Blake Masters, who is running for Senate for the Republican Party in Arizona, complained about what he described as "anti-white racism" in U.S. schools, weeks before launching his campaign to run.
Masters, a 34-year-old chief operating officer at investment firm Thiel Capital founded by billionaire tech mogul Peter Thiel, made the comments at a Conservative rally in Phoenix on May 25, where he was addressing critical race theory (CRT), at which Republicans have regularly taken aim.
"Too much of schooling in America has become a machine to uproot common sense and to replace it with something much more sinister. You've heard about critical race theory," Masters told the "America's Comeback Tour" audience, The Informant reported on Monday.
"All it does is teach kids to identify in racial terms. Right? You are good or bad, depending on what you look like. At this point it is straight up anti-white racism. I don't think we're allowed to say that. But let's call it what it is. It is toxic, and it does not belong in our schools."
"We've got to take back the schools and stop the indoctrination," Masters said.
Masters told Newsweek on Tuesday: "Yeah, everyone knows this is true—you're just not supposed to say it. Parents (and not just conservatives!) are absolutely sick of all this stuff—1619 curriculum, CRT, teaching students that they are superior or inferior, victim or oppressor, based on their race—and want it out of our schools."
The New York Times' 1619 Project describes its aim as to "reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative."
"America's Comeback Tour" was hosted by British far-right politician Nigel Farage and sponsored by conservative group FreedomWorks, the website reported.
In July, Masters announced he was running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, hoping to oust Democrat Mark Kelly in 2022.
Thiel is helping bankroll Masters's campaign. In April, Politico reported that Thiel was planning to give $10 million to a Super PAC set up to support Masters. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and is an investor in Facebook, was Silicon Valley's first vocal support of Donald Trump.
Critical Race Theory began as a collegiate-level study at universities more than 40 years ago as a means to examine and recognize racism within institutions and work toward new strategies of rooting out its causes.
CRT "maps the nature and workings of 'institutional racism,'" according to Kendall Thomas, co-editor of Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement.
Since the onset of the Black Lives Matter protests in May 2020, it has grown to become the center of a culture war between conservatives and liberals over whether it should be taught in schools or not.
Republicans in multiple states—including Arkansas, Florida, Idaho and Oklahoma—have passed legislation to stop CRT being taught in schools. GOP lawmakers in many other states are also moving to ban it from the curriculum.
Update 8/10/21 11:27 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Blake Masters.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Dutton is a Newsweek Reporter based in Cape Town, South Africa. His focus is reporting on global politics and ... Read more
