Man Shuts Down Critical Race Theory In Powerful Speech: 'How Do I Have Two Degrees If I'm Oppressed?'

A parent from Illinois who hosts a weekend radio show condemned critical race theory during a crowded district school board meeting. Ty Smith, a father who believes that critical race theory is deeply flawed, criticized schools for teaching the controversial ideology that has gotten parents across the nation upset and frustrated.

Faithwire reported that Smith, a black man, began his speech by sharing a personal experience from childhood, in which he and other children who were on public assistance were forced to be the last to receive lunch in grade school. As a third-grader, he became frustrated that his friends who were not in his group and stopped talking to them. As an adult, he realized that it was not their fault that they were being segregated.

"I'm mad at them for something that wasn't even their fault... they weren't looking down on me. They didn't think they were better than me," Smith argued. "I'm the one that came up with those false perceptions of what my friends were. Not them."

Smith likened this experience to critical race theory, which he believes is going to be "teaching kids to hate each other, how to dislike each other." He then went on to dismantle the critical race theory tenet that white people have it better in life because they are white and that black people are oppressed because of white people and gave his personal experience as proof that none of it was true.

"How do I have two medical degrees if I'm sitting here oppressed?" Smith asked, eliciting cheers from other parents and attendees at the crowded meeting. "No mom, no dad in the house. Worked my way through college, sat there and hustled my butt off to get through college."

Smith blasted the assumption that white people "kept him from" accomplishing his achievements. He said, "Not one white person ever came to me and said 'well, son, you know you'll never be able to get anywhere because the black people.'"

The Illinois parent pointed out how black people today are being taught that they won't be successful because "the white man is going to keep you down." Smith said that his own experience taught him that no white person oppressed him and that critical race theory is a "lie" that is the "complete reverse" of Martin Luther King's teachings to judge people by their character and not their skin color or race.

Parents all over the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned of how critical race theory is being taught to young minds in various educational institutions. So much so that Florida has become the fifth state to prohibit schools from teaching critical race theory to about 2.8 million children in the state's public schools, Forbes reported.

Florida Education Association, the state's teachers union, rallied against the ban on critical race theory, arguing instead on a proposal that would "reflect a more diverse America than are represented in our founding documents." Their proposal was dismissed. Four other states have banned critical race theory in public schools: Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho.