Missouri diversity session tells teachers 'colorblindness,' 'all lives matter' are forms of white supremacy

'Claiming reverse-racism' and 'calling the police on Black people' also qualify

Newly released materials shed light on a training session in which Missouri middle school teachers were pressured to endorse certain ideas about race and told that "covert" white supremacy included things like "colorblindness."

Handouts leaked to Discovery Institute researcher Chris Rufo showed an "oppression matrix" with an effective hierarchy of social groups, along with a handout delineating between various forms of white supremacy. Under "covert," the handout listed "all lives matter," "white silence," "claiming reverse-racism," "calling the police on Black people," and "treating kids of color as adults." It seems to compare these things to "lynching," "hate crimes," and "burning crosses" which it classified as overt and socially unacceptable forms of white supremacy.

The event, reported by Rufo on Wednesday, was hosted by Springfield Public School employees who indicated that not speaking out about these issues was problematic. Leaked audio reviewed by Fox News includes one of the trainers, Jeremy Sullivan, saying that it wasn't okay for someone to just be against racism. When one man said he was afraid to say anything, Sullivan asked: "What might an underrepresented or underresourced student say in regards to our fear of speaking up?"

The audio featured a female voice referencing the idea that "silence is violence" and not speaking up as allies for Black Lives Matter meant you were against the movement.

"So, there's a saying -- go back with me to high school -- I was a high school debater," Sullivan responded. "We had a saying, if someone dropped one of your arguments, like you would always say, well silence is compliance, because if someone doesn't address, then they must be actually going along with it. And truth be told, right now, the stance of Springfield Public Schools is we do address it. We don't stay silent when we see underrepresented or underresourced students or staff members experiencing any of this stuff."

"And it's going to be uncomfortable, and we're going to get into a little bit more of that here in a little bit when we talk about what does it mean to be an anti-racist educator, but Springfield is taking the stance that it's no longer okay to just be against racism. We have to all actively be working to take a stand against racism within our schools and within our communities."

At one point in the audio, a man asks whether the goal of the training was to make teachers "Marxists."

"Is the district saying that we should be Marxists?" he asked. "And the reason I'm asking is that while I think there’s not a person in the room that doesn’t agree that this is an important topic and should be dealt with, the way that it is being framed comes from Herbert Marcuse who took and stripped all of the economic policies out of Marxist theory and turned it into critical race theory."

The problem with that is that it silences anybody who has any kind of disagreement or other ideas. It pushes a narrative that like, for example, you said that this country was founded on racism. That's not true," he told another trainer Myki Williamson. "It was founded on religious freedoms from the pilgrims ... and then racism was a part of it."

The man went on to claim that he "grew up the son of a black man. He raised me to believe in Dr. King’s teachings" -- an apparent reference to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "Dr. King did not teach the kind of vitriol that we see out of Marxism. Marxism has a long replete history of countries being bigoted and prejudiced against others and then murdering millions as a result of it."

Williamson and Sullivan denied the district's goal was to embrace Marxism.

The event started with a "land acknowledgment," which focused on honoring "the Native and Indigenous Peoples whose land we currently gather on."

It added that "in doing social justice work, it is important we acknowledge the dark history and violence against Native and Indigenous People across the world. In this work, we are committed to promoting, supporting and affirming all communities, especially those that are marginalized."

Neither the school district, Sullivan, nor Williamson responded to Fox News' requests for comment.

News of the training came on the same day that President Biden rolled backed his predecessor's executive order opposing critical race theory. Rufo responded by announcing a legal coalition with the aim of bringing a lawsuit before the Supreme Court.

Schools and governments across the nation have reportedly seen training like these in the wake of Floyd's death last year. Fox News reported earlier this week on how one of Biden's education nominees hosted a training with a speaker who claimed schools "spirit murder" Black children.

During the Missouri training, participants viewed an 8 minute and 46-second silent video of George Floyd in memory of the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on Floyd's neck. The video closed with some of Floyd's last words calling out for his mother.

When a participant suggested parents might complain about the words being taken out of context in a video like that, Sullivan pushed back.

"I want to push back a little bit against something that you just said because you said they're only going to see the words like they did in the video as opposed to the content. George Floyd gave a cashier a $20 counterfeit bill ... there is no death penalty in the United States for using a counterfeit $20 bill. That's the context there."

Others have noted the context included Floyd resisting arrest, something that was revealed in bodycam footage released after his death.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/missouri-diversity-training-teachers-white-supremacy

UK: Should we stay or should we go? Boarding school parents like me are feeling conflicted

Parents of children at boarding schools in the independent sector had a week just prior to the beginning of this term when they might have wondered whether to hand in their term’s notice and avoid the summer term’s school fees altogether, especially if their children were in year 11 or 13 and leaving at the end of the year like my 18-year-old twins.

How different from six months ago when boarding schools, state and independent, were besieged by parents desperate to get their kids into a safe and working environment but has the love affair dimmed? Not only did we have to put up with losing our children for draconian periods of time last term when exeats were cancelled but then if anyone got ill, they were all sent home with super-spreading alacrity.

