“Book Bans” Debunked: “Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness”

Parents often bring attention to books that contain sexually explicit, graphic, and inappropriate content; but parents need to stay vigilant against racial indoctrination, as well. “Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness” is a critical race theory (CRT) book advertised by popular bookstores to children ages 8-12 years old, and Amazon recommends this book for children ages 3-9. Parents have found this book in school libraries across the country.

Critical race theory is a subset of Critical Theory (CT), a philosophical and legal movement rooted in Marxism. Critical Theory explicitly rejects reason, enabling justification based on nationality, class, or race. CRT requires two classes within society: the oppressed and the oppressors. In America, the Left proclaims that all white people oppress people of color through “systemic racism.”

“Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness” teaches young children to think whiteness is evil, and these innocent kids unknowingly participate in and contribute to a racist society. One of the passages reads: “White supremacy has been lying to kids for centuries. White supremacy is pretend. But the consequences are real.” Another passage evokes messaging from the 1619 project, claiming: “In the United States of America, white people have committed outrageous crimes against Black people for four hundred years.” One illustration depicts a devilish figure offering the young girl a “contract binding you to whiteness” (pictured below). A different passage weaponizes morality by framing race in terms of good versus evil. The author writes: “Even people you love might behave in ways that show they think they are the good ones.”

One teacher shared the book with students using this video, and others can utilize premade lesson plans and student “cultural representation reflection” activities to teach that whiteness is evil. School districts include it in toolkits for creating racially diverse and “inclusive schools,” and many schools included this book in their recommended reading lists for students.

Proponents of CRT insist that race is the ultimate determining factor for one’s treatment and place in society. They want young white children to examine their role in perpetuating a “racist” world. CRT does not allow for color blindness, but similar to the protagonist in the book, everyone must acknowledge and “see color.” This book teaches kids that they can’t be content with “being kind to everyone” or “treating everyone equally.” Kids must instead recognize that they are either oppressing other kids, or they are constantly oppressed by others. 

Teaching kids to see the world in terms of race is extremely dangerous. One lie CRT advocates often subscribe to is that teachers must use critical race theory to teach our nation’s history, especially regarding slavery. Curricula and books that promote the 1619 Project’s attempt to rewrite history brainwash children into believing their country is founded on racism and that they commit racist actions every day only by merit of their skin color. Parents widely agree that “children should be taught the full truth of our history, including the many times we have failed to live up to our ideals,” but many understandably oppose teaching history through the CRT lens.

Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation notes that despite claims that CRT remedies “systemic racial injustices,” race-based discrimination truly “reinflames racism by clamoring for a new race-consciousness in policymaking. It stigmatizes all whites as oppressors from birth and condescendingly declares all minorities to be victims who will never be capable of achieving their dreams in ‘white’ America.”

Inez Feltscher Stepman maintains CRT not only “reduces whites to oppressors and people of color to the oppressed, it cuts off Americans of all races from their country’s history—an admittedly imperfect heritage, but one that is, nevertheless worthy of pride of in the context of world history.”

Independent Women’s Forum will be exposing inappropriate and ideologically indoctrinating books found in K-12 schools through the “Book Bans” Debunked blog series. If you want to see the books in your children’s school library, search here. For more information on Critical Race Theory, visit IWF’s Critical Race Theory Resource Center here. This is the third piece in the series.