'We clearly missed the mark': Stanford University says it will review its master list of verboten words after backlash — says the word 'American' is allowed on campus



Stanford University has admitted that it may have "missed the mark" after its campaign to socially engineer the way people talk and the words they use was brought to light and roundly ridiculed.

What are the details?

Stanford University recently embraced the recommendations of the so-called "Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative" and published a master list of allegedly "harmful" words and phrases. That list was broken up into the following categories: "Ableist, Ageism, Culturally Appropriative, Gender-based, Imprecise Language, Institutionalized Racism, Person-First, and Violent."

According to Stanford, EHLI "is one of the actions prioritized in the Statement of Solidarity and Commitment to Action, which was published by the Stanford CIO Council and People of Color in Technology affinity group in December 2020."

The list went viral last week, eliciting mockery and concern.

The university initially password-protected the list in an apparent attempt to steer the narrative, but like the lexicons of the students behind the Stanford Review, this was something they could not ultimately control.

It didn't help the university's cause that TheBlaze published a short list of the forbidden terms, that the Wall Street Journal circulated a copy of the full list, and that screenshots of the innocuous words fitted up for destruction made their rounds on social media.

Just days later, Steve Gallagher — whose title of "chief information officer" contains at least one "harmful" word — issued a release in an effort to set the record straight.

Gallagher wrote on Dec. 20, "Over the last couple of days, there has been much discussion of a website that provides advice for the IT community at Stanford about word choices in Stanford websites and code. ... First and importantly, the website does not represent university policy."

The master list of forbidden words "also does not represent mandates or requirements," added the IT chief.

"The website was created by, and intended for discussion within, the IT community at Stanford. It provides 'suggested alternatives' for various terms, and reasons why those terms could be problematic in certain uses," said Gallagher. "Its aspiration, and the reason for its development, is to support an inclusive community."

The university's master list included the allegedly harmful words "master list," "white paper," "he," "straight," "chief," "gentlemen," "addict," and "walk-in."

There was, however, one word on the list that Gallagher had to account for in his Tuesday statement: "America."

According to the master list, U.S. citizens are not to be called "Americans," because doing so would imply that "the US is the most important country in the Americas."

TheBlaze previously noted that the EHLI presumed that the U.S. is not the most important country in the Americas, despite the nation being the most powerful and prosperous as well as serving as a benefactor to most others countries in the Western Hemisphere.

In his plea, Gallagher wrote, "We have particularly heard concerns about the guide’s treatment of the term 'American.' We understand and appreciate those concerns. To be very clear, not only is the use of the term 'American' not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed."

"We clearly missed the mark in this presentation," admitted Gallagher.

Despite the significant backlash and his resultant concession over "America," the IT chief noted that the list will nevertheless survive this ordeal only to parameterize speech again.

"This guide for the university's IT community is undergoing continual review. We value the input we have been hearing, from a variety of perspectives, and will be reviewing it thoroughly and making adjustments to the guide," he said.

Conservative anti-CRT candidates snag shocking victories in deep blue Houston school board races



Anti-critical race theory conservatives continued their impressive run on school board posts across the country over the weekend — this time snagging shocking victories in heavily Democratic Houston, Texas.

What are the details?

Two conservative candidates running for the Houston Independent School District's board ousted incumbent Democrats in runoff elections Saturday, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In one race, a local pastor named Kendall Baker edged out incumbent trustee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, and in another, a former parent-teacher organization president, Bridget Wade, pulled off a victory against incumbent trustee Anne Sung.

Every seat on the nine-member board had previously been filled by a progressive, the Chronicle noted.

According to KHOU-TV, issues that have sparked nationwide debate in recent months — such as mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory and other progressive ideologies in classrooms — played a major role in the elections.

One of the ousted incumbents, Sung, complained that the issues should not have been factors.

