This article is a paraphrased version of a more detailed article by IRR Researcher Caiden Lang on the IRR’s Educate don’t Indoctrinate website, which is concerned with Critical Race Theory in schools – Sara Gon
We review a book by a proponent of Critical Race Theory (CRT) who employs unethical methods of influence, namely, indoctrination to gain adherents.
Some schools in this country are either using or have used this book, or are using aspects of it to teach their own version of transformation.
Layla Saad’s book, Me and White Supremacy, ‘leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.’
According to the author’s website, the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon have described the book as a ‘bestseller’. The author has been lauded as ‘… one of the most important and valuable teachers we have right now on the subject of white supremacy and racial injustice.’ We beg to differ.
Saad defines ‘white supremacy’, as ‘… a racist ideology based upon the belief that white people are superior in many ways to people of other races, and that therefore white people should be dominant over other races.’
She asserts that many white people are reluctant to admit that they are ‘white supremacist’ because they believe that all people are created equal and should be treated as such. These people think that ‘white supremacy’ is a term used to describe a fringe group of white people.
She explains:
‘What this workbook, which is a deep-diving self-reflection tool, will help you to realise however is that that isn’t true. White supremacy is an ideology, a paradigm, an institutional system, and a world view that you have been born into by virtue of your whiteness.’ (Our emphasis). While her definition of white supremacy is uncontentious, her framing of its application is not.
Saad contends that her approach to white supremacy ‘… is not an intellectual activity’. Although we might rely upon data, statistical evidence or scientific papers to prove that our conclusion is true, Saad provides no evidence of her truth. She asserts that her argument is true and relies on manipulation techniques (indoctrination, brain-washing or ‘thought reform’) to convince the reader.
Saad defines ‘people with white privilege’ as ‘… persons visually identifiable as white, white passing, or holding white privilege.’ ‘White passing’ is a way to challenge arguments arising from biracial or mixed-raced identities, or to question people why they ignore their blackness or ‘People-of-Colour’ background.
Saad’s antidote to white supremacy is akin to the processes applied in a cult. Me and White Supremacy should not, on moral or intellectual grounds, be mandatory in any school.
Robert F. Lifton conducted research into how Chinese communists were able to “brainwash” American POWs during the Korean War, which revealed eight conditions:
1. Milieu Control – control of behaviour and communication;
2. Mystical Manipulation – manipulation of behaviour and emotion, making them appear spontaneous;
3. Demand for Purity – arbitrary standards for purity are set, and then guilt and shame are evoked to convince people that they fail to meet these standards;
4. Cult of Confession – insisting on the confession of sins and accepting responsibility to purify oneself;
5. Sacred Science – presenting the doctrine as sacred and transcending ordinary reason and logic;
6. Loading the Language – use a unique and restrictive vocabulary that limits expression and subtly shapes the way people interpret their manipulation;
7. Doctrine Over Person – personal experiences are processed through the group’s philosophy; and
8. Dispensing of Existence – distinguish between those who have a right to ‘exist’ and those who do not. The process alternates between extremes of treatment and requirements of confession and re-education. Physical and psychological assault is designed to ‘destroy’ ego, and leniency and confession to lead to ‘rebirth’.
Saad’s work moves between assault and leniency. She prescribes stress through negative emotions as a necessary component of the ‘waking up’ process. She provides leniency by praising the reader as, for example, being a ‘good ancestor’. Psychological assault is designed to bring about the ‘death’ of the reader’s identity as a ‘white supremacist’.
‘Healing work’
Saad writes: ‘If you are truly interested in doing this workbook in a group setting, then the only way this should be done is through a #MeAndWhiteSupremacy Book Circle, using The Circle Way as the model and structure for doing so. Choosing to use another process, or no process at all, against my express wishes, is an indication that you are not truly ready to do this work. This work is powerful, transformational, healing work. I ask that you treat it as such.’
A host or volunteer begins the circle ‘with a gesture that shifts people’s attention from social space to council space’. This could include a moment of silence, reading a poem, listening to a song, or ‘whatever invites centering’.
