Education

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our education spending per-pupil is roughly average for the region (one that includes California, Oregon and Washington) and our students tend to score above the national average in math, science, reading and writing.

Montana's educators, students and parents must be applauded for this level of achievement, but the news is not all good.

In my civil rights advocacy work, I often have to investigate allegations of discrimination in public education (from grade schools through university) and there is a very disturbing movement sweeping across the nation: Critical Race Theory/Ethnic Studies programs.

Notwithstanding the benign labels for these programs, they are nothing less than racist indoctrination of children paid for by taxpayers and administered by public employees. These programs divide students based on race, ethnicity, national origin and religion, pitting students against themselves, their community and their country.

Children are being taught to hate based on skin color or ethnicity and are instructed that the United States, a country that has saved more lives and provided better living conditions for more people than any other country, is fundamentally evil.

Going directly against the wishes of Martin Luther King, Jr., an icon who worked to make this country one where each person is judged by the content of his or her character rather than the color of his or her skin, are those who peddle divisive and hateful programs like Critical Race Theory and Ethnic Studies.

Schools should be places where children learn to be loving, accepting and patriotic Americans, not where they are taught to loathe themselves and their communities. We do not need to, and our schools must not, counter past discrimination with current and future discrimination.

On a daily basis, I work with students and parents who have been discriminated against as a result of public education being infiltrated by the hatemongers behind Critical Race Theory and Ethnic Studies. I have had to file complaints with the United States Department of Education on behalf of students who are being discriminated against and prevented from obtaining a quality education, something my parents would have never imagined happening when they came to this country.

This is a sample of what proponents of Ethnic Studies programs want to indoctrinate Montana's schoolchildren with, which I obtained from the State of California in a public records request in support of a discrimination claim I'm working on.

I grew up in Daly City, California, where I was a minority among minorities, and I certainly appreciate the benefits of diversity in education.

This is not diversity or inclusion. It's racism and discrimination.

This is pure Marxist propaganda (the term "resistance", used frequently in Ethnic Studies, is code for perpetual revolution), complete with attacks on capitalism (see item 4 in the image above) and the traditions that made this country and state so successful. Ethnic Studies proponents believe that the United States is an imperialist, colonial and racist entity that must be transformed into a Marxist nation, and their plan is to indoctrinate our children in this hateful ideology. Just as I'm fighting against this discriminatory movement in California, I will work to keep it from being introduced in Montana.

The most significant threat our students face today is not a lack of funding or inadequate resources: it's the spread of divisive, hateful teaching in public schools.

Every penny of Montana's education budget should be devoted to making our students the most well-educated and capable students in the nation, focused on the basics of science, math, reading and writing, with no place for the destructive teachings of Critical Race Theory and Ethnic Studies that turn children into bigots.

If elected, I will uphold the teachings of Dr. King and be a loud and unwavering voice against the spread of hateful programs in Montana's public schools.