“Knocking on doors in District 7, it was pretty clear to me that the impression that voters have of public schools, if they don’t themselves have children in public schools, is informed by Fox News and national news coverage that has nothing to do with what our kids are being taught," Sung said, according to the Chronicle.

“The fear that kids are being taught critical race theory or taught that they are victims is completely opposite of what we’re doing in HISD schools,” she claimed.

But the newly elected trustee Wade said that parents are justifiably outraged at how their taxpayer money is being spent and are finally speaking up.

“People want to have a say in their public education as taxpayers and parents and families. People want to be active participants and be heard, and so I think it was people crying out to be heard. That was the foundation from which everything came,” he explained.

What else?

Houston is just the latest Democratic-majority community to experience a school board shake-up over the last several months.

In November, reports surfaced showing that backlash over mask mandates, critical race theory, and transgender-affirming policies in schools had resulted in sweeping changes in school boards across the country.

Newly-formed political action committee the 1776 Project PAC — whose aim is to elect conservative, "anti-CRT" candidates to public school boards nationwide — announced that it had won three-fourths of its 58 races across seven states on Election Day.

Axios covered the news by noting that anti-CRT candidates were "not just winning in Republican areas; several candidates won in solid blue counties: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Passaic County, New Jersey; and Johnson County, Kansas."

'Let them die!': PTA, NAACP official demonizes parents against critical race theory



Crowds gathered outside the Luther Jackson Middle School in Virginia, where concerned parents were rallying against critical race theory being taught to students in Fairfax County Public Schools. During Thursday's "Stop CRT Rally," a PTA and NAACP official spewed rhetoric against the parents, including proclaiming, "Let them die!"

An event flyer for the "Stop CRT Rally" stated: "It's not about race or equity, it's about a Communist Radical Takeover of America!" At the rally, there were counterprotests, including a diatribe delivered by federal employee Michelle Leete, who is also the vice president of training at the Virginia Parent-Teacher Association, vice president of communications for the Fairfax County PTA, and first vice president of the Fairfax County NAACP.

Leete lambasted anti-critical race theory parents, even going so far as to say, "Let them die!"

So let's meet and remain steadfast, steadfast, in speaking truth, tearing down double standards, and refuting double talk. Let's not allow any double downing on lies. Let's prepare our children for a world they deserve. Let's deny this off-key band of people that are anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning, anti-opportunities, anti-help people, anti-diversity, anti-platform, anti-science, anti-change agent, anti-social justice, anti-health care, anti-worker, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-children, anti-health care, anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-admissions policy change, anti-inclusion, anti-live-and-let-live people. Let them die. Don't let these uncomfortable people, don't let these uncomfortable people deter us from our bold march forward.

Asra Nomani, an education activist and vice president for strategy and investigations for the watchdog group Parents Defending Education, shared footage from the rally and counterprotest on Twitter.

"I listened, stunned, as Michelle Leete, an executive of the NAACP and the PTA, put a target on the backs of parents just because they have a different point of view," said Nomani, whose son recently graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools.

"What we heard tonight was hate speech, pure and simple. It was shocking that anyone would cheer and applaud a call to violence," Nomani told the Daily Wire, "Ironically, her hateful, intolerant words are a perfect illustration of the divisive ideology of critical race theory in action. In the name of tolerance, it preaches intolerance and is a betrayal of all values of humanity and decency."

Harry Jackson, who has three children in the Fairfax public school system and is president-elect of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Parent Teacher Student Association, told the Daily Wire, "I was in shock looking at the crowd, watching Ms. Leete pander to white liberals with her hateful rhetoric … Her call to violence against every kind of parent, including parents who oppose changes to admissions policies at schools like TJ, also reveal that she has a serious conflict of interest."

In May, Nomani delivered a stirring speech where she slammed the Fairfax County Public Schools board for pushing "anti-racism" propaganda.

"And then by the fall, every single one of you voted to remove the merit-based race-blind admissions test to TJ. And we pled with you, as Asians, as an immigrant (I came at the age of 4, I knew no English), and you didn't listen to us," Nomani scolded the school board.

Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology, ranked the top math school in the country, instituted a "merit lottery," where race became a factor in admissions and academic qualifications were a lesser determinant.

The Daily Mail reported that admissions data for the class of 2025 at the prestigious school shows that black students rose from 1% in 2021 to 7%, Hispanics grew from 3% to 11%, white students increased from 18% to 22%, but Asian students dropped from 73% to 54% because of the new standards.

Sen. John Kennedy slams critical race theory: 'Dumb as a bag of hair'



Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Tuesday in his characteristic folksy style that critical race theory is "dumb as a bag of hair" while commenting on the National Education Association's recent pledge to "fight back" against opponents of teaching the theory in schools.

"Critical race theory is a fairy tale promoted by many — not all, but many of my Democratic colleagues including the Biden White House," Kennedy said. "Critical race theory teaches that America is totally screwed, we need to just tear it down and start over. Critical race theory teaches that the primary reason that America was founded was to maintain white supremacy. Not freedom. Not rule of law. Not equal opportunity. Not personal responsibility. But white supremacy.

"Critical race theory also teaches that non-black Americans are racist, that they don't much like black people whether those non-black Americans realize it or not," he continued. "That's why critical race theory also teaches that white children are born bad. It teaches that black children are born trapped, there's almost no hope for them. It's a very fatalistic point of view.

"In my judgment critical race theory is cynical, ahistorical, sophomoric, insipid, and dumb as a bag of hair," the senator added.

“Most Americans, black and white, think a whole lot more about character than they do about race. They believe in e… https://t.co/ZVsHOX8o6y

— Citizens for Renewing America (@amrenewcitizen) 1625589000.0

National controversy over critical race theory has erupted in recent years as parents have become aware of what their children are being taught in school and don't like it. Viral videos showing parents getting into heated confrontations with officials at school board meetings have made national headlines and opened a new front in the culture wars.

Critical race theory is a worldview that claims the laws, institutions, and social conventions of American society are historically rooted in the racist oppression of black people and other marginalized groups and cannot be rightly understood apart from their connection to injustice. Failure to recognize how this supposed structural racism continues to disadvantage minority Americans is equated with implicit support for these "racist" systems, and those who do not fight to overturn unjust systems and unjust outcomes are counted as "racists."

To be an "anti-racist," white people must acknowledge their "privilege," the alleged advantages they hold as members of American society based on the color of their skin, and support laws that would treat people unequally to create "equity" by redistributing resources in a manner that is favorable to historically disadvantaged groups.

Proponents of critical race theory, such as the NEA, claim it is an inclusive worldview that will teach children how to identify correct injustices caused by oppression. Critics like Kennedy say it is a racist philosophy that ignores the progress toward equality and justice American society has made since its founding and calls for equity by means of injustice.

"America is not a racist country. We have racists in it, just like everywhere else. But most Americans, black and white, think a whole lot more about character than they do about race, they believe in equality," Kennedy told Fox News.

"Most Americans understand that to a bear, we all taste like chicken."

Joy Reid rips opponent of critical race theory on her MSNBC show, then accuses him of making 'White Man Demands' when he asks to debate



Leftist MSNBC host Joy Reid has repeatedly defended critical race theory and criticized anyone who opposes it.

Just 10 days ago, she hopped on Twitter to assert that CRT is not being taught in U.S. elementary and secondary schools but then added that people who are scared of CRT being taught to K-12 students in American schools are apparently OK with "Confederate Race Theory" being taught in schools, where youngsters are reportedly being taught "slavery was not so bad."

On Thursday, Reid and her guest, Harvard Law professor Annette Gordon-Reed, blasted critics of CRT by claiming that the topic is a law school technique and reiterated the claim that CRT is not being taught to K-12 students.

"It's a distraction," Gordon-Reed said. "No one is teaching critical race theory K through 12."

