In Florida, Critical Race Theory education has been outright banned in public schools and was even made mention in Governor DeSantis' (R-FL) State of the State Address. This week, the Floridian sat down with Adam Waldeck from the group who has been responsible for combating CRT across the country, 1776 Action.
The representative of the national organization, Waldeck stated that 1776 Action, has a main mission, "The mission of the group is to defeat the American indoctrination of K-12 classrooms across the country. That's our history, which CRT is a huge piece, but not the only piece. It has really been the focus, and kind of our two-fold strategy, our goal ultimately is to sort of air cover for parents and people that are concerned about it on the ground, and we want to make sure in elections when it comes time to vote, particularly the school board level, that this is a top issue in the minds of voters."
Waldeck went on to explain that, "There is two pieces to it," adding, "Number one, we have pledge. That is a way to sort of force some transparency and accountability and get people running for office to actually go on the record and take a position. And the second piece of that is as an organization, jump in where we think we can be most effective with campaigns. For example in New Hampshire, which was really our kick-off effort, they filed the first anti-CRT legislation in the country, and we launched about a four months campaign with TV, radio, texting , or media to support that bill, which has now been signed into law."
The 1776 Action group also contributed to the defining election in 2021, the Virginia gubernatorial race. Education consumed local Virginian school districts and arguably defined the race that gave the underdog Youngkin the governorship in a historically blue state.
"In Loudon County, Virginia we did a lot of that same stuff, we also brought in Dr. Carson for like a thousand-person rally with Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears about a month out before the election to kind of keep that issue, and beat the drum on that issue. That's been our focus and we're going to be doing a lot more of that this year,"added Waldeck.
The Floridian asked Waldeck to respond to allegations from Progressive politicians and activists who posit that CRT is not even taught in K-12 education. Waldeck responded, saying, "It is word games is what it is at the end of the day, because semantics and word games, they want it seems as if a teacher is not handed a booklet that says, 'Critical Race Theory lessons for Tuesday,' that is as if it's not really real. But the reality is, this stuff is not cut dry, it's a framework and its a lens through which to see people. The reality is the tenants. It is the tenants of CRT that are being infused into every aspect of curriculum."
Although CRT has been effectively banned in the state of Florida, some legislators plan to revisit the practice. State Rep. Spencer Roach (R-79) has reported concerns over the stability of the ban, along with how much power local school districts wield.
