If i can have your attention, please. Im delighted to welcome you all to tonights conservative book of the year award ceremony. And my colleague dan mccarthy has the run of show and will be taking lead for us. So before i kick it over to him, im going to introduce him he is is ise a Vice President for the collegiate network as well as the editor of acs journal modern, which you all have your seats and they just modern age just introduced and launched a new website which you should go look at at modern age journal dot com and with that i will turn it over to dan thank you for being here. Thank you, tom. And thank you for joining us this evening. Isi has been educating liberty on americas troubled campuses since 1953. Our founder shorter of believed it was not enough complain about socialism and antiu. S. Southern ideology. We have to teach the alternative the roots of our civilization, the isi henry and an apology book award honors writers who excelled in defining the crisis of our times and instructing indeed reminding us of the solutions the award has possible by the generous gifts of henry and an apology to remarkable individuals who together became an extraordinary force. And paolucci was at Barnard College and columbia. She taught at city college, new york, and became the First UniversityResearch Professor at Saint Johns University in new york. She was a scholar. The renaissance of the theater of esthetics. She was an author, and she was the founder and president of. The council on Natural National literatures. She also established the school and at henry palatucci International Conference center in new york, her husband and, kindred spirit, henry pollard, she was a graduate of city college of new york. He served in the nascent u. S. Force in the Second World War and later earned his ph. D. From Columbia University, a man of action as well as scholarship professor carlucci was instrumental in the growth of the conservative party of new. As a scholar, he taught iona college, Brooklyn College city college, Columbia University and st Johns University in new york. We are grateful to the memory of the policies and for the presence of their friends and family. Tonight, senator seraphim, multisite clarissa, rocio. Michael, michael. Michelle and azar arturo. Were also very grateful for the support of athos, a powerhouse literary and publicity agency, and its cofounder, jonathan brzezinski. Now, let me tell you, our honoree, a man, whose ideas and reporting are at the vanguard, a counterrevolution against the radicals who have hijacked our nations institutions. Christopher rufo is a senior fellow and the director of the initiative Critical Race Theory at the manhattan. He is a contributing editor at city journal and the author of the New York Times bestseller for which we recognize him tonight americas cultural revolution how the left and the radical how the radical left conquered everything, his research and exposing Critical Race Theory have inspired a president ial executive order and legislation in more than 20 states. As a filmmaker, he has directed for pbss Netflix International television. He holds degrees from Georgetown University and harvard, although in the latter case they resent him for it. And he lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons. Tonight joins us here in the heart of the swamp in washington, dc. Please welcome chris rufo. Thank you. Its great to. Be here. Lets not drop the award shatter it. And id be a little embarrassing. Its great to be here, to be honored for a book. This is my first book. Ive directed films, which is a much more active enterprise. You go into some forgotten territory you spent a year of your life observing something in the wild and then spend time huddled in a dark room editing something into shape. By contrast, the book is actually much easier. And then so. So its been kind of a fun thing to to write this book, but what i think id like to talk about tonight is that, you know, a book either be dead or alive. There are many books that are kind of spiritually or politically dead, even if they have some content to them. But what i tried to do with this book is to make sure that it was not oriented towards the good prose, solid research, a good line of argument, some historical, but it was actually oriented towards active political life. And so the subject of the book is political. Its one story, i think a very important story of the last half century of american political life. Looking at how a radical wing Political Movement that never achieved popularity, that never achieved an electoral majority, was able to conquer public and private institutions through extrapolate mentary measures and what impact thats had on us. And so the story is a historical telling. The history of this movement, telling the progression of ideas through institutions. Its biographical story. I tell the biographical history four of the leading intellectuals of this period. Lets see if i remember too having written this book in a while. Herbert marcuse, paolo ferreira, angela davis and derrick bell. For those of you who are not familiar them herbert marcuse. I was a critical theorist. One of the founders of the discipline of critical. He was also the godfather, the new left in the late 1960s in the united, as well as in european capitals for, a brief blaze of glory were student radicals, were carrying banners that said, you know, marx, mao, marxism. Those were the, you know, the itd be the the philosopher for that the pen the sword and the prophet. Thats how he was conceptualized for a period. And if you read his work, you study his life, you realize that the conceptual framework that he established in a relatively brief period mid 1960s to the mid 1970s, about ten years, is still the dominant intellectual framework that