Senator Ted Cruz tore into Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson this week for being on the board of an exclusive Washington, DC, private school whose curriculum he believes is “overflowing with critical race theory.” That’s even though the expensive private school in Texas that his own children attend has expressed similar commitments to diversity and inclusion.
During the confirmation hearings in the Senate, the Texas Republican honed in on Ms Jackson’s work with Georgetown Day, a private school which has recommended teaching texts such as Ibram X Kendi’s Antiracist Baby, a text which advocates for teaching children about racism and multicultural acceptance while they are young.
It’s part of a familiar attack from many Republicans, who often seek to frame any education about racism or diversity as critical race theory, an academic concept examining the influence of racism on institutions which is almost exclusively taught at the university level.
“Do you agree with this book that’s being taught with kids that babies are racist?” Senator Cruz asked Ms Jackson during the hearing.
“Senator,” she responded, “I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or as though they are not valued or that they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors. I don’t believe in any of that.”
She also noted that she wasn’t well-versed in critical race theory, and that neither her work as a judge or as a trustee involved using or evaluating CRT.
She also went on to celebrate Georgetown Day’s history, as the school was founded in the segregation era in 1954 by Black and Jewish families seeking to create an institution where their children could learn together.
“The idea of equality, justice, is at the core of the Georgetown Day School mission,”she said. “It’s a private school such that every parent who joins the community does so willingly, with an understanding that they’re joining a community that is designed to make sure that every child is valued, every child is treated as having inherent worth, and none are discriminated against because of race.”
Mr Cruz’s children attend a school with similar ideas, the private St John’s School in Houston, Texas, a famed academy that was the inspiration for Wes Anderson’s 1998 film Rushmore
“St. John’s, as an institution, must be antiracist and eliminate racism of any type — including institutional racism — within our school community and beyond,” Mark Desjardins, then the school’s headmaster, wrote after the killing of George Floyd.
Institutional racism, as it happens, is a key area of focus for critical race theory.
“I’m saying that Judge Jackson is on the board of a school that aggressively teaches critical race theory,” Mr Cruz said in an interview with The New York Times when asked about his line of questioning, “and that is an extreme and divisive theory that pits children against other children, divides us based on race, and teaches a false and revisionist history of our nation.”
The school’s board also approved a statement on inclusion in 2018 that says St John’s infuses “cultural proficiency, diversity, global awareness and inclusivity into all facets.”
In fact, one of the books Senator Cruz read during his questioning, Dr Kendi’s Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You, is on the reading list and library catalogue at St John’s,the Times reported.
