Parents across the country are on the march, fighting pandemic restrictions and CRT even in liberal enclaves like San Francisco

Three School Board Members were ousted by huge margins in a never before seen recall for keeping schools closed while pursuing woke policies.  We can expect more of the same across the country if progressives continue to insist radical ideology belongs in the classroom, but parents do not, pushing the narrative that America is irredeemably racist regardless of the facts and lying about it.

This week parents in San Francisco voted to recall 3 members of the school board by overwhelming margins.  These recalls were the first of their kind in the city’s history, backed by about 70% of local parents.  School Board President Gabriela López and board members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins were all ousted as part of the effort, which was even backed by San Francisco’s progressive mayor, London Breed.  She commented on the results in a statement, saying that voters “delivered a clear message that the School Board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else.”  “Elections can be difficult, but these parents were fighting for what matters most — their children,” Mayor Breed wrote. “It’s time we refocus our efforts on the basics of providing quality education for all students, while more broadly improving how this City delivers support for children and families.”

It is a sign of our strange times that a mayor actually needed to note that school boards should focus on “delivering a well-run school system above all else.”  This after all is the entire point of such bodies and the school system in general, but the San Francisco School Board appeared to be focusing on just about everything else, preferring to change the names of schools rather than reopen them.  In January 2021, they voted 6-1 to approve a measure changing the names of some forty-four schools to eradicate any figure who, in their opinion, “engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings; or who oppressed women, inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide; or who otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  Prominent figures included in the purge were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and even California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein.  George Washington was a slave owner of course, despite that he did more for human freedom than perhaps any individual in history.  Abraham Lincoln apparently had some objectionable policies towards Native Americans, despite that he might well be second on the list of contributions to human freedom.

What was Senator Feinstein’s crime?   Apparently, she replaced a Confederate flag that was removed by a protester when she was mayor back in the 1980s, such are the small sins that can ruin a person’s reputation forever.  Nor was accuracy of particular interest to the School Board.  Ms. Feinstein’s office claims that someone at the parks department replaced the flag without her approval and she ultimately replaced it with the Union flag.  Paul Revere was also targeted for removal because of his participation in the Penobscot Expedition of 1779.   The Revolutionary War hero served as a Lt. Colonel on a daring mission that included a 44-ship naval armada, the largest mounted by the Colonies during the entire war.  The plan was to regain control of Maine’s midcoast, which had been captured by the British a month earlier.  For three weeks in late July and early August, some 1,100 Americans took part in fierce fighting around the mouth of the Penobscot and Bagaduce Rivers.  The British ultimately prevailed when reinforcements arrived, destroying the entire American fleet.  The survivors, including Paul Revere himself, traveled back to Massachusetts overland with almost no food and weaponry.  The journey back was so horrific that almost twice as many men died on the trip than during the actual battle.  A total of 474 men were reported killed, wounded, captured, or missing throughout the entire ordeal.  It would remain the worst naval defeat on American soil until Pearl Harbor over 160 years later.  Though the expedition had absolutely nothing to do with Native Americans, the School Board apparently thought it referred to a plan to colonize the Penobscot people simply because of the name.  Thus, an American hero was slandered and his reputation tarnished on false charges that could’ve been determined as such after a basic Google search.

This shouldn’t be surprising when historical accuracy has never been a top priority for the woke, Critical Race Theory cultural warriors.  To them, the narrative is paramount and the narrative is universally that America has always been irredeemably racist and will remain so unless we implement radically progressive wealth redistribution and government coercion policies.  We see this in matters large and small.   From the infamous 1619 Project, when key claims that the country was founded to protect slavery were subsequently debunked and then quietly retracted as if they never happened in the first place, to a recent editorial on CNN claiming that Joe Rogan’s use of the n-word years ago is a January 6, insurrectionary moment, though Mr. Rogan himself has since apologized and condemned his own statements in front of the entire world.  John Blake, a writer and producer for the network actually wrote this last week, “The podcaster Joe Rogan did not join a mob that forced lawmakers to flee for their lives. He never carried a Confederate flag inside the US Capitol rotunda. No one died trying to stop him from using the n-word.  But what Rogan and those that defend him have done since video clips of him using the n-word surfaced on social media is arguably just as dangerous as what a mob did when they stormed the US Capitol on January 6 last year.” Mr. Blake compared the use of the n-word to actual genocide in Rwanda, when 800,000 thousand people were slaughtered in three months in 1994.  “When people in positions of power use dehumanizing language to describe other groups, atrocities often follow.  This is not ancient history: Consider what happened less than 30 years ago in Rwanda when some 800,000 civilians were slaughtered in a three-month period in 1994.”

