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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Jackson, MS): One of America’s largest conservative think tanks is partnering with the Mississippi Center for Public Policy to debate Critical Race Theory.

On Tuesday, November 9, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy will host Mike Gonzalez, a Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and America’s leading expert on Critical Race Theory, at an event in Jackson.

“As the leading conservative advocacy organization in the state, we are delighted to be partnering with the leading conservative think tank in the United States,” said Douglas Carswell, President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

“Critical Race Theory is deeply divisive and risks reversing many of the advances made in America since the Civil Rights era,” Carswell added.  

“Our recent report on Critical Race Theory revealed that this ideology is being advanced in our education system, perhaps most aggressively in public universities. While the education establishment often seeks to deny that they are pushing this radical, progressive agenda, we uncovered incontrovertible evidence that they are.”

Author of The Plot to Change America: How Identity Politics is Dividing the Land of the Free and, most recently, BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution, Mr. Gonzalez has crisscrossed the country, advising lawmakers and citizens alike on what we need to do to safeguard America from this Left-Wing dogma.

At the seminar, Mr. Gonzalez will present the audience a number of resources and evidence on Critical Race Theory to:



For more information or to request an interview with Mississippi Center For Public Policy President & CEO Douglas Carswell, please reach out to Stone Clanton, [email protected].

On practically every level, America has been a shining display of freedom and prosperity. According to the vision of its Founders, the nation has shined as a beacon of hope to a world full of tyranny and hardship. Despite these successes, America’s legacy has been under attack over the last several years.

With a focus on the failures of an imperfect but inspiring history, revisionist historians have attempted to paint the nation as a society that was ultimately built on oppression and evil. Yet, such claims do not hold validity when you look at the track record of the country.

In 1630, the world was filled with empires and monarchs. In Europe, several wars overwhelmed a continent plagued by imperial rivalries. The Ottoman Empire stretched from Turkey to Sudan with the rule of an iron fist. Spain and Portugal imposed a reign of terror over Latin America. The nations existed for their rulers. Meanwhile, far from the centers of world activity, a few dozen settlers quietly sailed up the Charles River into Massachusetts, led by John Winthrop. With a vision for a righteous society of liberty and justice, Winthrop proclaimed his aim that the settlement they established be a “city on a hill” and that “the eyes of all people are upon us.”

That settlement would become the city of Boston. One hundred forty-five years later, the War for Independence would begin 10 miles away with “the shot heard around the world.” In the wake of American victory and the founding of the nation, 245 years of history have shown that America has indeed been a “city on a hill” placed prominently in the view of the whole world.

In January 1989, President Ronald Reagan spoke of America in his farewell address as a “city on a hill.” True to its legacy, America had recently stood up to the might of the Soviet Union and led the free world in the fight to preserve freedom from the tentacles of Communism. Less than a year after Reagan’s farewell address, the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989. By 1992, the Soviet Union itself had collapsed and America still stood as “the shining city.”

The year is now 2021 and most of the tyrannical regimes of the last 245 years have been resigned to the dust bin of history. Direct assaults on Winthrop and Reagan’s shining city have all proved to be futile. But the enemies of liberty have not yet given up.

Instead of trying again to attack the shining city directly, new ideologies have instead questioned whether the shining city ever existed in the first place. Defining America as a nation of racism, oppression, and subjugation, this revisionist history threatens the very foundation of America through philosophies such as Critical Race Theory. The opponents of liberty know that the only way the nation can ever lose its exceptional legacy is by the destruction of its history. This is why so many advocate for the deconstruction of history.

The fact that America has truly been “a city on a hill” stands firm. The success of the nation refutes any claims to the contrary. The nation that is called “the land of opportunity,” the nation that countless scores have built their lives in, the nation that has stood for freedom of religion and speech, this country’s historical legacy cannot be changed.

Yet, this legacy can only continue if America looks back to the foundations of former days. Americans must teach their history so that future generations can know the nation’s exceptional story. Efforts must be made to push back against the revisionism of those who assault the nation’s legacy as a city on a hill. The future of the nation depends on it.   

