Critical race theory taught at Air Force Academy

FPI / July 11, 2021

"Some elements" of critical race theory have been incorporated into the curriculum at the U.S. Air Force Academy, an associate professor at the academy said.

Associate professor Lynne Chandler Garcia said in an op-ed that she teaches “critical race theories” to cadets, Valerie Richardson noted in a July 8 report for The Washington Times.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin insisted last month that the theory which contends that America is an inherently racist country is not being taught in the military.

“As an academic institution and an accredited university, cadets are encouraged to engage in critical thinking and discourse, which may drive some classroom discussion on tenets of critical race theory,” said the academy in a statement to The Washington Times.

“The U.S. Air Force Academy supports an instructor’s responsibility to challenge students and to do so in an environment of academic freedom,” the statement said. “While some elements from CRT canon are included in the course to encourage critical thinking, it is not a theory endorsed by the institution as institutional doctrine.”

The course is Political Science 211, “Politics, American Government, and National Security,” according to the academy.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green called for the professor’s removal in a letter to acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth.

The congressman, a West Point graduate and two-decade Army veteran, said that Garcia's “full-throttled attack on our country and her support for Critical Race Theory render her unqualified to teach in one of our prestigious military academies. If we allow this destructive ideology to be taught in our Military Service Academies, we will be responsible for this nation’s demise,. Professor García must be removed from her teaching position.”

During a June 23 House Armed Services Committee hearing, Austin said: “We do not teach critical race theory. We don’t embrace critical race theory and I think that’s a spurious conversation.”

But Garcia wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post: "We embrace our democratic system of government, but we also acknowledge that the United States was founded on a duality: liberalism and equal rights on the one hand; inequality, inegalitarianism and second-class citizenship on the other. Critical race theory provides an academic framework to understand these nuances and contradictions. It helps students identify the structural racism and inequality that has been endemic in American society."

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said he planned to discuss the matter with Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, the Air Force Academy’s superintendent.

“We should not be teaching and indoctrinating our cadets to believe that our military is a fundamentally racist institution,” Cotton told Fox News. “Who exactly is going to raise their hand and take an oath to defend our Constitution if you believe what Professor Garcia is teaching about it?”

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