- On Tuesday, March 22, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas spoke up against 'Antiracist Baby' during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
- One day later, the children's book became the #1 the children's book under the Prejudice and Racism genre on Amazon.
- Other books that Cruz falsely attacked as critical race theory text also received a boost in sales Wednesday.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas' efforts to smear a children's book during Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing seem to have backfired.
On Wednesday, March 23, "Antiracist Baby" by Ibram X. Kendi, a book Cruz falsely categorized as a book about critical race theory, sat atop the children's books on Prejudice and Racism genre on Amazon.
Cruz claimed during Jackson's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, March 22, that the Georgetown Day School where Jackson sits on the board, taught the book and a handful of others in their classrooms. While holding and reading text from the book, Cruz lambasted Jackson, alleging that as a board member at the private school she allowed the teaching of critical race theory.
"Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?" Cruz asked in front of presentation posters of the book's pages.
Jackson paused and then responded, "I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or as though they are not valued, or as though they are less than … that they are victims, that they are oppressors," Jackson said. "I don't believe in any of that."
"Antiracist Baby" wasn't the only book that received a boost in sales after Cruz' speech went viral. "The End of Policing," another book Cruz falsely alleged was based on the legal framework of critical racial theory, was also the top best seller under Amazon's Government and Social Policy genre on Wednesday.
"Cruz is hoping that the American public will be terrified by the idea that their children are being exposed to the existence of American racism in its many forms," Alex Vitale, the author of The End of Policing, wrote in an op-ed Wednesday.