Last Tuesday, conservatives in Virginia delivered a message to America by electing Republican Glenn Youngkin as governor and an array of other Republicans to government positions across the state. For the first time since 2014, Virginia now has a Republican governor, a Republican lieutenant governor, a Republican attorney general, and a Republican-controlled House of Delegates, and they were able to achieve this by running successful campaigns against critical race theory.
The issue of critical race theory was front and center in Virginia. Virginia governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has continually campaigned against the issue, even going as far as promising to ban the teachings. Many Virginia school board candidates also successfully won their elections last week by strongly opposing critical race theory.
While the wins in Virginia are encouraging and show that the majority of Virginians oppose critical race theory and its teachings, the victories in Virginia alone will not be enough to squash critical race theory. As of the time of this article, just twelve states have taken action to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. Comparatively, at least fourteen states currently have curriculums that include teachings of critical race theory within their public schools.
Furthermore, critical race theory exists in every single state in an expected place: college campuses. For decades, colleges and universities have used their status as higher education institutions to blatantly promote radical ideologies without repercussions. In fact, critical race theory actually originated from so-called scholars at Harvard University in the 1980s. From Marxism and socialism to “progressivism,” critical race theory is just one of the many examples of leftist indoctrination at American colleges and universities. It is difficult to regulate the curriculum at colleges and universities, in particular at private colleges and universities. However, regulation is possible, most notably at the state and local level. This is why it is so important for conservatives to not just follow national politics but also actively follow and engage with issues in their communities, particularly educational issues. If conservatives fail to do this, many K-12 schools will be able to continue their indoctrination of America’s schoolchildren, and colleges can easily complete the radicalization process of America’s children by further indoctrinating them with liberal ideas that students do not even so much as question since they are rarely exposed to alternative viewpoints, if at all.
Support of critical race theory exists almost exclusively in the age group that is exposed to it the most. According to a recent poll, 38% of Americans hold a favorable view of critical race theory, and 58% of Americans view critical race theory and its teachings unfavorably. However, when adjusted for age, 54% of Americans aged 18-29 actually hold a favorable view of critical race theory. This shows that support for critical race theory is clearly most prevalent among younger Americans, who were likely recently taught it to some degree in the public educational system.
Recent election results and polling show that critical race theory is obviously unpopular, and both critical race theory and its supporters are currently wounded. However, without additional conservative victories in other state and local elections, as well as further action against the teachings, critical race theory will not be going away anytime soon. In fact, critical race theory is more prevalent than ever. Now is America’s one and only chance to fully defeat it by electing even more conservatives in the 2022 elections at the state and local levels.