the left operates on today. Whether they know it or not, many people dont. Paolo freire was a brazilian. Marx ist pedagogy just happens to also be the third most cited author in all of the social sciences in the United States. Actually quite influential, if you think about it and, you know he he for example to give you a sense of his politics called the chinese cultural revolution quote the most genial solution the century. To give you an idea of who his inspirations were. Angela davis, of course, is black Panther Party communist party, usa, kind of ethno marxist radical of the 1960s who establish a kind of specifically ethnic, radical, Political Movement that was the precursor or inspiration and carbon template for the black lives movement that emerged a half century later under tutelage not only intellectually, but actually directly. And if you read angela davis work, or if you read it, digested through my book, youll find all of the phrasing, all of the concepts, all of the rhetorical lines, all of the political tactics, even all of the esthetic references of the black lives Matter Movement that crested in 2020, was established by angela davis. By 1969. In the last, you know person on the list of infamy was derrick bell, who was the founder, rather the godfather of critical race. So if you look at this as a progression, you could see it starting with critical theory. Then theres kind a can race radicalism merged together on the harvard campus with professor derrick bell, who became an influential figure of taking many of these ideas from fringes into the centers of power. And he was also a campus activist. Many of the techniques that bureaucrats have used to gain power within for universities or government agencies. We now it affectionately as d. I. Diversity, equity and inclusion. Derrick bell developed a lot of techniques in the eighties nineties and created this kind of pessimistic pseudo radical movement that occupied positions then of power and prestige over time. But what i think is actually interesting about all of these figures is not intellectual work. If you look at purely abstractly what exception of mark, whos a who actually is a heavyweight. Theres some some real even if you disagree with it, cannot deny that he has a certain depth of thought. A serious scholar. The other ones there intellectual work is is lacking. Its shallow by comparison. But whats interesting about them is that their intellectual work was oriented towards practical power . It was an intellectual enterprise that had political praxis embedded it, and they were actually willing to do the political work of getting those ideas into positions of authority, to take hegemony over institution. And lo and behold there were two phases to this revolution. The first not so successful. Second, quite successful. The first was a explore licit marxist leninist guerilla warfare revolution. The black Panther Party, when that became not radical enough, it splintered into black liberation army. You had the Weather Underground and this other network of movements. And for those of you i know, everyone here is is is under 50. But for those of us who are a little younger might not remember it. I was actually shocked to understand and the research, the level of intensity of that period. There were Something Like more than 12 and politically motivated bombings in the United States each year. In the beginning the 1970s, dozens of airlines were being hijacked. Every year, many of which were for kind of political causes or political agitation. And some of these groups were assassinating Police Officers in new york and georgia and san francisco. They were bombing the us capital, bombing the pentagon bombing, police stations and, you know, murdering judges in extremely period. And the theory was we can take from maos cultural revolution, we can take from the marxist leninist guerillas of central america, we can adopt these tactics and have revolution again in the United States. It was delusional, but for a bit. They had some hope and then maybe give us hope. You go from property bombings, assassination, guns, kind of guerrilla warfare to the Richard Nixon 49 state landslide in about two years. The political culture shifted dramatically against this movement. But what happened then . The second phase of this campaign, which was more successful, was one that was more insidious. It was a not a long that chairman mao executed to the highlands central china, where he regrouped and then destroyed the nationalists through physical violence. It was, they call, what the german marxist student radical rudi dutschke, called the long march through the institutions. This was a peaceful but subversive march. They knew very clearly we will never get an electoral majority in the west especially in the United States. Karl marxs protege laureate, the factory workers detroit or the, you know, people in the tire factories down in tennessee or any of Industrial Workers were uninsured stood in revolution. Herbert marcuse actually said the in the United States is explicitly. Theyre with us and rather than maybe reconsider his politics he said oh well we need a revolution of the intellect, a revolution elites at the top level, and then a revolution the lumpenproletariat in marxist terminology, the people at the margins of society can be motivated towards physical and physical pressure. What do we see today . Whats Critical Race Theory . Its an academic discipline that has captured elite institutions with public funding, even though in many cases public never voted for these ideas to installed. Its not just in california and new york. Its actually, you know, almost everywhere. Its in florida. Its in texas. Well were taking care of that a little bit. But. But but the point being is that these ideas proliferate