The father who fought Brearley School racism has a message for everyone By Andrea Widburg
Even as the Biden administration doubles down on Critical Race Theory, a dishonest, divisive, toxic idea holding that Whites are racist, inferior creatures who have used their unfairly obtained privilege to oppress Blacks and other races, parents are beginning to fight back. It turns out that, once you ignore cancel culture make a statement, there are a lot of people who want to follow your lead. One of those parents, to his surprise, found himself at the head of a brewing revolution.
Three weeks ago, two letters exploded on the New York education scene and started echoing through the rest of America. The first was from a teacher challenging Grace Church High School’s anti-white Critical Race Theory indoctrination. The second letter was from Andrew Gutmann, who spoke out against the same indoctrination at Brearley school. Both schools are expensive, claim to be elite, and are teaching a doctrine every bit as toxic as the Jim Crow, eugenics garbage that Democrats promoted in the first half of the 20th Century.
While the teacher’s letter was an eye-opener, the fact that Gutmann is a parent meant that his letter resonated with parents across American. To his surprise, he’s found himself leading the charge for these parents. In an opinion piece in the New York Post, Gutmann describes the positive feedback he’s getting, as well as the fact that there is a huge battle ahead for those parents unhappy about the hard left turn their children’s education has taken:
I am enormously gratified by the overwhelmingly supportive emails and messages that I have personally received. Countless parents expressed to me their appreciation for stating clearly and forcibly what so many Americans have been thinking but have been too afraid to state out loud. Many also conveyed that they felt newly emboldened to speak up for their children. I have learned that my letter has been circulated and discussed in Board of Trustees meetings of schools across the country and I have been told that it has begun to make an impact. Even Brearley, after initially dismissing the contents of my letter and indicating a desire to double down on antiracism initiatives has, for the very first time, offered parents an opportunity to ask questions about the school’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracist initiatives.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Gutmann learned from the outpouring of messages that, in a single year, Critical Race Theory has become deeply embedded in American education from kindergarten through to graduate work:
Prior to sending the letter, I had no idea how pervasive and entrenched critical race theory had become in our schools, including public and religious schools. Nor did I comprehend just how many parents were dealing with the same issues as our family, with close-minded administrations and racist, age-inappropriate and indoctrinating curriculums. I have been told stories about children as early as kindergarten being asked to draw a self portrait, with explicit instructions to focus exclusively on accurately depicting their skin tone. I have been told stories of young adults at elite medical schools spending weeks of instruction on transgender issues and antiracism in lieu of pediatrics and geriatrics.
The biggest issue standing in the way of fixing the problem is cancel culture:
Additionally, we cannot fix these educational problems until we eradicate the insidious cancer that is cancel culture. Too many parents are too afraid to speak up in support of their children’s education for fear of losing their jobs. And it’s true that there is an appalling stench of cowardice emanating from the corporate boardrooms of our country. Just like the administration of my daughter’s private school, our business leaders have been cowering to a small, miseducated and unenlightened social media mob. This must stop!
There’s much more and I urge you to read the whole thing. It’s clear that, because CRT is so entrenched, Gutmann does not think the end of the battle is anywhere near. Instead, his tone is rather like Churchill’s in 1942, when Churchill said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Just a month ago, though, American parents hadn’t even started to fight. As more engage in the battle, the pace will accelerate.
IMAGE: Andrew Gutmann. Video screengrab.
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