Saad explains that ‘(the) single most important tool for aiding self-governance and bringing circle (sic) back to intention is the role of (sic) guardian. One circle member volunteers to watch and safeguard group energy and observe the circle’s process. The guardian usually employs a gentle noisemaker, such as a chime, bell, or rattle, that signals to everyone to stop action, take a breath, rest in a space of silence. The guardian makes this signal again and speaks to why s/he called the pause. Any member may call for a pause.’
This appears to represent a cross between a cult, a form of meditation and an addiction recovery group.
Behavioural control includes telling the reader who she may or may not turn to for support, as well as how to act when called out for her racist behaviour.
Control of communication is a way that a reader is asked to explain and understand her and others’ behaviour according to the specific terms present in the anti-racist lexicon.
As if Saad’s methodology isn’t disturbing enough, her doctrine is then shown to be a form of faith. A reader willing to doubt her position means that she is not in possession of ‘the Truth’ and so she is ‘without faith’.
The doctrine is presented as ‘sacred’, beyond conventional rationality or science. Saad explains that the inspiration for her work is God or ‘Spirit of Source’ working through her. The messianic intention is now clear.
Her workbook is partly the result of ‘… a manifestation of a mystical experience that happened in the middle of the night on a full moon’.
Saad further describes her work as ‘Sacred Activism’, ‘spiritual shadow work’ and ‘soul work’.
Channelling God/Source must discourage the student from asking questions; blind acceptance of the message is obligatory.
Mentioning God resonates with believers. Non-believers, however, must be discouraged from thinking; ‘… it is all about feeling, something deeply personal and intimate.’
This may explain the prevalence of the teaching of CRT in private schools, the ethos of which is based in religion.
Channelling God/Source negates the necessity for anything logically fallacious or confusing. Saad explains that when white people try and help black people it is racist. The reader must ‘realise’ that the world is made up of evil people and good people, and a good person must believe everything Saad says.
Unquestioning belief is intended to foster group solidarity. More ominously, however, it also distances the reader from her social circles which may present an obstacle to the message, which we will discuss.
If the reader doesn’t ‘do the work’ of anti-racism, then she believes in hate, injustice, dishonesty and inequity for all. Saad explains that anyone who wants to ‘do this work’ believes that ‘every human being deserves dignity, freedom, and equality’ and thus desires to become ‘whole’ – for themselves and the world. The reader ‘no longer wants to intentionally or unintentionally oppress people’.
The creepy messianism goes up a notch when Saad compares the reader to those ‘trying to save planet earth for future generations, you may face opposition, not only from your inner self, but also from friends, family members, and others who are close to you.’
In an exercise of malevolent guilt-inducement, the teacher asserts that the reader is evil and may only have thought incorrectly because of said evil. This evil makes the student responsible for the literal deaths of those who happen to have been born without sin, namely, everybody who is not white.
To solve this predicament, Saad frames the solution in mystical or religious language as the ‘virus that has been living inside of [him/her] all these years, that [he/she] never knew was there’ – ‘…offering a completely life-changing experience that will feel like waking up.’
Recognising the evil is ‘beyond transformational’. It is ‘work that will pull out the worst of you, so that you can get to the best of you’, or ‘re-humanis(ing) yourself’.
Required to confess
This quasi-religious dogma then ploughs new depths: the reader is required to confess to or ‘share’ a plethora of sins. Saad calls it ‘truth-telling’.
The reader will be warned that confession is an uncomfortable process, but the discomfort is framed positively: pain, shame, confusion, fear, anxiety, anger, remorse, grief, apathy and rage ‘… are an appropriate human response to racism and oppression.’ But ‘…in doing so, you wake up.’
If the reader is unwilling to tell the whole truth, she must ‘Keep writing until [she] hit[s] the ugly truth, then write some more.’ ‘When you don’t tell the truth as deeply as you can, you are cheating BIPOC of your allyship, cheating yourself of your own growth, and illustrating that you are not truly committed to dismantling white supremacy within yourself, and therefore within the world.’
