I remember how it was -- JR
Battles Erupt as Elite Schools Make Race a big issue
The movement in Leftist circles to emphasize race as a way of defeating racism seems extraordinarily perverse to outsiders. And it is every bit as oppressive as the old racism. Having "wrong" views about race can make you an outcast. Saying that whites can be both good and bad will get you fired
But the anti-white racial indoctrination programs now in place have fierce and widespread support in some circles so it behooves us to understand what motivates the race obsession. What is the source of the energy that lies behind it?
The starting point is the old Leftist absurdity that all men are equal. From which it follows that differences between different groups are imaginary. Yet the differences between the races are in fact stark. So how to resolve that discrepancy between the ideal and the real? There has to be some malign influence which is keeping blacks down. And the obvious candidate is white rcism Blacks have less rewarding lives because of white attitudes towards them. And why do whites have those attitues? The reasons are always vaguely expressed but the cultural history of whites is said to be the cause.
So if you have a large group of do-gooder people believing all that, the obvious next move is to endeavour to improve white attitudes towards blacks by any means necessary -- including by extreme pressure and propaganda that would make North Korea proud. So you upset and confuse white students with the best of intentions. You are trying to create a social landscape in which blacks are treated equally with whites.
The fact that the propaganda and other means being used are so oppressive reveals that the whole project is pushing shit uphill. It has no chance of succeeding. So why is it not succeeding? For the most obvious of reasons: Blacks really are different in various ways and those differences will be responded to. A totalitarian system has been created that will achieve oppression and nothing more. Good intentions will not overcome reality. It is a system that flies in the face of the divine advice (Acts 26:14) to the apostle Paul: "Don't kick againt the pricks" (Don't fight the inevitable). But Paul is not a modern educator.
One feels sorry for the white children though. They suffer from a racism that is as painful as what blacks experienced in the old South. They are told they are evil just because their skin is white. It could well do them lasting harm. Children are not just pawns in a game. Their feelings and perceptions need to be considered too. The more emotionally robust will quietly ignore the nonsense they are being taught but the more vulnerable among them may have their ability to deal with reality permanently impaired
Several years back Grace Church School, an elite private school in Manhattan, embraced an antiracist mission and sought to have students and teachers wrestle with whiteness, racial privilege and bias.
Teachers and students were periodically separated into groups by race, gender and ethnicity. In February 2021, Paul Rossi, a math teacher, and what the school called his “white-identifying” group, met with a white consultant, who displayed a slide that named supposed characteristics of white supremacy. These included individualism, worship of the written word and objectivity.
Mr. Rossi said he felt a twist in his stomach. “Objectivity?” he told the consultant, according to a transcript. “Human attributes are being reduced to racial traits.”
As you look at this list, the consultant asked, are you having “white feelings”? “What,” Mr. Rossi asked, “makes a feeling ‘white’?”
Some of the high school students then echoed his objections. “I’m so exhausted with being reduced to my race,” a girl said. “The first step of antiracism is to racialize every single dimension of my identity.” Another girl added: “Fighting indoctrination with indoctrination can be dangerous.”
This modest revolt proved fateful. A school official reprimanded Mr. Rossi, accusing him of “creating a neurological imbalance” in students, according to a recording of the conversation. A few days later the head of school wrote a statement and directed teachers to read it aloud in classes.
“When someone breaches our professional norms,” the statement read in part, “the response includes a warning in their permanent file that a further incident of unprofessional conduct could result in dismissal.”
This is another dispatch from America’s cultural conflicts over schools, this time from a rarefied bubble. Elite private schools from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., from Boston to Columbus, Ohio, have embraced a mission to end racism by challenging white privilege. A sizable group of parents and teachers say the schools have taken it too far — and enforced suffocating and destructive groupthink on students.
This is nowhere more true than in New York City’s tony forest of private schools.
Stirred by the surge of activism around racism, Black alumni have shared tales of isolation, insensitivity and racism during school days.
