Bob Woodson on California's woke kindergarten lessons: 'This is the greatest outrage'
Backlash grows to social justice agendas in schools and universities
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Woodson Center President Bob Woodson argued Wednesday that race-based admissions and woke curriculums that lower standards for Black Americans are an "internal assault on the self-esteem of Black people."
"This is the greatest outrage," Woodson told "Fox & Friends."
Woodson reacted to news that a California school district is paying "Woke Kindergarten" education consultants $20,000 for "anti-racist" and "anti-bias" training in an elementary school.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I was born during segregation and I would welcome back old-fashioned bigotry because at least it was external. What we are witnessing now is really an internal assault on the self-esteem of Black people instead of emphasizing when Blacks walk into the room the first thing that has to happen is we must lower standards and that’s an insult," Woodson said.
Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, have helped make critical race theory a national conversation in 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT PAYING 20K FOR 'WOKE KINDERGARTEN' CONSULTING
Woke Kindergarten’s homepage calls the organization a "global, abolitionist early childhood ecosystem," and says it is "supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to the contractor agreement, Woke Kindergarten was hired for "thematic unit planning and coaching," and the financial impact statement describes the purpose of the training is to "continue … anti-racist, anti-bias training and connect to building thematic units along with coaching."
The scope of the contract also includes using Woke Kindergarten’s resources to "disrupt whiteness, white dominant/settler colonial narratives and anti-Blackness in the Glassbrook [Elementary School] community."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The founder of Woke Kindergarten, Akiea "Ki" Gross, identifies as they/them according to Woke Kindergarten’s website, and is described as "an abolitionist early educator, cultural organizer and creator currently innovating ways to resist, heal, liberate and create with their pedagogy, Woke Kindergarten."
The website boasts "woke wonderings," about the consequences of abolishing money, defunding the police and the military, eradicating borders, and challenging the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.
Woodson said that the public school system's emphasis on race is deflecting from the real issue facing Black Americans.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It is not racial. It is hiding and concealing the fundamental systemic incompetence of our major school systems to teach kids. Thirty percent of kids are illiterate and can't even read their diplomas," said Woodson.
Fox News' Kelsey Koberg contributed to this report.