Ketanji Brown Jackson serves on board of school that promotes critical race theory

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Senate Judiciary Committee holds nomination hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, serves on the board of trustees for an elite private Washington, D.C., school that promotes critical race theory (CRT). 

Jackson’s questionnaire for the Senate Judiciary Committee says that she has been a board of trustees member at Georgetown Day School since 2019 and a member of the Georgetown Day School community for nearly a decade.

"Since becoming part of the GDS community seven years ago, Patrick and I have witnessed the transformative power of a rigorous progressive education that is dedicated to fostering critical thinking, independence, and social justice," Jackson said in the Winter 2019/2020 edition of Georgetown Day School’s magazine, referring to her husband. 

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks with Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, outside Hirono's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Judge Jackson's confirmation hearing starts March 21. If confirmed, she would be the court's first Black female justice.

Georgetown Day School’s website indicates that the board of trustees is involved with executing their "anti-racism action plan," which includes reviewing and revising "current language around community expectations" and reviewing "anti-racist work" to "inform potential governance changes." 

"We at GDS have been engaging across the community to further define and deepen our commitments to being an anti-racist institution and staying true to our founding mission. We have identified a path forward for the institution, and we want to transparently share how we have performed in meeting our commitments for the 2020-21 school year and beyond," the website reads. 

Lisa Fairfax, the chairwoman of the board of trustees and a longtime "friend" of Jackson, spoke on her behalf Monday during the opening day of Jackson's confirmation hearing.

Some "anti-racist resources" recommended by the school include Richard Delgado’s "Critical Race Theory," a video by Kimberle Crenshaw entitled "The Urgency of Intersectionality," and Peggy McIntosh’s "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Delgado and Crenshaw are "notable originators" of CRT.

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Also on the list is Ibram X. Kendi’s book "How To Be An Anti-Racist," which declares that "capitalism is essentially racist" and "racism is essentially capitalist." Kendi argues in the book that racial discrimination is acceptable if it's aimed at "creating equity," or equal outcomes. 

"The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity," he writes in the book. "If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist."  

Ibram X. Kendi at American University in Washington following a panel discussion on his book "How to Be an Antiracist" on Sept. 26, 2019.   (Michael A. McCoy/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Kendi, a proponent of CRT, has previously called for a constitutional amendment that would make "racial inequity over a certain threshold" and "racist ideas by public officials" unconstitutional. In June 2020, Georgetown Day School's Instagram account promoted a panel forum that included Kendi and called him one of the "mega-stars in the fight for racial equity."

In February 2020, a first grade teacher detailed in a post on Georgetown Day School's website how they "recently conducted a segregation simulation to give [their] students a tiny peek at the emotional psychological impact of segregation."

"We assigned students to a group, blue or red, and then ‘segregated’ them at different times of the day, switching back and forth to give them an experience of privilege, as well as discrimination," Paula Young Shelton wrote.

Georgetown Day School's website also detailed how they "mandate annual anti-racism education for all faculty/staff" and that they provide "professional development funds" to "support registration for and travel to professional conferences, including conferences focusing on diversity equity, and inclusion." A couple of the conferences listed as options for faculty include "White Privilege Conference" and "People of Color Conference."

Tuition at Georgetown Day starts at just under $40,000 for pre-k students and goes up to nearly $47,000 for high school seniors, according to the school website. 

A White House official said in a statement to Fox News Digital that Judge Jackson's board service is a personal activity that has no relation to her work as a judge.

In addition to Jackson's questionnaire saying she was on the board of trustees at Georgetown Day School, Jackson wrote on her questionnaire that "critical race theory" is one of the "myriad types of law" she tells her students to factor in for sentencing.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, indicated that Judge Jackson's board membership could be a potential issue during her confirmation hearings.  (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Monday that Jackson's board position raises red flags. 

"You serve on the board of a school that teaches kindergartners — 5-year-old children — that they can choose their gender and teaches them about so-called white privilege," Blackburn said in her opening remarks. 

"This school has hosted an organization called 'Woke Kindergarten' and pushes an anti-racist education program for white families," she added. 

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"Your public endorsement of this type of progressive indoctrination of our children causes one great concern when it comes to how you may rule on cases involving parental rights." 

Georgetown Day School's director of communications didn't immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.