And many private school administrators have tried to reimagine their schools as antiracist institutions, which means, loosely, a school that is actively opposed to any manifestation of racism.
This conflict plays out amid the high peaks of American economic inequality. Tuition at many of New York’s private schools hovers between $53,000 and $58,000, the most expensive tab in the nation. Many heads of school make from $580,000 to more than $1.1 million.
At a time when some public schools are battling over whether to even teach aspects of American history, private school administrators portray uprooting racial bias as morally urgent and demanding of reiteration. Some steps are practical: They have added Black, Latino and Asian authors, and expanded course offerings to better encompass America and the world in its complications.
Other steps are much more personal. The interim head of the Dalton School, Ellen Stein, who is white, spoke five years ago of writing a racial biography of herself to better understand biases and to communicate with “other races.” The Brearley School declared itself an antiracist school with mandatory antiracism training for parents, faculty and trustees and affirmed the importance of meeting regularly in groups that bring together people who share a common race or gender.
Kindergarten students at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx are taught to identify their skin color by mixing paint colors. The lower school chief in an email last year instructed parents to avoid talk of colorblindness and “acknowledge racial differences.”
Private school leaders, along with diversity consultants, say these approaches reflect current research about confronting racism and stamping out privilege.
“There’s always the same resistance — ‘Oh my God, you’re going too far,’ ” said Martha Haakmat, a Black diversity consultant who serves on the board of Brearley. “We just want to teach kids about the systems that create inequity in society and empower them rather than reinforcing systems of oppression.”
Studies show that very young children, she said, are aware of skin color. Better to address it — “Yes, that woman has Black skin. What do you think of that?” — than to let children view white skin as the baseline.
More broadly, Ms. Haakmat said, private schools need to sidestep white old boy networks in hiring and integrate antiracism into the curriculum: If you teach statistics, why not touch on economic and racial inequality? Or use biology classes to teach of eugenics and how race has framed the way we think of humans? That, she said, “is thoughtful antiracism.”
Critics, a mixed lot of parents and teachers, argue that aspects of the new curriculums edge toward recreating the racially segregated spaces of an earlier age. They say the insistent emphasis on skin color and race is reductive and some teenagers learn to adopt the language of antiracism and wield it against peers.
The nerves of some parents were not soothed when more than 100 teachers and staff members applauded Dalton’s antiracism curriculum and proposed two dozen steps to extend it, including calling on the school to abolish any advanced course in which Black students performed worse than students who are not Black.
A group of Dalton parents wrote their own letter to the school this year: “We have spoken with dozens of families of all colors and backgrounds who are in shock and looking for an alternative school.”
This upswell of parental anger, fed also by discontent with Dalton’s decision to teach only online last fall, led the head of school, Jim Best, who is white, to leave on July 1. Dalton’s diversity chief resigned under fire in February.
Bion Bartning, who notes that his heritage is a mix of Jewish, Mexican and Yaqui tribe, pulled his children out of Riverdale and created a foundation to argue against this sort of antiracist education. “The insistence on teaching race consciousness is a fundamental shift into a sort of tribalism,” he said.
For parents to speak out, said a white mother of private school children, was laden with risk. “People and companies are petrified of being labeled racists,” she said. “If you work at an elite Wall Street firm and speak out, a top partner will tell you to shut up.”
Another parent framed the primal class stakes: Wealthy parents plot and compete to get a child into a private school secure in the knowledge that education married to social connections will ease the way into an elite college and a gilded career. A letter or call from the counselor at a top private school can work wonders with college admissions offices. Why risk all that?
Painful Stories
The stories make for disturbing reading. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Black private school alumni formed Instagram accounts: @blackattrinity, @blackatdalton, @blackatbrearley, @blackatandover and @blackatsidwellfriends.
