Lake County Gazette

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Barrington) is slamming the idea of not teaching critical race theory (CRT) in schools as “unpatriotic.”

As debate over CRT intensifies, Casten left no doubt about where he stands, arguing, "this hysteria going on over Critical Race Theory and the right-wing efforts to mainstream disinformation about it are inflicting real harm, real harm on Americans, and it’s adding fuel to the fire of forces who are hellbent on tearing our country apart.”

Casten points to the reaction of what he deemed as “snowflakes” to recent comments made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley about wanting to “understand white rage” as a prime example.

“What is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America?” he said of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. “Only a small minority of Americans may want to repeat mistakes of our racist past.”

Casten hinted he’s not sure when he feels things may really start to change.

“The unfortunate truth is that every time we’ve moved a little bit closer to realizing Martin Luther King’s dream, it’s scared the dickens out of a certain subset of white men who are petrified to live in a world where they might be judged by the content of their character,” he said.

Now in his second year of serving the 6th Congressional District, Casten has faced his own scrutiny of late after being found to be one of six House Democratic Caucus members to be penalized for failing to pay property taxes.

“Democrats, like Sean Casten, are currently pushing the largest federal tax increase since 1942 to fund their socialist agenda,” National Republican Congressional Committee deputy communications director Mike Ber recently wrote to Illinois Republicans in an email amid news Casten missed a March deadline for paying taxes on a D.C. property. “But it turns out Casten had trouble paying his own taxes. Public records show and the Washington Free Beacon reports Sean Casten was penalized by the District of Columbia for failing to pay $3,579.60 in property taxes on his DC home, which were due at the end of March.”

According to the Washington Free Beacon, also included in the group of delinquents is Rep. Vicente Gonzales (D-Texas), who owed a combined $9,145.61 on two Capitol Hill homes he listed on his financial disclosure forms. Casten ranked behind Gonzalez for the largest debt owed, recently still owing a balance of $522.47.

Also on the list are Rep. John Garamendi (Calif.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.), and Deborah Ross (N.C.). Each was charged interest and a penalty, in addition to the balance they already owe on their homes in the nation’s capital.