Critical Race Theory and various other forms of racial essentialism have become pervasive in the political, educational, and business world over the last several years. But unlike past cultural battles, perhaps stoked by the shift on the right brought about by the Donald Trump era, conservatives have actually sought to fight back. As I wrote several months ago, I believe progress is being made, and a new report shows a major turn in the battle.

WINNING: Fox Business' @CGasparino is reporting that major Wall Street firms are ditching critical race theory training programs, partially in response to my reporting that embarrassed American Express and other companies.

Public exposure works.https://t.co/Qeznxde2UP

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 4, 2021

It’s amazing what you can accomplish, even as a conservative when you actually choose to organize and fight against the cultural rot of the left. While it may not be the worst thing an employer can do, forcing employees to be indoctrinated into racial essentialism that teaches that white people are inherently oppressive is pretty high up on the list of moral rot.

Charles Gasparino of Fox Business reports that companies like Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are not using CRT in their diversity training any longer after American Express was exposed by Christopher Rufo, the nation’s leading organizer against the divisive ideology.

“I think there’s a recognition that companies were failing to ask if they were leaning too much into identity along the lines of race, ethnicity and gender,” said Ilana Redstone, a sociology professor at the University of Illinois and founder of Diverse Perspectives Consulting. “I think that is now changing. There is a middle ground where those dimensions of identity matter and so does the individual. Not everyone sees their race, ethnicity or gender as the most important part of who they are.”

Of course, any focus on identity in the workplace seems rather counter-productive to me, but baby steps are better than no steps, I suppose. The key here is that companies are being made to own the garbage they are pushing, and at least some of them are finding it embarrassing and, I would assume, bad for recruiting. After all, who wants to work at a place that is hyper-focused on race and gender instead of the merit delivered by one’s work? At some point, money isn’t the only factor in tolerating a workplace environment.

Further, it’s pretty clear that alienating half the country is just bad business policy. As Clay Travis would say, conservatives buy sneakers, too. We use the same economy as those on the left, and companies maintaining a more neutral footing is the surest way to keep the highest number of customers happy. That’s just common sense, which is why the initial push for CRT at these companies never washed with reality.

And sure, it’d be easy to read these newer shifts away from CRT off as too marginal of a victory. Those companies will still have “diversity training” of some sort. Yet, how long has it been since the right has gained any real ground culturally, especially in the arena of how we view race as an aspect of society? Any battles won against CRT are noteworthy, even if the war continues.