The posts are anonymous and difficult to fact-check. But the ache and hurt are inescapable. A Black student recalled a white peer who told him Dalton “wasn’t made for people like you anyway.” A Black graduate of Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School recalled wealthy white classmates who complained Black students only got into certain colleges because of their race. A Black Brearley graduate wrote of being conditioned to believe “white skin, straight hair, a skinny body and money was the only way I could be right in this world.”
Stories come laden with complication. Students wrote of favorite teachers and treasured experiences. And there were traces of class anger. A Black workingclass parent at Trinity School wrote that wealthy Black families dominated the Black affinity group and excluded her child.
These kinds of stories, taken together with shifts in the culture around racism, persuaded private school leaders to double down on antiracist education. Such efforts extend back more than four decades.
New York’s private schools declined to provide the demographic breakdowns that are required of public schools. Riverdale and Trinity officials say about 40 percent of students identify as of color, a quite broad definition; Grace officials say 33 percent of students hail from “diverse backgrounds”; Dalton said only that it had a “strong commitment to being intentionally diverse.” Riverdale’s head of school, Dominic Randolph, said a precise count was complicated by the number of families identifying as multiracial.
Numbers compiled by the Guild of Independent Schools of New York City showed that the percentage of students in elite private schools who identified as Black or Latino remained static since 2013, hovering at a combined 12 percent; Black and Latino residents constitute more than 50 percent of the city’s population.
Lisa Johnson is a graduate of a private school in Atlanta and heads Private School Village, a Los Angeles-based organization for Black families. “They love to pitch you on diversity,” she said. “Then your child is one of two Blacks in a class and you think, ‘Huh, how do they define diversity without crystal-clear data?’ ”
Chloé Valdary, a Black diversity consultant who diverges from her peers and is critical of aspects of antiracist education, noted that heated rhetoric rarely challenged the status quo. “Antiracism sidesteps income inequality and doesn’t actually threaten the elite at all,” she said.
One School’s Path
Paul Rossi and Grace Church School’s journey into antiracist education offers a window into its complexities. Mr. Rossi, 52, changed careers in his early 40s, and found at Grace — an Episcopal school with liberal values —a place he adored. He taught math and classes on existentialism and Stoic philosophy. Records show he received strong annual evaluations and was described as a natural teacher.
Slowly change came. The head of school, George P. Davison, who is white and has steered Grace for many years, pinpointed the moment his school embraced an antiracist mission.
“Grace began using the language of antiracism in 2015 as part of our efforts to foster a sense of belonging,” he wrote in response to The New York Times. “It means believing that racism is real, that opposing it requires active engagement and that our community and curriculum are enriched when we aren’t blind to race’s influence.”
Grace, he wrote, incorporated the language of critical race theory but did not rest upon that foundation. He emphasized that the school avoided using shame around race.
Mr. Rossi, along with two teachers who described themselves as progressives and asked for anonymity, was skeptical. The teachers acknowledged that quite a few colleagues appeared to support the new curriculum and they spoke of sustained pressure to demonstrate acceptance of the language of antiracism.
With the election of Donald J. Trump, teachers said, permissible disagreement narrowed markedly. Mr. Rossi recalled some students in his “The Art of Persuasion” class hankered for contrarian readings outside what he called the “Grace political bubble.” So last autumn he proposed a work by Glenn Loury, a wellknown economist at Brown University and a Black man with conservative leanings.
An administrator, Hugo Mahabir, whose family has roots in Trinidad, blocked that. He wrote in an email to Mr. Rossi that Mr. Loury’s argument — delivered to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics faculty — “rings hollow,” and that to give students a Black conservative view on race might “confuse and/ or enflame students.” Mr. Mahabir did not respond to requests for comment.
The transcript of the February session with Mr. Rossi’s white affinity group revealed a tense, probing discussion, with teachers and students found on either side of various questions. Toward the end, the dean of student life, Ilana Laurence, offered thanks: “As uncomfortable as Mr. Rossi may have made many people here, I firmly believe that our conversation would not ever have been nearly as rich and thought-provoking.”