During the segment, Reid quoted from and criticized Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo, a longtime opponent of CRT who has worked to expose how it and racial woke-ism has permeated American schools, universities, and businesses.

Reid decried efforts by Rufo and other CRT opponents for "basically using critical race theory as a brand name."

Following the segment, Rufo posted a clip from the interview and challenged Reid to debate him on CRT on her show.

"@JoyAnnReid has denounced me by name multiple times on her show," Rufo wrote. "But she doesn't have the courage to invite me on as a guest."

"She knows that I will crush her critical race theory apologetics any day of the week," he added.

Reid did not take kindly to Rufo's fightin' words and accused him of being "weirdly aggressive" about the whole thing — and, of course, she went after his race, saying he was making "White Man Demands."

"This is a weirdly aggressive way to get yourself on TV, Christopher," she tweeted. "Why not just contact my booking producers like a normal person, rather than going with the White Man Demands option?"

Then to make it clear that he's pretty much a nobody in her world, she added, "I had never even heard of you until @oneunderscore__ piece exposing your plot to rebrand CRT."

This is a weirdly aggressive way to get yourself on TV, Christopher.. Why not just contact my booking producers lik… https://t.co/fllnq6Mh8o

— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid 😷 (@JoyAnnReid) 1624142138.0

But Rufo wasn't taking Reid's response lying down.

"I'm not 'demanding' anything; I'm challenging you to a debate about critical race theory," he replied. "The real question: are you going to accept this challenge or not?"

I'm not "demanding" anything; I'm challenging you to a debate about critical race theory.The real question: are y… https://t.co/cuY4PYbkfe

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) 1624142916.0

He summed up Reid's stance thusly: "I am allowed to attack you on television, but you are not allowed to challenge my assertions because white man."

@ConceptualJames Lmao, "I am allowed to attack you on television, but you are not allowed to challenge my assertions because white man."

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) 1624160433.0

Townhall political editor Guy Benson was more explicit in calling out Reid's comments: "Trash him, then instantly play the race card when he asks to come on and respond."

Trash him, then instantly play the race card when he asks to come on and respond. 👌 https://t.co/K0H72q4CYK

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) 1624144316.0

No word yet on whether Reid will have Rufo on her show to debate CRT.

(H/T: New York Post)

Ted Cruz slams 'evil' critical race theory as a 'lie,' calls it 'every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets'



Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lambasted critical race theory, calling it an "evil" concept derived from Marxism, and "every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets." Cruz made his fiery comments about critical race theory on Friday during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference.

According to Cruz, a reporter tried to get the Republican senator on a "gotcha" question last week, asking him, "What is critical race theory?" Cruz theorized the Capitol Hill reporter thought the question would trip him up because the reporter likely believes "conservatives are morons," and they "don't know what they're talking about."

"I explained to him and I said, 'Well, it's a theory that derives from Marxism. Carl Marx viewed the entire world as a conflict between classes, between the owners of capital and the working men and women, the proletariat,'" Cruz said. "A fundamental battle in society."

"Critical race theory takes that same Marxist concept except it replaces 'class' with 'race,'" he explained. "And it says all of America and all of the world is a battle between the races."

"Critical race theory says every white person is a racist," Cruz stated. "Critical race theory says America's fundamentally racist and irredeemably racist. Critical race theory seeks to turn us against each other and if someone has a different color skin, seeks to make us hate that person."

"And let me tell you right now, critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie and it is every bit as racist as the Klansmen in white sheets," Cruz emphatically proclaimed, which was greeted by applause from the conservative audience.

"As a Christian and as an American, I love my brothers and sisters, whatever skin color you are, whatever ethnicity you are, whatever faith you are, whatever creed you are," Cruz declared. "We are commanded to love, period, the end."

"And those who would divide us, those who would spread lies, it is evil," he concluded. "It is exactly that, it is evil."

