Sen.Ted Cruz used the Antiracist Baby children's book to address the subject of critical race theory during the Senate confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Kentanji Brown Jackson. Senator Cruz continued to ramble about the perils of anti-racist literature throughout the hearing. Opposed to his intentions, it was excellent publicity for the author, Ibrax X. Kendi, and his anti-racist book, Antiracist Baby. Cruz attempted to exploit the book as a rhetorical weapon during his part of the questioning of nominee Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Cruz chose this book since it was taught at Georgetown Day School, a prep school where Jackson serves on the board of trustees. The message of the book explicitly states that racism is taught rather than it being an inherent attribute. However, Cruz interpreted the book as a way of claiming that babies were racist. He was adamant that the book was idealizing a skewed perspective of the white community. This led to his first question regarding the book, Cruz states, “do you agree with this book that is being taught to kids that babies are racist?” After a long pause, Jackson swiftly responded, "Senator, I have not reviewed any of those books, any of those ideas, they don't come up in my work as a judge, which I'm respectfully here to address in my work as a judge. Which is evidenced from my near-decade on the bench." As Jackson highlighted the irrelevance of his questions, so did all of the social media. Cruz's comments triggered an outpouring of criticism and derision on Twitter, resulting in free publicity for the book. It not only topped Amazon's best-selling Children's Book category, but it also placed second best-selling book overall. Kendi responded to Cruz with a Facebook post, writing, "you know Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has impeccable credentials – and you know you're doing the work – when Ted Cruz questions her about your books since he can’t touch her record." Although Cruz made a conscious effort to disparage candidate Jackson, it's worth noting that both of his daughters attend St. John's School, which is recognized for its anti-racist stance and critical race theory curriculum. It was a sincere attempt to expose nominee Jackson, but it simply served to highlight his incompetence.

​By Emilie Chi