The response to the question ‘How have you stayed silent when it comes to…?’ the student must answer, ‘I have stayed silent by…’. The questions are akin to being asked ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’ The implication is that beating your wife/staying silent is a given.
The student must confess to a range of tailor-made ‘thought-terminating’ clichés.
Lifton says that ‘thought-terminating’ clichés compress complex human problems into ‘highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorised and easily expressed.’
‘Everything happens for a reason.’
‘God works in mysterious ways.’
‘His ways are above our ways.’
‘Terminating clichés’ minimise critical thinking. These phrases appeal to emotions and to the reader’s desire to see herself, and be seen by others, in a positive way. Uncritical acceptance becomes a virtue, and critical thinking a flaw.
The reader mustn’t deny that a particular term applies to her and Saad uses White Fragility to avoid denial:
- Have you ever been annoyed, angry, stayed silent or become defensive when somebody calls you a racist? If so, you have White Fragility;
- Have you ever chosen not to engage in a conversation about race or not attended a Black Lives Matter protest? That’s White Silence and because of you black people are being killed;
- If you’ve thought of yourself as not racist, that’s White Exceptionalism and you’re racist;
- If you’ve ever thought that a person should be judged on their character rather than the colour of their skin, that’s typical White Supremacism;
- If you’ve ever done yoga, braided your hair or been involved in any activity that did not originate in the West, you have Culturally Appropriated another’s culture.
One of the biggest obstacles to ideological totalism is the reader’s social circle. This is where the cult of CRT reaches its nasty apotheosis. Friends, family and role models might cause doubt and this cannot be allowed.
During the build-up to the ‘truth-telling’ Saad plants the seed: ‘This work may bring up dynamics that have caused you or others harm in your family relationships, your friendships, your romantic relationships or work relationships.’
‘If you are the only person in your family, friendship group or community doing this work, it can feel lonely. Reach out to other white privileged people who are doing this work so that you can support one another. Do NOT however reach out to other BIPOC (whether family, friends, peers, etc.) to support you and help you process what is coming for you. They do not owe you that emotional labor.’ What bizarre ideas!
The resemblance to cultish behaviour reaches its zenith in demanding this alienation from loved ones:
- In what ways have you observed white-privileged people in your communities (family, friends, work) being apathetic when it comes to racism?
- How do you feel about speaking up about racism and white supremacist beliefs and actions to your family members? Do you speak up or do you remain silent?
- Do you excuse your family members’ racial aggressions because it’s ‘not worth it’ and you want to keep the peace?
- Do you justify your silence with your family by referencing your mental health? And do you understand that BIPOC have mental health issues too and still have to deal with (your and your family’s) racism?
Etc.
Saad aims to turn her readers into ‘CRT cuckoos’ akin to John Wyndham’s ‘Midwich Cuckoos’, children begot by an alien force sharing only two consciousnesses; one shared by all the females and the other by all the males.
Moral imperative
For Saad white culture is necessarily oppressive. As a moral imperative whites should ‘ally’ themselves to the cause of ‘anti-racism’, which primarily involves ‘de-centering whiteness’. It’s important to understand that ‘anti-racism’ is a political ideology that advocates for racial equity, not by applying equality of opportunity, but by adjusting social, economic and political goods so that equality of outcomes is achieved.
Once Saad’s ideas are understood, it becomes clear why ‘equity’ is the logical, if unattainable, endgame of the ‘anti-racist’ movement.
The core claims of CRT inform the transformation drive in most of South Africa’s elite schools. In some schools children have already demanded that their parents be given the same ‘training’. Cultural Revolution, anyone?
It’s not too far-fetched to say that there may be CRT cuckoos already in the making in our schools.
We conclude that CRT should be regarded as a faith-based ideology. Parents who didn’t sign up to their children being indoctrinated with these disturbing views should be very worried.
[Image: Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash]
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