Marx’s writing instructing followers about how to start revolution in a nation.”
Sen. Moon’s July 20 press release to promote the July 26 event featuring Dr. Byrne states, "This is an important time in the history of our state, and now more than ever, we need citizens to be active in the legislative process. Ultimately, an informed electorate is the strongest safeguard of our freedom.”
Any claim that Dr. Byrne’s exposé of Critical Race Theory is educational or informative must be taken with a huge chunk of salt. Without an expert to denounce her divisive propaganda, that’s all her presentation is, propaganda. And, what is this “freedom” Sen. Moon is claiming to protect? It’s certainly not the freedom of public school teachers to teach facts about race in American history.
We cannot have the government censor history. We need to teach students to think, present the facts and encourage the students to draw conclusions based on those facts.
Elaine Phaneuf
On July 26, State Sen. Mike Moon. R-Ash Grove, co-hosted a Branson town hall event to push conservative talking points, including demand for the government to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools. Dr. Mary Byrne, a national speaker known for denouncing CRT as Marxist and racist is currently presenting “Critical Race Theory Exposed” at several Southwest Missouri venues. Byrne was slated as the expert speaker on CRT at Sen. Moon’s town hall event. There was no expert present to rebut Byrne’s deliberate - strawman - misrepresentation of CRT as something dark and dangerous.
I say ‘deliberate’ on the assumption Byrne is familiar with CRT - an academic analysis of racism’s role in shaping public policy. One example is the lending policy known as redlining. Starting with the New Deal of the 1930’s, banks would not issue home loans in black neighborhoods marked on the maps - as poor lending risk - with red lines. The result of redlining and other legal racially discriminatory housing policies is a disproportionate gap in home ownership- and the generational wealth that goes with it - between whites and blacks. Racist housing policies went on unchecked until The Fair Housing Act of 1968.
An article promoting Dr. Byrne posted on concernedwomen.org titled “Critical Race Theory Exposed Events in Missouri”, by Bev Ehlen, July 2, 2021, describes Dr. Byrne’s CRT presentation as “...an important educational presentation…” “Find out what Critical Race Theory is, why it’s very concerning for our public schools and what you can do to protect the children in your community.”
Byrne’s CRT events are further promoted by claiming - by some impossible feat of logical gymnastics - that CRT is “...ground in Karl Marx’s writing instructing followers about how to start revolution in a nation.”
Sen. Moon’s July 20 press release to promote the July 26 event featuring Dr. Byrne states, "This is an important time in the history of our state, and now more than ever, we need citizens to be active in the legislative process. Ultimately, an informed electorate is the strongest safeguard of our freedom.”
Any claim that Dr. Byrne’s exposé of Critical Race Theory is educational or informative must be taken with a huge chunk of salt. Without an expert to denounce her divisive propaganda, that’s all her presentation is, propaganda. And, what is this “freedom” Sen. Moon is claiming to protect? It’s certainly not the freedom of public school teachers to teach facts about race in American history.
We cannot have the government censor history. We need to teach students to think, present the facts and encourage the students to draw conclusions based on those facts.