Critical race theory is a deeply divisive ideology that threatens to tear America apart. It demands that we stop seeing fellow Americans as individuals, and instead regard them in terms of racial identity. It is a rejection of the principle that all of us are created equally.

While lots has been said about critical race theory in more progressive parts of America, it is often assumed that in supposedly conservative states like Mississippi, this extremist agenda does not exist.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. This Marxist-like ideology is being taught in Mississippi’s educational system.

According to our report, Combating Critical Race Theory in Mississippi, the Mississippi Department of Education suggests teachers make use of professional development programs provided by organizations such as the Zinn Education Project and Facing Ourselves & History. Both these organizations promote radical ideas associated with Critical Race Theory. The Zinn Project even advocates for the abolition of Columbus Day and for the payment of reparations for African Americans.

Critical race theory is even more explicitly promoted at college level. Universities in our state are not only administered in accordance with critical race theory, but it also impacts what students are taught. 

Mississippi State’s English Department website refers to “systemic racism” perpetuating “white supremacy” in America. It demands “structural change” to achieve “racial justice.”[1] The department goes on to explain how it has “begun re-envisioning our curriculum to address its emphasis on white authors and literary traditions” and how it is responding to the fact that the “demographics and dynamics” of the department are those of a “Predominantly White Institution (PWI).”

The University of Mississippi’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric teaches courses that explore “how whiteness is constructed.” There, students analyze “whiteness as it has evolved over time” and consider the relationship between white identity and “white nationalism, white supremacy, white privilege and whiteness.”

One of the reasons why many Mississippians are unaware of the extent to which critical race theory is being taught is the fact that those who promote this agenda seldom characterize what they are teaching as being "critical race theory." Often, they will reject the term entirely.

This means that we need to look beyond the label and better understand what it is that educators are actually teaching.

In our report, we identify some of the underlying ideas behind this ideology. 

We then go on to recommend a series of practical steps that can be taken to tackle critical race theory. 

You can read our full study and recommendations to Mississippi leaders HERE.

[1] https://www.english.msstate.edu/news/mississippi-state-department-english-statement-protest-against-racism-and-police-violence/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Jackson, MS): Critical race theory is being taught and promoted in Mississippi, according to a new report out today from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.

The report defines critical race theory as an ideology that maintains the United States is founded on racial supremacy and oppression. 

The report shows that critical race theory is a Marxist-like belief system. While conventional Marxists divide society between the oppressors and the oppressed, critical race theorists have replaced the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the identity categories of white and black. 

“This makes critical race theory a deeply divisive ideology, as well as an extremist one,” explains Douglas Carswell, President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “Critical race theory ultimately seeks to overthrow the existing economic and political order and fundamentally change America.”

Today’s report reveals that:

“For all the assurances that critical race theory is not being taught in Mississippi, when you look at the evidence, it clearly is” added Carswell. “Mississippians need to know that a deeply dangerous and divisive ideology is being advanced through our public education institutions. Mississippi leaders need to take action to combat this.”

Today’s report sets out a six point plan to combat critical race theory. Included in the report’s recommendations are:

Read the full report HERE.


For more information or to request an interview with Mississippi Center For Public Policy President Douglas Carswell, please reach out to Stone Clanton, clanton@mspolicy.

I used to laugh at the absurdity of "woke" academics. So much of what they advocated seemed so ridiculous.

I am not sure we should be laughing any more. "Woke" ideas have become dangerous, not merely daft.

Take, for example, critical race theory, which argues that the United States is founded on racial supremacy and oppression. This radical idea has spread out from college campuses into the workplace, government and even the military.

A form of Marxism, critical race theory divides society between the oppressors and the oppressed. But unlike old school Marxism, with its categorization by class, critical race theory categorizes Americans by race. 

This ideology is obviously deeply divisive. But so long as only a handful of academics thought like that, we could largely ignore it.

The trouble is that the "woke" ideas are increasingly becoming a kind of belief system for many of America’s elite. They now permeate many aspects of life in America – and if unchecked they risk tearing the republic apart.

