Just move on

by | Jan 17, 2022 | Editor's Blog | 6 comments

On the eve of the Martin Luther King Holiday, Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, signed an executive order banning schools from teaching Critical Race Theory. He told Fox News, “But to actually teach our children that one group is advantaged and the other disadvantaged because of the color of skin, cuts everything we know to be true.” Unless, of course, you grew up disadvantaged because of the color of your skin. 

The outrage over Critical Race Theory has little to with the actual legal and academic framework of CRT. It’s really an appeal to White Americans who believe they are losing their country. They aren’t interested in the ways subtle racism still exists or the manner in which certain laws and customs adversely affect African Americans. Or the way inherited wealth was denied Black families for generations through redlining and other insidious practices that were routine for decades. They want to believe that racism is dead and that nobody sees race anymore. 

In Texas, banning CRT has led to banning books. If only Republicans held the First Amendment in the esteem with which they hold the Second. But they don’t and, to them, ideas are far more scary than assault weapons. Guns might kill people, but education might enlighten them, introducing them to new concepts and perspectives and threatening their place in the world.   

The debate over Critical Race Theory is really just a sign that we still have a lot further to go in understanding race in our country. We’ve certainly made progress since the days of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s. And that progress caused the reaction that reached a peak with the election of Donald Trump and the rehabilitation of White nationalists.

But the reaction against Critical Race Theory is part of a larger movement within the current Republican Party but that has its roots going back 150 years. They don’t want accountability, especially for wrongs committed by right-wing extremists. The sentiment is racial, not political. When White reactionaries controlled the Democratic Party, they pushed back against efforts during Reconstruction to hold leaders of the Confederacy responsible for their actions. In the wake of Jim Crow, White leaders resisted any sort of restitution for a century of wrongs. And, today, they want to forget the attack on the Capitol that occurred on January 6. 

They still want to deny that four centuries of mistreatment have long-term adverse effects on African American communities. And the party that once demanded personal responsibility is certainly are not willing to hold anybody accountable for the damage done. They always just want to move on. 

6 Comments

  1. gerry bowles

    As a student and teacher of US History who grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia…and who led tours of historic Jamestown as a guide/historian of the National Park Service, I think it is essential that we all know our history. Mr. Clove, your comments reflect ignorance or indifference. One of those conditions can be addressed. I hope for the sake of your listeners that you will do that in the new year.

  2. adamclove

    There aren’t any comments on your blog because even your readers don’t care about this topic.

    • Jennifer

      Or because it’s concise and well argued.

      We held international supports and protests for Black Lives Matter.

      We are the majority.

      • adamclove

        You held protests during a pandemic when protests for other causes were deemed “non-essential” and condemned. This exposed the lot of you as a bunch of rank hypocrites.

        Focus groups with moderate voters didn’t even remember the topic. They’re more concerned about inflation, supply chain breakdown, and issues that affect them in the here and now.

        But by all means, keep lecturing people who are seeing their cost of living skyrocket about what they SHOULD care about, and see how that works out for you this November.

        • Micke Leonard

          Just a pleasant reminder that Rush Limbaugh is still dead.

    • cocodog

      Clove, your ability to mimic Tucker Carlson’s brand of “entertaining” and somewhat superficial journalism never ceases to amaze. There lots of folks who consider racism of interest both from an academic and economic standpoint. You fail to grasp the history of racism’s effect on the economy. It injures some folk’s ability to get an education and earn a living. Moreover, if you were a young black kid attending a Va. school, how would you feel about being singled out by the governor and associated with deprivation. Kids can be cruel. The governor’s statement was unnecessary and uncalled for unless he was attempting to ignore Va.’s historical role in slavery. In 1619 the first slave ship arrived in VA. and human beings were sold off as commodities to the colonists. I believe Mill’s essay is accurate and highly informative on issues we need to be informed. I would wager there are other folks out there that harbor similar conclusions.

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