Category: Race and Race Relations
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Bettina Love at Virginia Tech – a Different Context
by James C. Sherlock A bad penny keeps on turning up. This appearance is however critically different in context from Ms. Love’s appearance at the University of Virginia School of Education. The Tech online get together is for faculty, and I have no problem with that. It represents legitimate academic inquiry. Presumably the audience will…
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Study Says Virginia School Segregation Getting Worse, Contradicting Its Own Data
by James A. Bacon “School segregation by race and poverty is deepening in Virginia,” asserts the opening line of a just-published study, “School Segregation by Boundary Line in Virginia.” The study proceeds to show no such thing. While it is beyond dispute that de facto segregation persists, especially in inner-city school districts, the study provides…
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Anti-Bias Training… or Government-Mandated Indoctrination?
by James A. Bacon In September President Trump issued an executive order banning bias and diversity training in the federal government that inculcates divisive concepts such as the idea that some people, by virtue of their race or sex, are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive. Three days ago, Virginia’s attorney general, Mark Herring, joined a…
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Positive Energy in Jackson Ward
by James A. Bacon Alisha and Lamont Hawkins thought it would take 10 days to renovate their Inner City Blues barbecue restaurant in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood. Their effort tuned into a three-month “skirmish” with city regulators as they went up a painful learning curve. Hoping never to repeat the experience, Alisha joined the Jackson…
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The War on Asians, the Death of Meritocracy, and Assault on STEM
by Asra Q. Nomani FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — This past weekend, about 100 families, students, alumni and community members Thomas Jefferson High School for School and Technology stood on the grassy lawn in front of the school and held a symbolic memorial service for the nation’s No. 1 high school. “Remember the glory of…
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Connolly: Expel VMI Students Guilty of Racist Conduct, Track Thought Crimes
by James A. Bacon Representative Gerald Connolly, D-Va., and other congressional Democrats have written Governor Ralph Northam, calling for the expulsion of students at the Virginia Military Institute who have been found guilty of “racist or discriminatory conduct.” Citing a Washington Post article that alleged the existence of “relentless racism” at the military institute, the…
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Woke War on VMI Is Just Getting Started
by James A. Bacon Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira does a victory dance in the newspaper today with his coverage of J.H. Binford Peay III’s resignation as superintendent of Virginia Military Institute. Last week the Post had published Shapira’s reporting based on quotes from a half dozen VMI cadets and graduates that alleged “relentless racism”…
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The Latest Casualty of the Culture Wars
J.H. Binford Peay III, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, has submitted his resignation, stating that Governor Ralph Northam and senior legislations had “lost confidence” in his leadership. The VMI board accepted his resignation “with regret.” Peay’s departure follows a Washington Post article alleging an atmosphere of “relentless racism” at the military college. Two days…
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Bacon Bits: Fear, Loathing, and Excess
Rise of the surveillance state. The Virginia Supreme Court has declared that Fairfax County’s mass collection of license plates does not violate legal privacy protections. Automated cameras can collect and store data even if a driver is not suspected of committing a crime, and police can access the data for 364 days after its entry…
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Why We Love Governor Ralph
By Peter Galuszka He’s been through “coonman,” “blackface,” a muddled interview about late term abortion, and aggressive and controversial steps to stop the pandemic, but Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has sprinted through a recent statewide poll with flying colors. According to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll, more than half of Virginia’s registered voters approve of the…
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Racism Case Settled
The Amet family and Cape Henry Collegiate have settled their differences arising from an incident in which school officials suspended 16-year-old Connor Amet after accusing him of expressing white supremacist statements in class. The school and family released the following statement. Cape Henry Collegiate and the Amet Family have met regarding a recent issue that…
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Are Microschools a Macro Trend?
by Andy Rotherham Around the country a string of public schools with test-based admissions have been under pressure to go to different admission schemes in an effort to increase student diversity – for instance lottery-based or enrollment slots allocated by feeder school. (At one level it’s a useful reminder that contra the rhetoric, many public…
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Private Schools No Haven from the Thought Police
If you thought sending your child to private school offered any protection against the spreading and increasingly totalitarian virus of Critical Race Theory, consider a recent incident at Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach. I publish here an open letter, written by attorney Timothy Anderson, on behalf of student Connor Amet, to school officials.…
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Does Racism Still Reside At VMI?
By Peter Galuszka On this blog, at least, there has been plenty of grief at the University of Virginia over controversies involving diversity. But over at Lexington, a town not far away, an even bigger battle involving the issue has been engaged. Black students and alumni at the Virginia Military Institute, the state’s public military…
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What Is Cuccinelli’s Role in Defining Extremism?
By Peter Galuszka Allegations that the Wolverine Watchmen, a far right extremist group based in Michigan, discussed kidnapping Gov. Ralph Northam draw questions about the role another Virginia politician has played in defining extremist threats. Kenneth Cuccinelli a former Republican attorney general and failed gubernatorial candidate, has been accused of helping delay a report by…