Across the US, parents are protesting against the implementation of new school lessons informed by critical race theory (CRT). Videos of parents passionately speaking up in opposition at school-board meetings have gone viral. At a recent meeting, the school board in Loudoun County, Virginia, heard a range of criticisms. 'You're teaching children to hate others because of their skin colour', said retired senator Dick Black. Xi Van Fleet, a woman who survived the Cultural Revolution in Mao's China, said the CRT lessons, with their emphasis on personal guilt, reminded her of those dark days. Students are being taught 'to loathe our country and our history', she said. The board quickly ended the meeting and called the police to arrest the protesters.

Media commentary on the parents' protests has been dismissive and condescending. Parents have been presented as uninformed rubes who don't know what they're talking about.