The Scariest Monster in Uncle Sam’s Attic

I am so tired of people who confuse “equity” with “equality.” Surely, by now, everyone has seen the cartoons demonstrating the difference. To continue to conflate the two requires willful ignorance.

Equity is a central tenet of public education yet, recently, it has been caught up in the culture wars, demonized and presented as proof of Marxism in public schools. Apparently monsters are real and equity is a one of the scariest monsters of all.

According to a recently uncovered Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy training video:

“There are monsters in Uncle Sam’s attic.
It’s the words, phrases, definitions that are used, which may look like one thing, but absolutely mean another. And it is scary.“

I recently watched a Project 2025 Private Training Video entitled “Left-Wing Code Words and Biased Language” hosted by Katie Sullivan and Bethany Kozma. They explained how the “left” has “weaponized language against the American people.” Both women previously served in the Trump administration and their video is part of a series of videos intended to train the next conservative administration’s political appointees “to be ready on day one.”

According to Sullivan and Kozma, “The Left is trying to dismantle America and rebuild it in their own image by using the art of deception, and words and definitions are their weapon of choice. Remember, words change culture.” They warn the left has weaponized words and definitions and has “layered them into virtually every document in the federal government.” Their training instructs new appointees to vet “every single word, phrase, and acronym” before publishing or moving forward with any official or internal document. They call for deleting references to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, “and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights” out of “every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant regulations, and piece of legislation that exists.”

You can watch the training here or read about it here or here. I’m going to focus on one of their claims:

“The left continually pivots and assaults definitions and phrases… Perhaps the most effective tool the left wields is their ability to engage in constant subliminal advertising through their narrative, words, and phrases. Marxism became socialist then democratic socialism, and is now represented by the terms social justice and equity. This is perhaps the most scary of all.“

https://youtu.be/ob2nmb97OkY?si=Pi-cafw8ZDoiVU1E

First of all, in my experience, conflating Marxism, Socialism, and Democratic Socialism has been a political strategy of the Right for many years. As a registered Democrat in Florida, I have watched the Republicans, as their own party moved father to the right, alter their term for even moderate democrats, from “the left,” to “leftist,” to “socialist,” to “marxist.” The words are meant to demonize the left and label their ideas as dangerous. In 2016, it didn’t matter how many times Bernie Sanders explained the difference between Democratic Socialism and Socialism, the right reported his proposals as Marxist. In Florida, campaign mailers regularly declare opponents as “communists.” The Florida GOP has used the terms “leftist,” “communist,” and “marxist” as interchangeable for even moderate democrats.

More importantly, equity is not scary. It is the Right’s misuse (weaponization?) of the word “equity” that causes the most problems for public education. 

In March 2021, Christopher Rufo ignited the culture wars when he wrote that diversity, equity and inclusion were euphemisms “deployed by its supporters” to describe critical race theory. Later he fanned those flames with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Rufo’s lies have been designed sow distrust and undermine public schools. Rufo defined equity, which is central to the goal of public education, as “little more than reformulated Marxism” and said it would bring the end to “individual rights, equality under the law, federalism, and freedom of speech.”

According to Sullivan and Kozmo, the Biden administration has “infiltrated equity into everything.” They claim, “Equity no longer means all men are created equal, the cornerstone of our US Constitution, but rather now mandate the government to dispense with unequal treatment in order to achieve what they believe to be equal outcomes. This creates divisiveness, not equality.” They noted that the very first executive order that President Biden signed, just moments after his inauguration on January 20th of 2021, had to do with equity and one of Biden’s priorities has been to advance “racial equity and support for underserved communities throughout the federal government.”

For the record, equity NEVER meant “all men are created equal” and the goal of equity is NOT to achieve equal outcomes. Also, what is so terrible about providing support for underserved communities?

In the world of public education, equity is a central premise. Rather than treat every student the same, teachers (since the days of the one room school house) differentiate their instruction in accordance with a child’s needs. Equity and inclusion are the cornerstones of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides federal protections to children with disabilities and enshrines their right to a “free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.” Equity and inclusion, of course, extend beyond students with disabilities. Public schools educate all children and their goal is to provide each individual what they need to have academic success. The goal is not to ensure equal outcomes, but to give each child what they need to be able to succeed.

A simple explanation for equity: if a child can not read the chalkboard (or, these days, the digital white board) they get glasses. The entire class doesn’t get glasses (that would be equality), glasses are only given to the child who needs them (equity). Likewise, schools do not provide reading interventions for students who excel at reading and if a child excels at math, they are accelerated (not held back with the rest of the class). Is that Marxism? No it is not. It is simply giving each child the supports they need to be successful. Equity is not a scary monster in need of conquering, it is a basic concept in need of understanding.