Whistleblower documents show Chicago Teachers Union sharing race-based lessons

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The Jesse Sullivan for Governor campaign is calling to defund the Chicago Teachers Union for pushing radical curriculum after receiving whistleblower documents that show members sharing race-based lessons they've used in the classroom.

The campaign reportedly obtained Facebook messages from a whistleblower from CTU’s private Facebook group from the past two years that, according to the campaign, violate the prohibition of using taxpayer funds for political activities, outlined by the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act & State Employees Ethics Act. The law states that, "State employees shall not intentionally perform any prohibited political activity during any compensated time (other than vacation, personal, or compensatory time off)."

In one Facebook post received by the Sullivan campaign and shared with Fox News Digital, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates shares a story from a library media specialist boasting about inserting race into school curriculum, which the campaign charged is "in direct violation of district policy."

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CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 24: Members of the Chicago Teachers Union gathered at a rally ahead of an upcoming potential educators strike on September 24, 2019, in Chicago.  (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)

"In my own experience as a former English teacher in Chicago Public Schools for 15 years, CPS told teachers twice to ban curriculum and limit discussions about race. I didn't listen either time," she quoted, with a link to a Chicago Tribune op-ed from last May entitled, "Limiting teachers' curriculum is just as bad as banning books" from Gina Caneva, the library media specialist for East Leyden High School in Franklin Park. 

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Another Facebook post shows that Jackson Potter, a CTU executive, had students in his social studies class annotate four pages of text for "two full days" in order to discuss "patriarchy, materialism and white supremacy" and "required every minute" of class.

Chicago Teachers Union member talks of race-based lesson. (Jesse Sullivan Campaign for Governor)

"Anyone taught with Bell Hooks ‘All About Love?’" Potter wrote, according to the screenshot. "Today I had some of the most wonderful and intense conversations with students as we explored how patriarchy, materialism and white supremacy shape our notions of love. Honored by their empathy & disappointed it took me so long to teach this. Also a testament to making ourselves vulnerable as teachers to the patient examination of emotion and how our culture can posit or negate our needs as human beings. We took two full days to annote 4 pages and it required every minute."

Sarah Chambers, a CTU executive board member who made headlines last year for advocating for at-home learning during the COVID-19 pandemic while vacationing in Puerto Rico, is shown in another Facebook screenshot describing a lesson in which she takes students’ belongings to teach them about Christopher Columbus. She also tells "white teachers" who want to return to classrooms during COVID-19 shutdowns to "check their privilege."  

"When I taught 8th grade social studies. We used to do a lesson, where we walked in and started taking students' pencil cases and stuff," Chambers reportedly wrote.

"And that's how we started our Christopher Columbus lessons," she later added, noting that students protested. "Some adults clearly should have been in my class because they are acting like this country wasn't built on stolen land by people who stole everything from people of color. How do you think they filled the museums? They looted countries all over the world."

Chicago Teachers Union talks of Christopher Columbus lesson. (Jesse Sullivan for Governor campaign)

CTU did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Sullivan thanked the whistleblower who reportedly came forward with the information.

"When we launched our Power to the Parents agenda, our goal was to give power back to families and shine light on what has been going on in our schools," Sullivan said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "We are grateful to the CTU whistleblower who answered our call and brought forward these documents that show CTU members violating the prohibition on political activities for public officials, using their taxpayer-funded positions to indoctrinate our children with a radical political agenda."

He added, "These activities are why I have called to defund the CTU and end political indoctrination in Illinois schools once and for all. As governor, I will end the practice of taxpayer-funded Chicago Public Schools collecting millions of dollars in dues on behalf of the Chicago Teachers Union."

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Frustrated parents across the country have descended on school board meetings the past two years to protest COVID-19 measures that kept their kids at home, as well as to condemn race-based curricula like critical race theory. The ire of those parents became even more intense after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a now infamous letter to the Justice Department in September 2021 that suggested their actions could be equated with domestic terrorism. The NSBA later apologized for the language, but now half of U.S. state school board associations have chosen to cut ties with the federation.