For Immediate Release

October 27, 2021

SAN DIEGO, CA -- October 27, 2021- In spite of our non-partisan and non-profit orientation, Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) has become the latest target of "cancel culture," when our voter education advertisement was shot down by the San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT). The SDUT argues that we are presenting opinions as facts, even though CFER provided an item-by-item reference list of official documents to substantiate our statement that Poway Unified School District (PUSD) is teaching critical race theory (CRT). 

"Our attempt to expose the prevalence of CRT in PUDS in the forms of racial equity and ethnic studies was botched by a politically biased media platform," commented Frank Xu, president of CFER. "Not surprisingly, the Union-Tribune does not apply the same level of scrutiny to causes and advertisements they are ideologically aligned with." 

Earlier this month, CFER contacted Pomerado News to place an ad to raise public awareness on the issues of CRT and ethnic studies in PUSD and to announce our upcoming CRT Town Hall on November 18. While the smooth negotiation with the local paper resulted in a signed contract, SDUT, the shadowy parent group behind Pomerado News notified CFER, on the day when the ad was scheduled to go in print that we must provide detailed references to each claim, submit a disclaimer and show permission to use CRT quotes. The specific quote in question is: "Critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law." The quote apparently comes from the book *Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (Third Edition) *by prominent CRT scholars Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. After we supplied line-by-line sources to corroborate our claims, SDUT's Legal Department has failed to respond in over 24 hours. 

CFER is undeterred by SDUT's censure. As we forge ahead in this genuine movement for unity against the invasion of CRT, we continue to broaden our alliance and will work with partners such as Reform California to present to the public an informative event on November 18!