Kayleigh McEnany Stands Up For Parents Speaking Out Against the Teaching of CRT After Don Lemon Said They Were Showing Their ‘Privilege’

Last night on CNN, Don Lemon dismissed concerns of parents who have been speaking out and instead invoked the argument that people’s “privilege” is what leads them to be wary of critical race theory (CRT).

Today on Fox News, Kayleigh McEnany stood up for those parents against Lemon, who said, “That’s the whole thing about what privilege is, is that you — people don’t like to have their pleasure interrupted, their peace interrupted, and so people think that it should be the way that it should be because they have been taught that in this country.”

“You have to be privileged and you don’t want your pleasant life interrupted if you’re opposed to critical race theory. No, Don!” McEnany said on the show she co-hosts, “Outnumbered.” 

McEnany continued that “Maybe you’re a father like Ty Smith who doesn’t want your little son or daughter to be taught that they are oppressed, that they will have to navigate a systemically racist country that is at its core rotten,” referring to the Black Illinois father who was seen in a viral video arguing against the teaching of CRT.

“And when it comes to painting with a broad brush, I’m sick of Don Lemon telling me who is opposed to critical race theory and who isn’t. I’m sick of him telling me that Trump voters are rude … Get rid of that broad brush, Don, because it’s not working for you, and it’s insidious, and it’s tearing us apart,” McEnany added. 

The Daily Wire reported:

CNN host Don Lemon spoke out against people who are uneasy about Critical Race Theory being taught to children during an episode of his show “Don Lemon Tonight” on Thursday evening, wildly missing the point as to why so many parents are pushing back against the racial doctrine.

Speaking with fellow CNN anchor Chris Cuomo during the handoff between the two shows, Lemon and Cuomo denounced opponents of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

Lemon said, “If you are the person who happens to be telling the history, you’re going to tell it in your favor. And the best way to correct that, so that some people aren’t over-indexed in the history of the country, is to have all voices, as many voices as possible, included in [the telling of] that history.”

Lemon mischaracterized the critiques of CRT. Many people are in favor of including lots of voices in the telling of history, but Critical Race Theory does not stop at teaching about historical racism. Instead, it views American history through an ultra-racial lens that could divide today’s children along racial lines.

Cuomo said he spoke to someone who was worried about the teaching of the subject who said, “‘I don’t want people lecturing my kid like, hey, you’re white, you’re bad.’” Cuomo added, “I said, ‘Why do you think that’s what it will be?’”

Cuomo went on to say that the only problem “‘is your perception. Why wouldn’t [you] want your kid to understand the roots of slavery and the legacy of slavery, how it has played out for enslaved people as a culture throughout the years? Why wouldn’t you want that?’”

Cuomo also misinterpreted the reason that people are pushing back against CRT. They aren’t criticizing the teaching of slavery and Jim Crow, but rather the implication that racism is a common part of American life and people are complicit in it based solely on the color of their skin.

“You don’t think that telling people that they were beaten and sold and lynched makes them feel bad?” Lemon asked as he broke out in laughter, once again not acknowledging that most CRT opponents are not against the teaching of racist events that occurred in America’s past.

He went on, “But, you know, telling people, having people come to the realization — especially ancestors of slaves — that they were enslaved, and that they were beaten and that they were sold, that they weren’t able to accrue wealth, that they weren’t able to go to school, they weren’t able to go vote, you think that makes them feel good?”

He added, “So, the folks on the other side, stop making it about you. And be curious instead of judgmental.”

CNN’s @donlemon on parents upset about Critical Race Theory creeping into curriculums: “That’s the whole thing about what privilege is. It’s that you — people don’t like to have their pleasure interrupted. Their peace interrupted … stop making it about you" pic.twitter.com/G1ioRhCuyo

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 18, 2021