This week the Mississippi Center for Public Policy publishes a report that looks at how widespread these ideas are within the public education system in our state.

We then set out a series of practical steps we believe our leaders need to take to ensure that this extremist agenda is not promoted using public money.
 
The United States was founded on the ideal that everyone possesses their own "inalienable rights." That principle, however imperfectly applied, helped to define the United States as a country that respected people as individuals. 
 
Critical race theory stands that ideal on its head, insisting instead that we define ourselves according to immutable characteristics. This ideology is profoundly un-American and anti-American. 

America is such an extraordinary success story. The USA, while not perfect, is a moral as well as a material achievement.

Our report sets out how we might replace a bad idea – the notion that America is intrinsically racist – with a good idea – that America is "the last best hope of earth.”

America has faced plenty of external threats before.  Each time the United States came through triumphant and stronger.  

Today, however, we face a threat that is internal, rather than external; Critical Race Theory.  We need to work out how to respond to it as a threat to the American way of life.  

Critical Race Theory encourages Americans to lose faith in their own country.  Instead of celebrating America’s Founding Ideals, Critical Race Theory teaches young Americans that their nation is founded on hate.

Far from marveling at how people from every country, culture, and creed want to come to the USA, Critical Race Theory insists instead that America is inherently racist.  

We ought to applaud the progress that has been made towards achieving Martin Luther King’s vision of a country where people are defined by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.  Instead, Critical Race Theorists want to racialize everything.

Critical Race Theory is a form of race-based Marxism.  Old school Marxists divided the world by class, capitalist oppressors Vs oppressed workers.  Critical Race Theory’s new variant Marxism divides America into oppressor Vs oppressed base on skin color.  Critical Race Theory specifically rejects the principle of equal protection under the law.  

Nowhere is Critical Race Theory more dangerous and destructive than in our education system.

In California, public schools have accused white teachers of being colonizers on stolen Native American land and told them “you are racist” and “you are upholding racist ideas, structures, and policies.”  North Carolina’s largest school district launched a campaign against “whiteness in educational spaces”—and encouraged teachers to subvert families and push the ideology of “antiracism” directly onto students without parental consent.

How do we ensure these this divisive ideology is not being advanced in public schools here in Mississippi?

Critical Race Theory in the classroom opposes meritocracy, and has caused some school boards in parts of America to abandon standardized testing.  It teaches young people that the government must actively discriminate against racial groups deemed privileged.

Most obnoxious of all, it advocates neo-segregation and turns schools into a race re-education program.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy believes these neo-racist theories have no place in the classroom.  What can we do about it?  

Step one is to find out how prevalent this kind of ideology-based teaching actually is.  Then we need action to ensure that public schools do not use public money to indoctrinate students about fringe racial theories that claim one race is superior to another, or that individuals should be treated differently on the basis of race.  We are working on producing a draft bill that we believe will go some way to achieving this.  Our think tank is leading the way on this.  

But tackling Critical Race Theory cannot be done just by passing a law.  Whether we like it or not, America is engaged in a battle for her future – and it is a struggle being waged for the hearts and minds of millions of young Americans.

Rather than simply forbid a divisive ideology being taught, we need to make a concerted effort to teach people why America is such an exceptional country.

Young people growing up today, like every generation before them, seek to make sense of the world around them.  Why, some will ask, are some people more successful than others?  How come some parts of America are prosperous yet others poor?  What explains the fact that America is so rich relative to most other countries?

Critical Race Theory offers a superficial, if deeply flawed, explanation.  We need to offer young people a better way of understanding the world.  It is an absence of freedom and liberty that explains why some societies are less successful than others, not any fringe theory about ‘white fragility’.    

As Mississippi’s free market think tank, we aim to educate tens of thousands of young Mississippians, through our online engagement, about liberty, limited government and the American Founding.  We seek to show the rising generation that it is individual character, not any intersectional identity, that matters most.

If you would like to learn more about our work combating Critical Race Theory, please sign up for our updates at www.mspolicy.org.

