Echoes of Mao: Weaponizing Schools With ‘Critical Race Theory’ in the United States. Long before California’s infamous “ethnic studies” curriculum made national headlines last month for literally suggesting children chant to the Aztec gods of cannibalism and human sacrifice, the insidious weaponization of “race” and “racism” had already overtaken the nation’s government school system. The racist effort to divide and conquer Americans by “race,” all under the guise of examining everything through the “lens of racism” and fighting “structural” or “systemic” racism, has come to be known as Critical Race Theory, or CRT. Just think of it as half-baked pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook aimed at stirring up as much racial hatred, resentment, division, and conflict as possible.