Recent reform efforts to center issues of equity and social justice in mathematics classrooms have been under fire from the loudest sectors of right-wing media. The hysteria around incorporating social justice issues in mathematics classrooms is captured in the artificial binary: STEM or CRT. In our paper, we examine resistance to reform efforts in mathematics education in artifacts geared towards audiences beyond mathematics education researchers through the lens of whiteness. We analyzed artifacts from the Math Wars of the late 1990's and the current backlash towards mathematics education reform (Math Culture Wars) in California and Florida. We identified fear as a significant mechanism to upholding whiteness in the backlash to mathematics education reforms, particularly centering white fear. By describing how fear is constructed in the artifacts, scholars may find more targeted responses to the backlash by addressing the ideas perpetuated in these artifacts. Still, the field of mathematics education has done little to become more inclusive and just because our agenda is too closely aligned to the status quo, with responses to the backlash being largely absent or tepid. We close with recommendations for action and allyship within the broader field of education to thwart the hysteria against CRT.