Kimberly Hermann is General Counsel at Southeastern Legal Foundation and is in the forefront of the struggle for parental rights.

Hermann: Teach kids to hate America so that they destroy it. That is the unmistakable goal of those putting critical race theory into our nation’s public schools.

Too many parents are failing to use the sharpest arrow in their quiver—the law. And it’s not their fault. The law is understandably confusing and even intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be.

The law can be a powerful weapon, offering hope for a lasting victory that can’t easily be undone by the next election. We are on the front lines every day, leading the constitutional battle in the courtroom with the nation’s first comprehensive lawsuits against CRT in the classroom and teacher training. But in our experience parents need more than lawsuits; they need answers to their questions right now, before their child’s school has an opportunity to treat people differently because of the color of their skin, discriminate because of viewpoint, cause individuals to self-censor, or force individuals to accept beliefs with which they do not agree.

For decades those who would remake our country have tried to tear down America and replace it with a collectivist fantasy. The stark reality is while we fought on Capitol Hill, in our state legislatures and in the courts, they were using a new weapon to cultivate a new army tasked with hating America. The weapon: critical race theory. The new army: America’s children.

When schools implement critical race theory, they teach children that America is a nation founded on White supremacy and that racism is embedded in America’s legal system, government policy and the Constitution. When they lie and insist that CRT is “real history,” the message is clear: “End the American Republic.”

Again, teach kids to hate America so they will destroy it. It’s quite genius in its brutal use of the power of ideas. To fight a war, you need soldiers. But in a constitutional war, you can’t draft soldiers. If kids are taught from the beginning that America is irredeemably racist, then they fall right into the progressive army and join the fight to undo our constitutional republic.

But parents are done. I know because I am one of them. We refuse to let the progressive left take our children from us. We refuse to continue framing the fight to stop woke education as nothing more than a cultural battle: a fight concocted by right-wing parents—alleged book burners, racists and even domestic terrorists—relegated to school board meetings, cable talk shows, and state legislatures. We refuse to be silenced or intimidated.

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The army of parent advocates have mobilized. The impact on local and state executive officials and legislative representatives is undeniable. In the first half of 2021 alone, 26 states introduced—and 12 passed—laws aimed at increasing transparency in education and stopping discriminatory curriculum. And they made education a top concern of the recent 2021 Virginia elections. This is an informed citizenry in action. It is evidence of a healthy system. It is also an inconvenient truth for the progressive left that no longer tolerates any questioning of its orthodoxy.