This drew support from the consultant, Emily Schorr Lesnick, who ran the affinity session. At a faculty meeting a few days later, she noted that Mr. Rossi and fellow teachers modeled an intelligent discussion.
“I have been in lots of spaces with adults, with students around antiracist work,” she said, where white people are “kind of just saying things and going through the motions and this was not that space, and I am so so grateful.” Ms. Schorr Lesnick, who is white, did not respond to a request for an interview.
That air of congratulation dissipated. Soon Mr. Rossi talked with Mr. Davison, the school head, about the dim shape of his future. He secretly recorded that conversation.
It offered a surprise. “The fact is that I’m agreeing with you that there has been a demonization,” Mr. Davison told the teacher. “I also have grave doubts about some of the doctrinaire stuff that gets spouted at us in the name of antiracist.”
Mr. Davison said he was worried students were made to feel shame because of race. “We’re demonizing white people for being born,” he said, adding later, “We’re using language that makes them feel less than, for nothing that they are personally responsible.”
Mr. Rossi wrote of his case on the Substack site of Bari Weiss, a former Times Opinion editor. In an email to Mr. Rossi, Mr. Davison claimed he was misquoted. The teacher later released recorded excerpts from that conversation, after which Grace claimed that the quotes lacked context.
Mr. Rossi was denounced at Grace and in private school circles. He rejoined that he was trapped, accused of racial insensitivity and in danger of losing his job.
This drama occurred against a backdrop of tension at the school. Months earlier, nine Black students demanded that classes be called off in the wake of Mr. Floyd’s death. They said peers were “voicing their white opinions about how Black and brown people should protest.”
The Grace Gazette, the school newspaper, surveyed 111 students and staff this spring of all backgrounds about free speech.
By a margin of about 48 percent to 43 percent, respondents said they were uncomfortable expressing dissenting opinions. And 35 percent said they had practiced “wokeness” to protect their reputations. “There is no viewpoint diversity on race,” a student wrote, “because everyone is expected to view things the same way.”
An Uncertain Future
The pushback against antiracism education has taken on aspects of an ideological uprising. In Boston, a new group, Parents United, has entered the fight with New England’s private schools. Mr. Bartning, the former Riverdale parent, established the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, with a large board that includes the academic and writer Steven Pinker; the human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali; the former Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly; and Mr. Loury, the economist at Brown. Mr. Rossi works with this foundation.
Grace Church School appointed a task force to re-examine its antiracist teachings.
But the schools seem unlikely to change their approach to educating students on race. And opponents face daunting challenges. Powerful trustees say they support the schools, and administrators sound steeled for the argument. Tom Taylor, the head of Riverdale’s Upper School, who is white, recently published an academic article on race and private schools. He, too, is a product of such schools.
Private schools perpetuate whiteness, he wrote, and must pursue an “antiracist, decolonizing and culturally affirming” agenda, with no obligation to educate those who resist. “Private schools who find parents unwilling to accept moves toward a culturally responsible school are free to draw a line,” he wrote.
Mr. Rossi, the Grace schoolteacher, will watch from the outside. Grace Church School offered him a contract if he participated in “restorative practices” for the supposed harm done to students of color. Grace officials did not explain what that would entail.
Soon after, Mr. Rossi and the school parted ways. “It’s no longer the school I loved,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/new-york-private-schools-racism.html
****************************************6 Ways Conservative College Students Can Maintain Their Voices and Sanity
As the school year begins for returning college students, it’s easy to lose the excitement and anticipation that comes with your first year in higher education. For conservative students especially, that first-year glow can fade even faster when intellectual curiosity collides with the reality of viewpoint discrimination.
But no matter your experience, don’t resign yourself to silence. Here are some practical ways that conservative students can maintain their voices and their sanity on campus this year.
First, recognize that the biggest threats to free speech are self-censorship and complacency.
