Who Is Caryn Johnson?
What we can learn from Whoopi Goldberg's Anti-Semitic Comments
It’s always interesting when someone exposes themselves in public. (This isn’t a school library book, get your minds out of the gutter!) Whoopi Goldberg, the culturally appropriated name taken by talk show host Caryn Johnson, just did so in astounding ways. And in so doing, she exposes flaws in the teachings of Critical Race Theory, and this ties into what Grand Haven Area Public Schools teaches students about race, believe it or not. Stay with me, this will be an interesting journey…
Whoopi is currently suspended from her show, The View, for doing a little Holocaust denying. Or at least denying the reasons for the Holocaust. There are so many ways to dissect what she said. For one, the dismissiveness of “Well, this is white people doing it to white people, so y'all gonna fight amongst yourselves”, is shockingly cruel. Yet this article isn’t so much about Caryn Johnson as it is about the lens with which racism is viewed when using critical race theory and intersectionality.
The first thing we have to do, is settle on some definitions. Unfortunately, this is impossible, as definitions are being changed in real time, everywhere. I will illustrate that here, and give you an idea of the direction these changing definitions are going.
The American Heritage Dictionary, fifth edition, printed in 2012, defines racism as: 1) the belief that a particular race is superior to others, 2) discrimination or prejudice based on race.
It defines race as: 1) a group of people identified as distinct from other groups because of supposed physical or genetic traits shared by the group, 2) a group of people united by a common history, nationality, or tradition.
The Merriam Webster Concise School and Office Dictionary, printed in 1991, defined racism thusly: 1) a belief that some races are by nature superior to others; 2) discrimination based on such belief.
Compare that to the ever-changing definition given by the Anti Defamation League, a group founded to stop the defamation of the Jewish People. In 2020, they changed their definition of racism to say: “The marginalization and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed racial hierarchy that privileges white people.” Prior to that, their definition was: “The belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person's social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics.” The second definition is more in line with the dictionary, clearly. Following Caryn Johnson’s anti-Semitic comments, they were forced to change it yet again.
Critical Race Theory, according to brittanica.com, describes racism as an institutional structure (structural racism), that is used to oppress people of color. It further claims it is embedded in the fabric of society and every institution in the country.
Below is a presentation given in Grand Haven Area Public Schools:
Let me point out a couple things here. First, these slides are further proof that Critical Race Theory’s foundations are being taught at Grand Haven Area Public Schools. Or at least racism is being taught through the lens of Critical Race Theory. Second, take a look at the fourth slide, where it says “although people with light skin experience challenges or prejudice, those things happen for a reason not related to race.”
So, with the changing definitions of racism, according to Caryn Johnson, the Anti-Defamation League, and CRT, the holocaust can be explained away as “ white people doing it to white people, so y'all gonna fight amongst yourselves”, and not being about race. No “people of color” were targeted, only “light skinned” people, who are incapable of experiencing racism (see slide four above).
Never mind Hitler's own words in his Reichstag speech on January 30, 1939, where he said, “we must once and for all get rid of the opinion that the Jewish race…”, and “today I will once more be a prophet: if the international financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world War, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” To the Caryn Johnsons of the world and subscribers to the new definitions of racism brought about through the lens of CRT, Jewish people are too “light skinned” to experience racism. Furthermore, in the hierarchy of power or intersectionality, Jewish people are closer to the oppressors than the oppressed. For evidence, view the narratives given during any Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of Apartheid.
So, with a critical race theory and intersectional lens, Jewish people are too light skinned and powerful to experience racism, therefore are capable of being racists or committing racist acts, but incapable of being the victims of racism (even though there was an attempt to extinguish them as a people). If this all sounds illogical, it’s because it is. If this all sounds eerily familiar, it should. That is, if you’ve received a Marxist infused “quality” public education that is “revolutionizing” our education system these last few decades.
Take the Critical Race Theory idea of “oppressor vs oppressed”. Or, “dominant culture” vs minority groups. Where have we heard this type of separation or class struggle before? Let’s go straight to socialistalternative.org. In this article on Karl Marx and class struggles, there’s a headlined section called “oppressor and oppressed”. It says that, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles,” states the Communist Manifesto. “Class-divided society made inequality and injustice systemic,” the article says. [Britannica.com’s page on Karl Marx has a section titled “class struggle”.}
He labeled the two classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Substitute white, dominant culture and BIPOC, or people of color, and you have the setup for the struggle illustrated in CRT’s teaching. Oppressor vs oppressed, class struggles, systemic injustice… Substitute class with race, and you have the basic tenets of CRT and Intersectionality. You also have the same lessons that are being taught at Grand Haven Public Schools. To paraphrase Ibram X. Kendi, “you are using the language of Marxists”.
Here’s where Whoopi Goldberg did us all a favor. She illustrated why the phrase in defense of CRT of “It’s just teaching history” is so disingenuous. It distorts definitions and language around race so much that it leads to denying major historical events and their causes. Because Whoopi Goldberg has bought into this ideology, her narrative around the Holocaust had been distorted so much, that she couldn’t even acknowledge what Hitler’s beliefs about Jewish people were, despite there being historical documents declaring such with his own spoken words. Regardless of whether Jewish people are a race, ethnicity or religion, Hitler certainly viewed them as a race. However, through the lens of CRT, they are too “light skinned” to consider a race, therefore, incapable of being victims of racism.
In their attempts to fit everyone into labels and intersectional boxes, they have completely lost the plot on the facts of history. And that is how Whoopi Goldberg’s comments tie into Grand Haven Area Public Schools. The same CRT lens Whoopi Goldberg’s comments were made through, are seen in those slides above from a GHAPS-PowerPoint lesson. GHAPS is teaching through the lens of CRT, and in so doing, are distorting, contradicting and obscuring major, basic facts that are known about historical events. If they can’t even get the Holocaust right, one of the most studied and reviewed events in all of human history, what does that say about their ability to accurately teach any history?