Critical Race Theory is bigoted. It is a lie. And it is every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets. https://t.co/i2lDGVLfkw

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) 1624049460.0

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People countered Cruz's comments on critical race theory.

"Critical race theory is an academic and legal framework that examines the impact of systemic racism on American society," the NAACP tweeted. "Refusing to examine our history denotes that nothing is wrong with our systems or history."

Critical race theory has dominated headlines in the past months and become a major topic in the culture war between left and right factions. Republican politicians across the country have taken steps to ban CRT from public schools.

Last week, Florida became the latest state to ban critical race theory.

"Florida's education system exists to create opportunity for our children," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) stated. "Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools."

Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate… https://t.co/mvFKI3rHRT

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) 1623332367.0

Woman who survived Mao's purge compares critical race theory in US schools to China's Cultural Revolution in scathing speech



Woke leftists have been pushing critical race theory in public education, which has prompted many to compare CRT to cultural Marxism reminiscent of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. One woman who actually survived the decade-long Chinese sociopolitical movement sees frightening similarities between critical race theory and Mao's violent purge. The Chinese-American immigrant skewered a Virginia school board this week for pushing critical race theory on children.

Xi Van Fleet was 6-years-old when the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, and she distinctly remembers how toxic the environment of Mao's Communist China was at the time. She recalls that students and teachers were pitted against each other by hanging posters in "hallways and the cafeteria where students could write criticisms against anyone deemed ideological impure," according to Fox News.

During Tuesday's public meeting for the Loundon County School Board, Van Fleet voiced her concerns over the current "progressive" ideology and parallels to Chairman Mao's genocidal rule that left between 500,000 and 20 million people dead between 1966 and 1976.

"I've been very alarmed by what's going on in our schools," Van Fleet told the school board members. "You are now teaching, training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history."

"Growing up in Mao's China, all of this seems very familiar," Van Fleet, who fled from China at the age of 26, said. "The Communist regime used the same critical theory to divide people. The only difference is they used class instead of race."

"During the Cultural Revolution, I witnessed students and teachers turn against each other," Van Fleet, whose son graduated from Loudoun High School in 2015, added. "We changed school names to be politically correct."

She recalls that one of the teachers was considered "bourgeoisie" because she "liked to wear pretty clothes." The class warfare caused students to spit on the teacher, "She was covered with spit… and pretty soon it became violence."

"We were taught to denounce our heritage. The Red Guards destroyed anything that is not communist…statues, books and anything else," she continued. "We were also encouraged to report on each other, just like the Student Equity Ambassador program and the bias reporting system."

"This is indeed the American version of the Chinese Communist Cultural Revolution," she said. "The critical race theory has its roots in cultural Marxism. It should have no place in our school."

Following her scathing speech regarding critical race theory, Van Fleet walked off the stage to applause and cheers from fellow parents.

Watch a brave parent who grew up in Mao’s China point out all of the identical traits b/n the Cultural Revolution a… https://t.co/K0AkdyL8qA

— The Virginia Project UAC (@TVPUAC) 1623264302.0

"I just want Americans to know that their privilege is to be here living in America, that is just the biggest privilege," Van Fleet told Fox News on Wednesday. "I do not think a lot of people understand. They are thinking they are doing the right thing, 'be against racism' sounds really good. But they are basically breaking the system that is against racism."

"We were asked to report if we hear anything about someone saying anything showing that there's a lack of complete loyalty to Mao," she recalled. "There were people reporting their parents, and their parents ended up in jail."

The immigrant from China's Sichuan province said that critical race theory is an effort to transform classrooms into "indoctrination camps."

"To me, and to a lot of Chinese, it is heartbreaking that we escaped communism and now we experience communism here," Van Fleet said.

The Loudon County has been attacked by other parents in recent months.

Last month, parents launched an ad campaign to tackle the school system teaching the critical race theory and oust members who promoted the controversial ideology.