Of course, no one truly believes the United States in 2022 is about to embark on a genocide of black poeple in the country.  The idea is so ridiculous it should be beneath comment, but the narrative it supports is insidious:  Agree with me, or untold horrors will be unleashed.  The National School Boards Association and the Department of Justice already believe horrors have been unleashed in the form of parents protesting policies like those pursued by the San Francisco School Board.  Last year, the Biden Administration conspired with the NSBA to do exactly that.  Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the FBI to devote national law enforcement resources to protect school boards after the Biden Administration received a letter from the NSBA claiming American parents were “domestic terrorists” and requesting the federal government use the full resources of the PATRIOT Act against them.  Later, it was revealed that the original NSBA letter was sent at the request of Biden’s own Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona. We also learned that the NSBA was given advance notice of the directive to the FBI.  “Attorney General Merrick Garland unequivocally stated that he based his memo on the NSBA’s letter – which in turn, mobilized the FBI and US Attorneys,” explained the President of the Parents Defending Education Nicole Neily. “If Secretary Cardona was truly involved in this ugly episode, it is a significant breach of public trust, and he should be held accountable.”  The White House continues to deny it, but there is no doubt he was:  Internal emails from the NSBA say exactly that and name him specifically.

Alas, denial has always been an important part of Critical Race Theory as well.  Proponents routinely deny what it is, claiming it’s only an “honest” reading of American history, and deny it is taught in schools at all, even as about half of the educational establishment openly claims it should be and stories continue to surface from across the country detailing how it actually is.  Education Week recently defined the situation with “Critical race theory is an academic framework that explains the systemic nature of racism. It has been widely mischaracterized by conservative politicians as a movement to indoctrinate white students with a liberal agenda, make them hate themselves, each other, and their country.”  They report that “More than 50 percent of educators are against the teaching of ‘critical race theory’ or ‘the idea that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.’”  However, when educators were asked about teaching these concepts without the label 53% said they should be.  Does anyone really believe that over half the teachers in the country want to teach something, but aren’t?

Hence, Critical Race Theory is rapidly being rebranded as “honest history,” and any effort to curtail its teaching in schools is deemed a suppression of black people.  CNN, once again provides a typical example, declaring that “Tennessee and Florida aren’t the only states where the history of racism is under siege.”  They begin by quoting the father of Black History Month, Carter G. Woodson who co-founded the Association for he Study of Negro Life and History in 1926.  “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated,” as if the problems in America today are remotely similar to a century ago and races are indeed in “danger of being exterminated.”  Are you seeing a pattern here with the genocide trope? They then declare, “Today, as the US observes Black History Month, which grew out of Negro History Week, Woodson’s provocation has taken on new urgency. Many conservative parents and lawmakers are challenging books and instruction about the history of race and racism — and in consequence are not only muzzling educators but also obstructing students’ understanding of the persistence of a harmful racial order.”

How else do you read “obstructing students’ understanding of the persistence of a harmful racial order” other than as a clarion call for CRT in schools?  The article itself says this outloud in a later paragraph, “It’s also worth mentioning the campaign against Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of The 1619 Project, which parses how slavery shaped US institutions. Last year, in a brazen effort to stymie interrogation of the country’s founding mythologies, Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and South Dakota introduced bills that would prohibit educators from using the project or cut funding to those schools where the project appears to inform their curricula.  Crucially, this assault on history has, well, a history — one that stretches back to at least the end of the 19th century.”

In other words, this isn’t about “honest history” at all.  It’s about promoting the narrative that America is irredeemably racist.  This narrative is critical to ensuring a progressive future and the facts are irrelevant.  They will smear everyone from Paul Revere to Dianne Feinstein to achieve their goals.  The San Francisco School Board ultimately rescinded the name changes under intense pressure from the community, but the damage was already done.  The sight of people charged with educating children pursuing frivolously woke policies while schools were closed with no plan to open them was too much for even a progressive enclave on the far left coast.  The parents have now spoken and three board members were ousted.  We can expect more of the same across the country if progressives continue to insist radical ideology belongs in the classroom, but parents do not.