Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Monday introduced the “Love America Act,” designed to combat Critical Race Theory in classrooms, in part by prohibiting federal funding to schools where founding texts of the United States are taught as products of white supremacy and racism.
According to Hawley’s office, the bill is designed to “promote patriotism in education and fight back against the spread of anti-American, critical race theory classes in K-12 education.”
The bill would specifically prohibit federal funding for “educational agencies and schools whose students do not read certain foundational texts of the United States and are not able to recite those texts or that teach that those texts are products of white supremacy or racism.”
“Since the founding of the United States, the institutions of the United States of America have set the worldwide standard for promoting democracy, freedom, liberty, and virtue,” the bill reads, adding that children across the nation are being fed “misinformation, “including that the principles of the founding of the United States were “lies from the start, that the core institutions of the United States are fundamentally racist and designed to propagate racism, and that it is acceptable to impute guilt to present-day individuals based on the color of their skin, rather than the content of their character.”
“The best antidote to misinformation is the truth, which is reflected in the documents relating to the founding of the United States and other artifacts of the United States, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Pledge of Allegiance,” the bill continues.
Third and fourth graders at Wanless Elementary School in Springfield, Ill., participated the President George Bush’s request to recite the Pledge of Allegiance simultaneously across the country as show of national support Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 (AP Photo/Seth Perlman).
Under the bill, federal funds would only go to educational agencies or schools that teach children the basic tenets of liberty and patriotism. The legislation provides a timeline:
- students in the first grade read and are able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance
- students in the fourth grade read the Constitution of the United States and are able to recite its preamble
- students in the eighth grade read the Declaration of Independence and are able to recite its preamble
- students in the tenth grade read and are able to identify the Bill of Rights.
The bill specifically states that “no Federal funds shall be provided to an educational agency or school that teaches that the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution of the United States is a product of white supremacy or racism.”
“Over the past year, Americans have watched stunned as a radical ideology spread through our country’s elite institutions—one that teaches America is an irredeemably racist nation founded by white supremacists,” Hawley said in a statement, warning that the ideology has infiltrated schools.
“We cannot afford for our children to lose faith in the noble ideals this country was founded on,” he continued.
“We have to make sure that our children understand what makes this country great, the ideals of hope and promise our Founding Fathers fought for, and the love of country that unites us all,” Hawley added.
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