Also in May, a woman slammed the Loudoun County School Board for pushing CRT, and she compared it to a "tactic used by Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan on slavery very many years ago to dumb down my ancestors so we could not think for ourselves."

In January, an irate parent lambasted school officials for not reopening schools because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christian physical education teacher, Byron "Tanner" Cross, was placed on administrative leave last month after he delivered a speech that declared "a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it's against my religion. It's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God." Cross was speaking at the Loudoun County school board meeting regarding new transgender policies.

'Name something you like about being white': Marc Lamont Hill tries to bait Christopher Rufo — but it backfires spectacularly



On the latest episode of "The Rubin Report," BlazeTV host Dave Rubin gave his take on a clip from the Black News Channel in which former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill spoke with Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo about why he is against critical race theory being taught in schools.

During a recent episode of "Black News Tonight," Hill repeatedly tried to bait Rufo into making racist generalizations on camera. Rufo argued that topics such as slavery and segregation should be taught in schools and even acknowledged that racism in America's history is "an incontrovertible fact."

Apparently, unsatisfied with Rufo's refusal to cast all white people in a negative light, Hill repeatedly asked his guest to "name something you like about being white."

Dave played a video clip in which Rufo first answers:

There's a lot of documents that are floating around public schools that say things like timeliness, showing up on time is a white supremacist value or a white-dominant value. Things like rationality, things like the enlightenment, things like objectivity — these are very strange things to be ascribed to a racial identity. My view is that these actually should be ascribed to every individual human being, every individual human being regardless of whatever racial category we impose on them.

Asked a second time to "name something you believe is positive about being white," Rufo answered:

Again, I don't buy into the framework that the world can be reduced into these metaphysical categories of whiteness and blackness. I think that's wrong. I think we should look at people as individuals. I think we should celebrate different people's accomplishments.... You mentioned Ignatiev. Ignatiev says the goal is to "abolish" the white race. In any other context, this would be interpreted as a near genocidal slur. I don't buy into it. The reason I'm not going to answer your question is I reject that categorization. I think of myself as an individual human being with my own capabilities, and I would hope that we could both judge each other as individuals and come to common values on that basis.

After watching the exchange, Dave asked, "Who is the racist in that conversation? Who is trying to racialize everything, and who's trying to de-racialize everything?"

"Rufo repeatedly points out he wants people to be treated as individuals," Dave noted. "He doesn't even buy into the argument, but Marc Lamont Hill is playing a very dangerous game right there."

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'What are you afraid of?': Glenn Beck reacts to new poll that shows how Americans REALLY feel about critical race theory in schools



Americans do not want Marxist critical race theory taught in their kids' schools, a new poll has found. The poll, conducted by Competitive Edge Research and released by Parents Defending Education, found that an overwhelming 74% of respondents were "somewhat or strongly opposed" to teaching kids the CRT concept that people are automatically either oppressors or oppressed based solely on skin color. Only 6% said they support teaching those lessons in schools.

On the radio program Thursday, Glenn Beck discussed the new poll and what the results say about the majority of people in this country.

"This poll shows it's not just white Republicans," Glenn said of those who oppose critical race theory in schools.

"Only 6% of the population is for this [CRT]. Six. So, if you feel overwhelmed, and you feel you're alone, know only 6% are for this. The rest are too afraid to say anything. [...] You are not alone. You are in the majority. What are you afraid of? All that is required is for you to group together and speak out. Go and run for your school board. Get on to your city council. Do whatever you have to do to protect what's being taught in our schools," he urged.

"This is re-education. This is indoctrination of our children. And it is so destructive, the only way I can truly describe it is evil," Glenn added. "Tell me the good that comes out of teaching our children that the only way to stop discrimination is to discriminate, or the only way to stop racism is to be a racist. [...] There is a narrow sliver of the farthest left voters that view woke-education favorably. A small, 6% sliver ... however, that sliver is in charge of a lot of stuff."

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