People hate Chris Rufo.
“Your plan to turn our campus into a space of extremist indoctrination is hurting our admissions!” shouts a student at Florida’s New College. “You are the problem!”
“The problem isn’t me,” Rufo said in my latest video. “Actually, I am the solution.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Rufo to the state university’s board of trustees. Rufo moved quickly to end what he considered leftist indoctrination.
“We fired the director of the DEI and abolished the entire department.” (Related: Senator Marco Rubio: Education bureaucrats try to bully schools to wake them up)
Rufo learned about indoctrination after making a documentary on poverty for PBS. He began leaking strange information from government officials.
“Some mid-ranking bureaucrats, outraged by what was happening, started sending me papers,” Rufo said.
The documents showed government diversity, equity, and inclusion officers pushing anti-white racism. “Try to bring back your own whiteness,” Seattle told his employees.
Rufo says it’s a product of critical racial theory. “The purpose is to take emotional measures against you.”
“What will that mean for them? I ask.
“Career advancement, and cultural and emotional power over others,” he replies.
Tweeting the leak caused more leaks. “I wrote one story and five or six people sent me paperwork, and then suddenly 100, 1,000.
An employee at defense contractor Sandia Laboratories said Sandia’s new employment policy requires interviewing “at least one” woman and one minority at all times.
“That’s fair,” I said to Rufo. “Make up for past discrimination.”
“We should encourage a wide range of people to apply,” Rufo says. “But when we talk about nuclear weapons, we need the most capable people, regardless of race or gender.”
Rufo’s critics have accused him of being a hoax. His profile in The New Yorker was titled “How a Conservative Activist Invented a Critical Racial Theory Dispute.”
“I post all original source documents for all stories,” Rufo replies. “It is extremely shameful that they are making such accusations as a form of denial, to be exposed to the sun.”
“All 100 Fortune 100 companies have a DEI bureaucracy. If you say, “I’m pro-life and I want a pro-life message in the corporate arena,” it will shut down immediately! …why only one political ideology is allowed?”
“Because America’s history of slavery and oppression is so bad,” I argue.
“But it’s also based on lies!” Rufo replies. “Slavery is, of course, an abominable legacy, but the United States record on slavery is far superior to most other nations.”
Florida now bans all public universities from funding DEI programs or claiming that systemic racism exists in the United States.
But wouldn’t that violate the professor’s right to speak? Free speech group FIRE says Florida’s new college rules are “totally unconstitutional.”
“I’m worried about what you and DeSantis are doing,” I said to Rufo. “It feels authoritarian.”
“You shouldn’t teach sensitive young children about racism,” Rufo says. “These are common sense restrictions, not authoritarian ones. They simply acknowledge the state’s authority over public schools.” (Related: Adam Weiss: How the Battle Against Corporate Awakening Was Finally Won)
Florida bans public school teachers from teaching the “1619 Project,” which claims America was truly founded when slaves were brought in.
“The idea that the founders fought a revolution to save slavery is so staggering that even Marxist historians have debunked it,” says Rufo.
that’s true. But doesn’t he worry that the next governor of Florida might be like this? Required Which schools teach things like “1619 Project”?
“Of course it worries me,” says Rufo. “But that is the purpose of democracy, that is the purpose of politics.”
TRUE?I think politics is about choosing a representative to preside over. exclusive The government protects us from fraud, violence and theft, but mostly leaves us alone.
Florida leads the nation in school selection. That is wonderful. We will be better off if politicians give back power to parents. That way, parents who want their children to be taught the “1619 Project” can get it. If not, you are free to choose another school.
Choice is better than the dogma of politicians.
Stossel posts a new video every Tuesday on JohnStossel.com about the fight between government and freedom.
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