Conceding to these temptations often disheartens students throughout their college experiences. Students often regret being too deferential or agreeable during important debates and discussions. The university environment can easily dissuade you from speaking or make you feel isolated and unsafe if you express your conservative viewpoints. It’s important to be courageous and share your beliefs in the face of opposition.
Second, reject the desire to keep your head down until your four years are over.
You are not alone, and your actions may inspire other students who are too afraid to speak up. Challenge harmful school policies, share your experiences on social media and with your local Campus Reform reporter, publish articles in your campus newspaper, or launch a social media campaign.
Throughout all this, don’t forget to reach out to Speech First—an organization dedicated to protecting free speech on college campuses across the country, where I serve as executive director—and tell us your story.
Third, strengthen your arguments.
Extensively research the issues you are passionate about and the beliefs you wish to defend in class or in campus debates. It is not enough to rely on the progressive left’s arguments to be baseless—even though they often are—because your progressive counterparts will accuse you of being insensitive, racist, or bigoted.
No matter how false these accusations are, they create the illusion of a winning argument—unless you know how to defeat them. Know the arguments you want to make and know the counterarguments others will raise.
Study rhetoric, with a special focus on famous rhetoricians and debaters. Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Weaver, and William F. Buckley Jr. are all renowned for their mastery of the English language and their ability to convince and move others with speech. A good argument not only engages listeners, but also inspires them. One of the best ways to win a debate is to inspire listeners to think beyond the confines of the familiar arguments.
Fourth, get involved with extracurriculars.
Join groups and stay involved with extracurriculars that develop your speaking, organizing, leading, and activism skills. Find a local Toastmaster chapter, charter a club, or start an organization that focuses on the issues you are most passionate about.
Fifth, learn about your school’s policies and your constitutional rights.
This will help you recognize when your campus has overreached. Go deep into the history of free speech in America and how it has come under attack. Take a look at Speech First’s recommended reading list on these issues.
Read George Orwell and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and other literature about societies that were lured into despotic or tyrannical rule. These works are great reminders about how easy it is for educated societies to fall into these situations and how difficult it is to recover from them.
Sixth, channel your inner-Churchill.
“Never give in. Never give in,” Churchill said. “Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
You will face many challenges on campus. Don’t let these experiences dim your inspiration. Instead, let them motivate you to overcome them. Universities will try to convince you that you are operating in their world—an environment only they control. It is up to you to remind them they are not excluded from America’s culture of free speech and free expression.
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Black Stanford professor is accused of racism after claiming parents' opposition to mask mandates is caused by their 'whiteness'
A Stanford University professor who claimed parents' opposition to mask and vaccine mandates is caused by their 'whiteness,' has been accused of racism.
Hakeem Jefferson, a black political science professor at the California university, tweeted on August 17, when he claimed the protests are inspired by 'whiteness,' while applying the same logic to the January 6 Capitol riots.
'Whiteness is the most pressing threat to the nation that isn’t climate change,' one of Jefferson's tweets read.
'Make no mistake, this crazy opposition to mask wearing that is leading folks (read white ppl) to act violently at school board meetings & council meetings & everywhere else—yeah, you can’t disconnect it from whiteness,' he wrote.
Jefferson made it clear that any kind of national dialogue on such subjects are 'incomplete' until this 'whiteness' is acknowledged. 'And discussions that don’t acknowledge this are incomplete.'.
Jefferson added that white people believe such 'whiteness' puts them above the law.
'Ain’t like masks are comfortable for non-white people. But you don’t see a bunch of Black folks storming meetings. And it’s not just cause these white folks are GOP,' he stated.
'It’s cause they’re white, & believe whiteness confers upon them a kind of power that places them above gov action.'
According to his website, Jefferson specializes in the politics of African Americans and those who support the 'tough-on-crime' politics of the GOP.
For his part, Jefferson says his job is to 'clarify and contextualize' racism, which he calls 'core features of the American project.'
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My other blogs: Main ones below
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)
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