Virginia parents appeal to remove a so-called anti-racist policy from school district: 'Racist at its core'

Virginia parents are continuing to fight back after a school board implemented an "anti-racism" policy in their children's school district that they say treats children unequally and is "racist at its core."

Five families in Virginia's Albemarle County are suing the school board after it passed a wide-reaching anti-racism policy in 2019 for all schools in the district from elementary to high school. In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege the curriculum "indoctrinates children" in Critical Race Theory, and violates their civil rights. The parents say the district will not allow students to opt out of the curriculum.

Alliance Defending Freedom argued on behalf of these "racially and religiously diverse" families at the Court of Appeals in Virginia, Tuesday. The families are appealing a 2022 ruling to dismiss the case.

"Bigotry cannot be defeated by more bigotry, but the Albemarle County School Board’s policy forces students to judge everyone and everything through the lens of race," ADF's suit says. "This violates these parents’ and children’s deeply held religious beliefs about the dignity and humanity of every person. Children should not be forced to say that the color of their skin defines them and their future, and schools should not be hiding their ideological classroom practices from parents."

Kate Anderson, senior counsel for ADF, described some of the activities students were required to participate in during the pilot program, such as being asked to raise their hands and identify their "privilege" to fellow students.

In another activity, they were asked to write down characteristics of the "oppressor" and "oppressed" classes.

"And so what went in that box were "White, Christian male," and then they were supposed to metaphorically break that box," she told Fox News Digital. The attorney said students were also asked to create a vision statement of how they were going to change themselves to become more anti-racist.

"And anti-racist is really code for adopting fully the CRT-based policy that views everyone through the lens of race. And students were instructed in class that if they were silent, that supported the most egregious forms of racism, so that they had to adopt this ideology and incorporate it into their lives and announce that to their classroom in order to be in alignment with the policy," she added.

Plaintiffs provided documents from the program that call comments about a "colorblind or "post-racial society," or that "it doesn't matter who you vote for," examples of racism to avoid. The plaintiffs argued the policy "threatens to silence" dissenters of the curriculum, by implementing "restorative justice" when a student commits an act of racism.... (Read more)

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