Vivek Ramaswamy: Kids being taught to see race is a 'toxic ideology'
Vivek Ramaswamy, author of 'Woke, Inc.', discusses whether critical race theory should be incorporated into school curriculum.
News that a left-wing author's anti-White "picture book" is being read or assigned in public schools in a dozen states helps make the case that the "secular religion" of critical race theory is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy argued Tuesday.
Ramaswamy, founder of Roivent Sciences, told "America Reports" that it is very troubling to see school districts across the country highlight Anastasia Higginbotham's "Not My Idea" in young childhood curriculum..
Scholar Christopher Rufo published a list of school districts in Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Washington, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Montana, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Maine that reportedly either recommend the reading to students or instruct teachers to read aloud.
On "America Reports," host John Roberts described "Not My Idea" as a story of a young person seeing a police officer shoot a Black man on television and trying to make sense of what happened. The protagonist is told that being White is like having a pact with a Satan-like figure.
Ramaswamy explained that Higginbotham's work is a toxic read for children that falsely teaches them they are "inherently advantaged" if they are White and vice versa if they are Black, irrespective of their socioeconomic upbringing or other non-immutable characteristics.
"This is a toxic ideology that is tearing apart our country at the seams for the next generations," he said. "Kids do not ordinarily see race, they're taught to see race. You are being taught of the prisoner of the color of your skin."
Ramaswamy added that a statement Higginbotham provided to Fox News helps prove the case that critical race theory is actually more like a godless religion, and therefore there are decades-old protections in federal law that shield students from being indoctrinated into religion in school.
"Folks are really obsessed with the inclusion of the devil in the book. They want to distract themselves instead of looking inward and questioning their own role in White supremacy. I depict the system of Whiteness as the devil in a picture book so that kids can see what lies beyond the outstretched hand," Higginbotham told "America Reports" in a statement Tuesday.
Ramaswamy said that if Higginbotham's statement is accurate, students or families who do not ascribe to critical race theory are essentially being discriminated against.
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"What she does is she highlights how wokeness and critical race theory represents a modern secular religion. The invocation of the devil is just one more example of that," he said.
"I argue that this is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says you cannot discriminate based on your religion in public or private institutions. You cannot force kids and teachers to bow down to this religion any more than others."
Ramaswamy added that that particular case makes for a "promising legal argument." He added that centrists and conservatives must do a better job fighting critical race theory indoctrination; perhaps by reinforcing the truth about America's founding in 1776 and the principles therein.
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