At a high school in Seattle, radical Marxists are reportedly teaching high schoolers that if they love reading and writing, that is a sign of white supremacy.
During "Black Lives Matter in Education" week at Lincoln High School, flyers listing the nine characteristics of white supremacy were handed out, and "worship of the written word" was among them. Objectivity, individualism, and perfectionism were as well.
"I think it's so hurtful to black children and the whole black culture to have anybody holding those views and trying to promote them," responds cultural analyst and author Janice Crouse.
She does not believe most black parents would favor an education system that kept their children from learning to read and write proficiently.
"I just have a hard time accepting that any parent or any teacher or anybody with any kind of common sense at all would wish that on any child in America," says Crouse.
"Denial and defensiveness" was listed as another characteristic of white supremacy, which kept at least one student from voicing his objections to what his class was being taught.
In New York, Miss Major Middle, a proposed LGBTQ+ charter school, wants to create a "genderful environment… at the intersection of gender, choice, liberation, joy, and creativity" that encourages children to "explore their gender."
Named for black transgender activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, it would be designed for students in fifth through ninth grade. An introductory video for the school explains that "genderful is a word that is open and tolerant, and it means to simply to show up as you are."
Alex Nester, an investigative fellow with Parents Defending Education, says parents and other critics are already pushing back with concerns that a heightened focus on "non-academic things" is contributing to poor student performance and declining enrollment. One mom says the school is "built upon lies and designed to use children to push trans activists' agenda."
"It proposes a – quote, unquote – 'genderful environment' for students focused on justice and – quote, unquote – 'affirming identities,'" Nester details. "It'll teach kids things like gender-inclusive biology that reduces women to – quote, unquote – 'gestational parents.'"
The "founding team," which includes 10 members of the "Trans+ / Queer Advisory Council," says they create a "brave space" that works towards physical and emotional safety for all students – a goal that seems to be a primary rallying point for many people who support this sort of ideology.
Like with all charters, taxpayer dollars would be used to fund the school, and it would operate separately from the local school district.
It would not be the first of its kind. There are publicly-funder charter schools that push LGBTQ+ ideology on kids in California, New York, Ohio, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Texas.
But as of now, the school's future is uncertain, as it is among numerous applicants for just nine charters that have been set aside for New York City starting in fall 2025. Applications were due earlier this month, and a decision will be made in June.