My sons’ school told me that when they went back to school in September I couldn’t see them again until the end of October at Half term. I don’t consider myself to be a very needy mother, and my sons are 17 and 18, but left alone at home in September I went into a decline which hit me far harder than I had ever expected.

I knew they were safe

For five months I had had all my children around me, and then suddenly they weren’t there. For the first time in my life, I questioned the value of boarding. I realised how much I had enjoyed having them around, and with a common shared threat of Covid lurking, I felt so much more reassured when I could see them sitting there, no matter how grumpy or unkempt in PJs far too late in the day. I didn’t care. I just knew they were safe.

In the same week that we were told that schools would be closed until half term - let’s be realistic, it's looking like all term - it was also announced that GCSEs and A levels were cancelled. So, I thought, what’s the point of whistling another small fortune, approximately £14,000, to the wind? It doesn’t help that half the boarding independent schools seemed to be surprisingly reluctant to recognise their savings in variable costs.

Emails from incandescent friends were pinging in; the common consensus was that about 80– 90 per cent of day school fees was fair. My daughter’s school, St Mary’s Calne, was spot on. First to announce and on the button with a promise to resend invoices for 90 per cent of day fees. But other schools did not behave so well, keeping fees already paid and pledging vague discounts on summer fees which does nothing to offset our escalating food bills and hastily rebudgetted household accounts right now. Shamefully, some schools aren’t budging at all. One leading girls' school has announced it’s hanging on to all its fees.

Fixed overheads of large, old houses still have to be met as do - most importantly - the salaries of an army of teachers who are working their butts off to drag our gloomy teenagers out of their beds and attempt to inspire the uninspired. They deserve recognition, and, having watched them do it, huge golden halos. One sainted tutor volunteered his time to help my eldest with learning difficulties; that’s another story.

But this is about the nitty, gritty and the number crunching of some hapless bursar in a social-distanced office. What about the lighting, the heating, the cleaning and food bills now footed by us? With four hungry teenagers, three of them boys, I couldn’t but recognise the iniquity of double-paying. No wonder parents are so furious.

Last term was a mess

The evil thought of pulling my children from school lasted a nano second. And then was as easily dismissed as I thought of my daughter hiding under her duvet, overwhelmed by the confusion of mixed messages and I couldn’t take away the last vestige of belonging that she has at the moment. Last term was a mess. Eight weeks into the term, 11 girls in her house tested positive with Covid and everyone was sent home. Within days, five more had tested positive including my daughter’s friend who was quarantined with us. The peals of laughter coming from their isolated rooms were a tonic.

As any parent of teenagers will know. Teens need friends, to talk and an iPhone doesn’t cut it. Together they ate off trays which I left for them outside their communal bathroom, and we only ever saw them as they slipped down the stairs and out of the door for their daily walk. Together they planned their timetables and worried about A levels. Miraculously my daughter did not catch it.

So then when it was announced a couple of weeks ago that A levels were cancelled – and then an even more confusing message – a week later that they might not be cancelled, that there might be external tests, and now we have to say what we want to an Ofqual questionnaire. Can no-one rule this country and sensibly work out a solution – work through the ramifications before they make announcements, and think about what this is doing to the collective head of 16 and 18-year-olds across the country? It's enough to send any teenager back under the duvet! Never mind their parents.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/01/20/should-stay-should-go-boarding-school-parents-like-feeling-conflicted/

Australia: Hurrah for Mark Latham

Bettina Arndt

Now, here’s some positive news for a change. Mark Latham has achieved a real breakthrough in his role heading up an inquiry into Higher Education for the NSW Parliament. The inquiry’s final report, tabled today, includes Recommendation 36 which seeks to abolish the kangaroo courts in NSW universities.

Here’s what it actually says:

That the NSW Government ensure the rule of law and the processes of the NSW criminal justice system are respected by universities in dealing with alleged sexual offences. Universities must use the NSW Police as their first and most important point of reference in dealing with any allegation of the law being broken, in all instances, for all allegations. In particular, NSW universities must respect the presumption of innocence and not create their own ‘Kangaroo Court’ and tribunal processes that circumvent the rules and standards of natural justice established at law by the NSW Parliament. The NSW Government should establish a legal protocol for universities to follow in this regard and, if universities chose to ignore or breach it, the protocol should be legislated as mandatory for NSW universities.

This is the first time an Australian government has been asked to take action on the appalling system for adjudicating sexual assault in our universities, which usurps criminal law and denies accused students their legal rights.

That’s pretty exciting and it was good to see the submission from our Campus Justice group featuring prominently in the report. (See p80 - 81, 6.47- 6.49)

Next step is the report will be considered by Cabinet – which is where you come in. We must get a heap of letters into Cabinet Ministers to give them the backbone to follow this through. See here – a draft letter you can use to urge each Cabinet Minister to ensure action on this issue, plus email addresses of the ones we want to lobby.

Email from Bettina Arndt: newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au

***********************************

My other blogs: Main ones below

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

*******************************