And Yet Again, It Comes Down To White Supremacy

Racism in Education Takes Centerstage in Virginia Governor’s Race

On September 21, 2021, the Stafford County Virginia Board of Supervisors passed a resolution “denouncing the teaching of the 1619 Project and critical race theory in county schools.”

They had been urged by their local NAACP not to do it. They also have been repeatedly advised that Critical Race Theory was not being taught in the schools anyway.

Three days later, on September 24, 2021, Terry McAuliffe, Democrat candidate for Governor of Virginia, made a now-famous statement regarding parental control over public education curriculum during a gubernatorial debate in Virginia against GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin.

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision,” McAuliffe said in that debate. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

McAuliffe was responding to the craziness going on in Virginia and in other states regarding public education, racism, and other issues. He didn’t specifically say so but he was directing his comments at places like Stafford County.

White parents were disrupting school board meetings demanding action against any changes in education in regards to America’s racial history. They are mostly misinformed but whenever you lob race and racism into our public education arena, it gets crazy.

Recently, I had a conversation with a Loudon County resident who said a large group of people had been bused into a school board meeting in the summer just to disrupt the meeting. There was an organized disruption but the resident stated that the people disrupting the meeting did not live in Loudon County nor did they have any children in the schools.

McAuliffe was responding to that kind of foolishness in his comments. (I should note I am not a Virginia resident and have no particular opinion of either of the candidates). I have no idea how it will play out but part of me also thinks McAuliffe wanted the issue to come up because he wants to energize Black voters and left to liberal voters who think the misinformation campaign is tired and racist.

Yet, it should be noted that the hardcore right-wing crew and Republicans and the think tanks they bankroll seized upon McAullife’s words as an indication he was some kind of educational fascist. They began running commercials suggesting as much.

But look closer — should you be worried about McAulliffe or should you be worried about the other side — those who want to maintain a ridiculously racist educational system in perpetuity?

Those attacking McAuliffe are the same politicians and commentators who are fighting tooth and nail to maintain the lies of history in our school system. They are not just opposed to CRT but they are against the 1619 Project. Their ecosystem is the same racist ecosystem that gave us Jim Crow schools, then closed schools when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered them desegregated.

All Terry McAulliffe did was set the table again for their racist quackery. Regardless of McAuliffle’s policies, at least his approach leaves change an open possibility.

Consider it like this. Ever since McAuliffe made his statement, Glenn Youngkin, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, has been running a commercial where he looks at the camera and tells Virginia's parents he will always stand up for their rights in education. He figures this scores well. It probably does in certain voting camps.

I am sure it does with White Americans and/or any Americans unable to leave the past behind and grow up.

But ask yourself truthfully — who is Youngkin talking to — White parents, or is he talking to Black parents and parents of children of color who actually will benefit from a new curriculum and a new approach to education completely in America?

Youngkin is talking to White people. He is winking and saying vote for me and I will stop the 1619 Project. Vote for me, and I will stop Critical Race Theory.

And actually, he isn’t saying that either. Youngkin is saying to White people, vote for me, I will stand up to Black people and put them in their place with all this 1619, CRT mumbo jumbo. And, I will make sure the banner of white supremacy continues to fly high over our schools in Virginia.

One commenter on the situation summarized the issue as follows: “

“Parents have a choice on where their children are taught: public, charter, private, or homeschooled. Parents have a choice on the local school committee members by their vote. Once again, the majority decides. They do not have complete control to micromanage for what and how subjects are taught. The parents are not the education experts.” (Gram, MA — Washington Post, comment October 16, 2021)

The commenter is right and this is why the 1619 Project is important.

At last, the country is undergoing a reckoning like never before. But what is the Republican-conservative-right-wing think tank response? Pump money and misinformation into the minds of people to try to maintain white supremacy.

As more than one writer has written — the opposition to changing the educational system is like the grandparents of today’s schoolchildren trying to cover up the horrible things they did to Black people, Asians, Latinx, and Native Americans. It is an attempt to cover up the country’s ugly history.

Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe have once again reminded us that, in America, it always seems to comes down to white supremacy.

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