This article was first published in the Northside Sun.

Pre-K expansion has been one of the Left’s priorities for years, with many, such as former president Barrack Obama, being key advocates. 

Studies from some organizations such as the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute, have found such government pre-K expansion programs to have little evidence of a large positive impact when children enter kindergarten. But many have persisted with the idea that the government is the best-equipped party to direct people’s lives at the earliest age possible. 

Pre-K expansion is on the horizon in Mississippi as well. On December 10, 2020, the University of Mississippi Center for Excellence in Literacy Instruction and Mississippi Campaign for Grade-Level Reading offered a virtual, statewide viewing of a new documentary called, Starting at Zero. 

This documentary focuses on the potential effectiveness of early, state-controlled pre-K programs. In addition, it entertains the question of whether there is a worthwhile return on investment on children participating in Head Start programs as early as possible, even “starting at zero.” This is a film that advocates for state-priorities to be in the lives of children from birth, featuring left-leaning leaders from across the country such as Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam.  

Unfortunately, the documentary also includes leaders with conservative reputations. But just because a strong conservative leader supports a policy, it does not always mean that the policy itself is conservative. 

In early 2020, the Mississippi Legislature PEER Committee issued a report that found that the state’s pre-K programs had little positive effect on the ultimate learning outcomes of children after pre-K. Despite these findings, former Governor Phil Bryant voiced his support in the documentary for this program of government involvement in children’s lives that starts at the earliest possible age.

Following the documentary showing, Ole Miss held a panel entertaining the merits of the documentary for Mississippi's education policy. On the panel were various state leaders and representatives of this movement to expand government oversight starting at birth: Willa Kammerer, the director of Starting at Zero; Tonya Ware, project director of ReadyNation in Mississippi; Rachel Canter, Executive Director of Mississippi First; Dr. Carey Wright, State Superintendent of Education in Mississippi; Jason Dean, chairman of the Mississippi Board of Education; Nita Thompson, Executive Director of the Mississippi Head Start Association; and Holly Spivey, Head Start Collaboration Director and Education Policy Advisor for Governor Tate Reeves.

The primary focus of the discussion centered around the potential return on investment early childhood programming gives to the economic infrastructure of the State of Mississippi. However, the means of this return appear not to be sufficient through means of private childcare. 

Instead, the panelists advocated State-sanctioned and State-funded child programming.  This theme is revisited throughout the event as the panelists suggest that it is necessary for the government to partner with families and take an active role in the child-rearing process.

The panel exhibited significant interest in pursuing child education and oversight at even earlier ages. In the December 2020 meeting, Dr. Carey Wright commented that $7.8 million has already been applied to these early learning programs through grants and government funding. 

That amount has since more than doubled to $16 million. Wright called for the State to prioritize and give more funding to MDE to use in these programs. She further noted that the goal for the Mississippi Board of Education is to ensure that every child has access to early childhood programming.

Dr. Jason Dean suggested that such programs offer the perfect opportunity for the State to teach young children the “soft skills” needed for acceptable social interaction. He further contended that the State must break down the walls between economic, academic, and social issues and start treating these aspects of child development as really different sides of the same coin. “I think we all agree on the policy. I think we need to come up with the plan, especially a funding plan,” Dean said.

Holly Spivey and Nita Thompson commented about their desired picture for those children from birth to 3 years of age. Thompson mentioned the desire for every element and level of child education to work towards the same goal(this goal was left somewhat ambiguous). She additionally equates this issue not only as an economic matter but as a healthcare matter as well, making sure that there is government-funded healthcare for all children to participate in this education programming and meet government healthcare priorities as well.

Despite Governor Reeves’ conservative stance on most policy issues, Spivey indicated that Reeves has a strong interest in expanding government’s involvement in the lives of children at an earlier age, based on her knowledge as his education policy advisor. 

State leaders have exhibited interest and support for these kinds of policies to expand government oversight into the lives of young children, even by mandatory force in some cases. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if traditional values will be overridden by the novel concept of starting pre-K at age zero.

