There are some news items that make me sad and angry at the same time. Well, this article made me feel both. Sad, because I see how far much of America has drifted from any biblical mooring and has abandoned itself to an anti-Christian mindset. And angry (not a sinful anger), because more and more I see that young children are targeted for humanistic brainwashing.
Janney Elementary School in Washington, DC, recently gave children as young as four years old (up through nine years old) a lesson on “anti-racism” that included such text as, “It’s not your fault for having white privilege, but it is your fault if you choose to ignore it,” and “Where do you see racism in yourself? This requires true soul-searching. Be real with yourself, don’t feel guilt/shame and own it”. Later sections of the presentation asked the kids to identify racist members of their family by stating: “Who in your family has racist beliefs? Do you think you can change their ways? What is your strategy for dealing with them?”
This propaganda comes from the booklet/presentation “Fistbook for Kids” by author Doyin Richards, who also presented the material to the children. After the presentation was given to the students (November 30, 2021), the school sent parents a resource link directing them to Richards’ online presentation. Note that this was not done in advance.
Compare this to last week when we mentioned a football coach who was let go from his position because he knelt down on the football field and said a brief prayer. What was the school’s concern in that situation? That the coach could “influence or coerce” other students into praying because he was an authority figure. But can you see the hypocrisy of the schools? They don’t have any qualms about using the teacher’s or lecturer’s “authority” to brainwash kids into believing that they are racist or need to strategize ways to “deal with” their parent’s “racism.”
Some of these kids were quite scared by the lecture given by Doyin Richards. As one parent noted, their daughter was so scared she had to sleep with the light on and the door to her bedroom open. Not only is this topic age-inappropriate for young children (especially kindergartners), but it is also fundamentally wrong. It doesn’t solve racism: it creates guilt, shame, and (you guessed it) actually fuels racist attitudes.
Now don’t get me wrong here, as fallen humans all of us are sinners and have issues with loving our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:29–31). This can sometimes manifest as hatred for a group of people due to the shade of their skin, their ethnicity, or any other reason. This is wrong and violates God’s Word. But the solution to the problem of “racism” (and physically at least, there is only one race, the human race) is not labeling one group as “racist” and others as “oppressed”; that often causes resentment, which will lead to more racism. The only solution to racism is the truth of God’s Word concerning the human race and the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, which teaches that all of us are sinners, but that Jesus came to earth, died, was buried and resurrected so that he could take our sin away if we repent and turn to him in faith.
Jesus then promises to change our hearts so that we can show love, patience, and humility (Colossians 3:12-15), which are the real answers to racism.
