Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) excoriated Critical Race Theory (CRT) on Friday, explaining how it is a “racist” worldview that applies Marxism’s theory of economic class conflict to race.
Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference in Orlando, Cruz first recounted how a reporter scurried up to him on Capitol Hill this week asking him to define CRT. “Apparently he thought I would turn to him and say, ‘Gosh I have no idea,'” he said.
“It’s a theory that derives from Marxism,” Cruz said he explained to the reporter. “Karl Marx viewed the entire world as a conflict between classes, between the owners of capital and the working men and women, the proletariat; a fundamental battle in society. Critical Race Theory takes that same Marxist concept, except it replaces class with race.”
“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. Critical Race Theory says America is 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 said to applause from the crowd.
“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. We are commanded to love, period, the end,” he added. “And those who would divide us, those who would spread lies, it is evil. It is exactly that, it is evil.”
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Critical Race Theory is bigoted. It is a lie. And it is every bit as racist as a Klansmen in white sheets. pic.twitter.com/i2lDGVLfkw
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 18, 2021
CRT is at the center of a cultural firestorm as increasingly more states are banning it from public schools. Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose state banned CRT, has been at the forefront of governors coming out against it. He echoed Cruz’s sentiment in April when he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that systemic racism is “horse manure” and that CRT is nothing more than race-based Marxism.
“I mean, give me a break. This country has had more opportunity for more people than any country in the history of the world, and it doesn’t matter where you trace your ancestry from,” DeSantis said. “We’ve had people that have been able to succeed.”
“And here’s the problem with things like Critical Race Theory that they’re peddling,” DeSantis continued. “They’re basically saying all our institutions are bankrupt, and they’re illegitimate.”
“Okay, so how do you have a society if everything in your society is illegitimate?” asked DeSantis. “So it’s a very harmful ideology, and I would say, really, a race-based version of a Marxist-type ideology. So we’ve banned it in our schools here in Florida. We’re not going to put any taxpayer dollars to Critical Race Theory, and we want to treat people as individuals, not as members of groups.”
Related: WATCH: Black Father Explodes At Critical Race Theory During School Board Meeting