Both movements have taken a concept few Americans understand and turned it into a boogeyman, he said. And both groups have found a news hook to rally people to their cause. For anti-Shariah activists, it was the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, a proposed Muslim community center near the fallen World Trade Center buildings in New York City, and a “mega-mosque” near Nashville, Tennessee. For anti-CRT activists, it’s the 1619 Project from The New York Times, which retold America’s founding from the date slaves first arrived in the American Colonies.
Both groups have also appealed to Christians and church groups for support, said Ali, and they focus on local action by individuals and small groups. That bottom-up strategy has proved effective in the past.
“They have empowered you to become a fisherman and you can go fish for CRT,” he said.
Now, the two are even beginning to merge in some circles.
Act for America, a Virginia-based anti-Islam group, recently started a “1776 Strong” program to combat CRT and what the group’s leader calls attempts to cancel “American patriotic culture.” The group provides graphics for local groups to use on signs and social media posts as well as tips on how to organize local 1776 Strong groups.
“We oppose the hateful 1619 project, Critical Race Theory and protest civics, we reject race and identity politics, the divisive tools deployed by the left to tear our country apart,” Act for America President Brigitte Gabriel said in a Facebook video posted in June that promoted 1776 Strong.
Carol Swain, a retired Vanderbilt University professor and one-time candidate for mayor of Nashville who has apologized for past comments labeling Islam as a threat to America, has now become an anti-CRT proponent.
Swain recently attended the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2021 annual meeting, where she hoped to speak about the dangers of CRT — debates over which had dominated the weeks building up to the meeting in Nashville.
Swain said the SBC needs to focus on Christian forgiveness to combat racism, rather than CRT. Swain declined a request for an interview but sent a copy of a chapter of her upcoming book that describes CRT as incompatible with Christianity.