it and propagate it through the institutions. The real question is how . Thats the question i sought to answer in the book. Thats driving question that i think is important when you see, your opponent, your enemy in a certain language, successful in the same game that youre playing. The worst answer is to say, well, there, theyre there, theyre bad, theyre stupid. Dont know what theyre doing. It doesnt work. The better question is to ask, well, did they do it . And what you learn from it . And then how you adjust your own politics to respond. And so if you read the book, there are two. I tried to put two layers into it. Some people caught. I was like really excited about that. But the explicit is this history. But the embedded text is a process of learning and teaching assimilating. Ideas, tactics, strategies. Because were fighting in a different environment. If you watch a movie like mr. Smith to washington, anyone know that movie . Yeah. Its like were so far beyond that, you know. I mean, great movie. Very sweet. Very touching. But we are in a gramscian style trench by trench in, which mr. Smith would be decapitate hated instantly. You know, the poor wouldnt stand a chance. And so rather than harking with a sense of nostalgia. Of how things ought to be or lamenting that those are, that is not way that it is today. We have to fight in a better way. And so much of my time, the last few years for the year that i had to write this book and jonathan negotiated a great contract for me, he got you got me a whole year to write the book. They wanted to turn it around in like three months. You. I originally like publishers. I ask how much time some of the books of some of these books turn around in three months. Its like, i cant do this in three months. That seems impossible. Get it as much time you can, you know. But a lot of the time that i spent was writing this book. I think probably my habit, i guess, was get in the at eight jumble around on for like 90 minutes, take a phone call, maybe write the book and then do other stuff. And at the end of the afternoon. But as i was writing this book, thinking about these ideas looking at these tactics, i was also adapting some of them in some of these very public that ive been engaged in the previous few years, first, starting every year, theres like a theme kind of how ive stumbled into it the first year, 20, 21 was the fight against end of 2020, but really 2021 was the fight against Critical Race Theory. If believe the new yorker magazine, i am the what did say the conservative activists who invented the conflict over Critical Race Theory and. Some of my friends said, oh, thats awful. Thats, you know, you didnt invent the conflict because it was you know, its its a real thing but in another sense, its not wrong either. Theres a phenomenon that exists in the world. But until you it until you bring it to public consciousness, until you polarize it and until you turn it into a real political fight, thats a process of invention in some ways. Right. You have a conception of how the world is. A conception how you want the world to be. But that actually doesnt matter. You get it off the page and into the political. The next year i was doing some reporting on gender theory, schools, gender theory in hospitals, some of the i mean, kind of aztec level human sacrifice thats happening in childrens hospitals in a very dark i did a story, for example, about a doctor in portland, oregon, who has has as invented deployed a child castration robot. Like if we like you think its dystopian, you dont know the half of it. It actually it gets much worse. And then last year, my big campaign was against the dea bureaucracy. And so id like to tell a little bit about that campaign in more detail, because its the most recent. And i think that it is relevant to this book talking about a book because, again, getting off the page. I wrote the book two years ago about, the creation of this dea bureaucracy, the threat of this dea bureaucracy. And in the past year after the book was done, published, i got about destroying. That was my explicit goal. And so in january of last year, i laid out a policy paper with Manhattan Institute abolish the dea bureaucracy, restore colorblind equality in americas institutions. I made a announced mint with very special person Governor Ron Desantis of the state of florida. We held an event together where we laid the campaign abolish destroy and assault over the dea bureaucracy in every State University in the state of florida. Start there. Start with the most courageous leaders, as they were always a good place to start and then go state by state, just wiping this thing out, restricting it, stopping preventing it from from further entrenching itself. Because you have this problem of hegemony, you have a political kind of ostensible political hegemony in florida. Supermajority, texas, majority. God forbid you, go to like the south dakota, you know, massive. You know, its not even a superman short its whatever is, its a hyper majority. Lets say say. But why are your state universities by dea bureaucracies and pushing and gender theory. You have political control but your opponents have political hegemony right. Its a different different different thing. When we announced this campaign it was denounced by everybody. You know, actually, like many people, is a right wing evil plot, you know, to to to do whatever. I dont i dont pay too much attention to it, but, you know, it was seen as a fringe right wing idea. By summertime the New York Times. Invited me to publish op ed making the case for abolishing the bureaucracy, conquering some and by the of the year we had effectively begun the process of abolition. And i dont know or six states taken territory changing institutions moving the shifting incentives creating