When Lefties have nothing, they play the race card.

It’s tiresome, but it must work with their base and enough low-information voters that they keep doing it. Ironically, the fact that it works at all is proof that race just isn’t that big a deal in the United States any more. If it were, voters would be pleased by racism instead of repelled by it.

A great example of how ridiculous this all is was the reaction to Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ executive order prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory and other indoctrination in the schools.

As you would expect, the Left simultaneously denies that it is happening and insists that it is good that it is. Because, apparently, you can only acknowledge America’s troubling past through the lens of CRT.

Hence you get ridiculous assertions such as this:

Just to reiterate, the Governor and chief executive of the state in which this photograph was taken has now signed an executive order that could jeopardize anyone who dares to share this photograph in the very school being desegregated in this photograph. https://t.co/T4sARL5fdA pic.twitter.com/WJU86GqyGW

— Trey Ferguson (@PastorTrey05) January 11, 2023

The photograph is a very powerful one, depicting a black student finally being allowed to join her white peers in a formerly whites-only school. I happened to have seen this photograph before–in my high school civics class, if I recall correctly–because long before CRT was even a thing America’s history of racial discrimination was taught in classrooms. We studied segregation, the Civil Rights movement, slavery and the Civil War, and the long history of denying blacks the right to vote.

We also learned about how Americans have been working to remedy these wrongs.

CRT is not intended to drive an honest discussion about America’s history; it is an ideological tool to remake our country into something unrecognizable. The whole point of CRT is to replace America’s liberal values with something completely different. And its use in the public schools is all about indoctrination into anti-Americanism.

So what is the Left so upset about? What was Sander’s order and why is it so offensive? Let’s read it:

WHEREAS: Schools must educate, not indoctrinate students; and their education policies must protect children and prepare them to enter the workforce;

WHEREAS: Teachers and school administrators should teach students how to think—not what to think;

WHEREAS: Critical Race Theory (CRT) is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness. It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject;

WHEREAS: It is the policy of this administration that CRT, discrimination, and indoctrination have no place in Arkansas classrooms;

WHEREAS: Government policies must empower parents to make decisions for their children and foster curriculum transparency in classrooms across the state; and

WHEREAS: The Constitution of the State of Arkansas and the Constitution of the United States of America recognize the equal value of every individual, and provide equal protection under the law, regardless of color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, and national origin.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, acting under the authority vested in me as the Governor of the State of Arkansas, do hereby order the following:

The Secretary of the Department of Education (the “Secretary”) shall take the following steps to ensure that the Department of Education, its employees, contractors, guest speakers, and lecturers are in compliance with Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241):

Review the rules, regulations, policies, materials, and communications of the Department of Education to identify any items that may, purposely or otherwise, promote teaching that would indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as CRT, that conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law or encourage students to discriminate against someone based on the individual’s color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

The Secretary is further instructed that if any items are found to conflict with the principle of equal protection under the law, then the Secretary is instructed to amend, annul, or alter those rules, regulations, policies, materials, or communications to remove the prohibited indoctrination.

Prohibited Indoctrination Defined: No communication by a public-school employee, public school representative, or guest speaker shall compel a person to adopt, affirm or profess an idea in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241), including that:

People of one color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law are inherently superior or inferior to people of another color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law

An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the individual’s color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, national origin, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of ideas and history of the concepts described in subsection (c) or shall be construed to prohibit the discussion of public policy issues of the day and related ideas that individuals may find unwelcome, disagreeable or offensive.

As it relates to employees, contractors, and guest speakers or lecturers of the Department of Education, the Secretary is directed to review and enhance the policies that prevent prohibited indoctrination, including CRT.

The Secretary shall ensure that no school employee or student shall be required to attend trainings or orientations based on prohibited indoctrination or CRT.

This Executive Order shall become effective upon its signing and shall remain in full force and effect until amended or rescinded by further executive orders.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and cause the Great Seal of the State of Arkansas to be affixed this 10th day of January, in the year of our Lord 2023.

If you read the order, it is exactly the opposite of an endorsement of segregation. It refers to segregation itself as something we have worked hard to reject.

Desegregation is the embodiment of the achievements of the Civil Rights movement, which is why Sanders explicitly prohibits teaching the superiority of any group over another. The Executive Order prohibits teaching that race is the most essential characteristic of a human being, because teaching that it is is evil.

It also ensures that people can discuss all these ideas, including controversial aspects of them. In other words, discussion about race, including of CRT, is not prohibited; but asserting that CRT is the one correct way to interpret history and current events is.

To me this should be among the least controversial assertions out there. If the words “critical race theory” were not in the text anywhere it would be impossible to criticize the EO at all. Unless the Left actually wants to assert that race should be taught as the most essential human characteristic, in which case good luck making that argument to average people. We gave up on that idea decades ago.

But by using a powerful image and making a bold, false claim with no actual argument a propaganda point is made. It hits people at an emotional level, short circuiting people’s reasoning faculties. Or that is the intent.

CRT is being banned because it advocates for segregation: “Critical Race Theory (CRT) is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness. It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject.”

Of course, segregation is on the rise again. Some Americans are obsessed with color.

It’s just that this time it’s the Left pushing segregation, so it’s now OK.