Fox News host John Roberts forced Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to admit that critical race theory is not taught in Virginia elementary schools although he insisted that the philosophy is "present."
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, guest host John Roberts noted that Youngkin had kicked off his time in office by signing executive orders that ban the teaching of critical race theory.
"Critics of your position, including former President Obama say, look, critical race theory is not being taught in schools and that this was merely a trumped-up, phony culture war," Roberts said. "What do you say to that? And what does your executive order actually do in terms of critical race theory?"
"Anyone who thinks that the concepts that underpin critical race theory are not in our schools hasn't been in our schools," Youngkin said, speaking from an elementary school. "The curriculum has moved in a very opaque way that has hidden a lot of this from parents. And so we, in fact, are going to increase transparency so that parents can actually see what's being taught in schools."
"We're not going to teach our children to view everything through a lens of race," he said. "Yes, we will teach all history. The good and the bad. Because we can't know where we're going unless we know where we have come from. But to actually teach our children that one group is advantaged and another is disadvantaged simply because of the color of their skin cuts across everything we know to be true."
Youngkin quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to underscore his point.
But Roberts pushed back.
"Is it your contention that critical race theory is being taught in Virginia public schools?" the Fox News host pressed.
"There's not a course called critical race theory," Youngkin admitted. "All the principles of critical race theory, the fundamental building blocks of actually accusing one group of being oppressors and another of being oppressed, of actually burdening children today for the sins of the past, for teaching our children to judge one another based on the color of their skin. Yes, that does exist in Virginia schools today. And that's why I have signed the executive orders yesterday to make sure that we get it out of our schools."
"Again, that's the contention of critics," Roberts pointed out, "that there are no courses on critical race theory that are being taught in Virginia public schools."