The Ole Miss panel meeting can be viewed at the following link:  https://youtu.be/2K1WZ5AgMu8

(JACKSON, MS) – The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will hear arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. The case considers whether Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban is constitutional. 

In 2018, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP) played a key role in drafting the law and educating lawmakers about the important role the legislation would play in both protecting women’s health and protecting the lives of unborn children. 

This commonsense law strikes the right balance for Mississippi by protecting the health of women considering abortion and in protecting the lives of the unborn. It protects women from serious and significant risks and protects the life of the unborn child with a beating heart who can move, hear, taste, see, and feel pain. 

Dr. Jameson Taylor, Senior Vice President for Policy, comments: “Roe v. Wade is old case law based on old science. Here in Mississippi, we have sought to update our abortion laws so that they meet the commonsense standard that limits abortion after the first trimester. We are thankful the Supreme Court is listening to states who believe it’s time to take a second look at what the science is saying.” 

Continues Dr. Taylor: “The scientific evidence confirms that the risk of a mother dying from an abortion skyrockets after the first trimester. That’s why a majority of Mississippi voters and lawmakers strongly agree our state laws should protect women and not put them at greater risk of death or injury from later-term abortions. Nearly every other country in the world follows the same standard and does not permit abortion after the first trimester because it is much more dangerous for women and an obvious violation of human rights.” 

The risk of a mother dying from an abortion increases more than 2,100 percent between 8-weeks and 18-weeks of pregnancy, according to the scientific literature. Maternal mortality increases by 38 percent with every week after 8-weeks gestation. 

“The whole point of state regulation of abortion is to protect maternal health and to uphold the state’s general interest in protecting life,” concludes Dr. Taylor. “Instead of basing abortion law on a so-called viability standard, it’s time for the court to put women’s health and safety front and center. Late-term second and third trimester abortions are dangerous for women. That’s why the viability standard completely misses the mark in terms of protecting women.” 

This legislation brings Mississippi into standing with most of the rest of the world. 92 percent of other nations limit abortion after the first trimester. The U.S. is one of only four countries that permit abortion-on-demand throughout all 9 months of pregnancy. We find company on this issue with North Korea and China. 

For more information or to request an interview with Dr. Taylor, please contact Communications Director, Hunter Estes, at [email protected]. 

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in one legislative session and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten.”

In this series, we are conducting a review of what Mississippi lawmakers have accomplished over the last 10 years. Again, the list provided here is not comprehensive, and we feature only the policies we like, some of which were initiated by MCPP (marked by an *asterisk* below).

Mississippi is one of the most pro-life states in America; although, it is not THE most pro-life state. Louisiana held that distinction until Arkansas recently passed a flurry of pro-life laws in 2020. Still, policymakers in Mississippi have steadily advanced the right to life, enacting balanced measures aimed at protecting the right to life and protecting maternal health.

Here are some of the highlights:

Twenty-week abortion ban: This law (HB 1400), sponsored by Rep. Andy Gipson in 2014, prohibits abortions performed after the baby is 20-weeks old. The law has not been challenged in court.

Dismemberment ban: This law (HB 519) bans second trimester abortions that entail the dismemberment and removal of the dead baby (also known as a D&E abortion). Mississippi was the fourth state in the country to pass this law. It was sponsored by Rep. Sam Mims in 2016. The law has not been challenged in court.

15-week abortion ban: This law (HB 1510), sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie and championed by Senator Joey Fillingane in 2018, prohibits abortions performed after the baby is 15-weeks old. The law has been blocked by a federal court and is under review at the U.S. Supreme Court.*

Heartbeat ban: This law (SB 2116), sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill in 2019, prohibits abortion after the baby’s heartbeat is detected: generally, at about 6 weeks. The law has been blocked by a federal court.

Life Equality Act: This law (HB 1295) prohibits abortions performed with discriminatory intent against a mother and unborn child because of the child’s sex, race or disability. The law was sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Crawford in 2020. The law has not been challenged in court.*

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