Category: Race and Race Relations
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GMU Ponders Race-Based Faculty Hiring
by Hans Bader George Mason University could start giving give minorities illegal racial preference in hiring until its mostly white faculty has the same racial balance as its more heavily non-white student body, which is more ethnically diverse than the average college. Under GMU’s draft “ARIE Task Force Recommendations,” GMU will “recruit, hire, and retain…
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Private Sector Screws Up Vaccine Dispersal
By Peter Galuszka For more than a year, there has been a stream of criticism of government handling of the COVID vaccine. On this blog, there has been a relentless pounding of Gov. Ralph Northam for his role in trying to navigate the pandemic that has so far killed more than 500,000 Americans. This is…
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WaPo Nabs Polk Award, Is Pulitzer Next?
By Peter Galuszka How ironical. Our esteemed Jim Bacon has been on a tear in recent months writing about media coverage of the problem of systemic racism at the Virginia Military Institute. Of special interest to Jim is the reporting of Ian Shapira, a Washington Post reporter who has been digging into the VMI. After…
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Chinese-American Parents Condemn Critical Race Theory
by Asra Q. Nomani This past weekend, I spoke at an online conference of CAPA-Fairfax County, a local chapter of Chinese-American parent groups mobilizing to defend merit-based education in the United States. As some participants spoke in Chinese, I could make out some key phrases: “‘moral courage,” “public service,” and “Cultural Revolution.” When it came…
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Did UVa Stack the Deck in Its Lawn Selection Process?
by James A. Bacon It is deemed a great honor to be one of the 47 fourth-year students at the University of Virginia awarded a residence on the Lawn, Thomas Jefferson’s architectural masterpiece and World Heritage site. A committee of 60 students selects the residents from a pool of applicants, in theory based on their…
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The VMI Contract: Why the Rush?
by James A. Bacon Last November 5, the Commonwealth of Virginia issued an RFP for a contract to investigate racism at the Virginia Military Institute. The document set an ambitious deadline. Responses were due November 17 — giving vendors less than two weeks to prepare submissions. Moreover, the document wanted the successful bidder to provide…
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VMI Update: The WaPo Makes Another Sleazy Insinuation
by James A. Bacon In the early stages of the Barnes & Thornburg investigation into racism at the Virginia Military Institute, there was some contention over how the inquiry should be handled. Initially, VMI administrators asked for its lawyers to observe investigators’ interviews of faculty, staff and students. Barnes & Thornburg pushed back, saying the…
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Five Dem Senators Defy Party Orthodoxy on Governors Schools
by James A. Bacon A Senate committee voted Thursday to spike a bill aimed at “expanding diversity” in Virginia’s governor’s schools, reports The Virginia Mercury. While it is encouraging to know that admittance into the governor’s schools will continue to be based on merit-based tests, the vote has a broader significance, which is even more…
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The Democratic Coalition’s Conflicts of Interest Cause Much Political Scrambling
by James C. Sherlock It is tough to be a Democratic politician in Richmond or Washington. Now that they govern, they find it one big game of coalition whack-a-mole. I have written today of the conflicts between the interests of teachers unions and those of parents playing out in the Virginia General Assembly. That vital…
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“Schools as Racial Justice Engines”
If there is the slightest doubt in your mind of what the Northam administration has in mind for Virginia’s public schools, just register for the latest #EdEquityVa Webinar on the topic, “Schools as Racial Justice Engines.” Here’s the description of the Virginia Department of Education-sponsored webinar: Trauma Informed Care for Racial Trauma and Strategies to…
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The Most Powerful Woman in State Government
by James A. Bacon Shortly after his blackface scandal, Governor Ralph Northam took a deep dive into the literature of critical race theory, determined to reinvent himself as a champion of African-Americans and foe of racism in Virginia. One of his most consequential actions was appointing Janice Underwood, director of diversity initiatives at Old Dominion…
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McAuliffe’s “Big Bold” Housing Plan Is Neither
by James A. Bacon Homelessness spiked in the Richmond area over the past year — more than 50%, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The increase from 549 to 838 people in 2020 was the largest single-year jump since anyone began tracking the number in the 1990s. Given the fact that hundreds of thousands of Virginians are…
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Holding Richmond Public Schools Accountable — Part I
by James C. Sherlock We have discussed here the failures of the City of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) in educating its economically disadvantaged children, as well as the abysmal performance of Black children in its schools. I intend to help readers understand how it manages to fail repeatedly even with major federal funding as…
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The Mythology of Robert E. Lee
By Peter Galuszka With excellent timing, the former head of the history department at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has come out with a book about the mythology of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and much of the White “Southern” culture. Retired U.S. Army Gen. Ty Seidule, a former paratrooper, has deep Virginia…
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For “Cultural Competency,” Try Reading Two New Bios of Frederick Douglass
by Hans Bader The General Assembly is moving toward requiring history teachers to study black history. SB 1196, passed by the state senate, would mandate teachers seeking a license or license renewal to have training in “cultural competency” and complete board-approved instruction in African American history. I worry about these “cultural competency” requirements, and whether…