Category: Race and Race Relations
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Is Racism a Real Problem in Loudoun Schools?
by James A. Bacon What’s going on in Loudoun County public schools? Are teachers and administrators in one of Virginia’s most affluent counties making headway in bringing about “equity” (as in equal outcomes in academic performance) between Asians, whites, blacks and Hispanics? Or is the school system hopelessly mired in racism and discrimination? One indicator…
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Yes! A Statue for Virginia’s Black Union Troops
Yes! Where can I donate? Richmond Councilwoman Kim Grey’s proposal in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch for a statute honoring the Civil War’s black Union troops from Virginia needs to be acted on promptly. It should replace the one statue that does need to disappear off Monument Avenue, the one to Jefferson Davis. In particular the…
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Way Overdue: Cleanse the State Code of Racist Residue
by James A. Bacon This 1956 law, enshrined in Chapter 59 of the Acts of the General Assembly, is a dead letter, rendered irrelevant by judicial rulings, others laws, and history, but it’s still on the books: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no child shall be required to enroll in or attend any school…
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Bacon Bits: $$$$$ Edition
They didn’t ask this question until now? Will the wave of Amazon-inspired development in the Pentagon City area of Arlington County overwhelm the region’s transportation network? “Arlington planners, and nervous neighbors, want to know,” reports the Washington Business Journal. Some neighborhood groups are wary that the point of the planning review is to clear the…
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Is Racism Systemic in Loudoun Schools?
by James A. Bacon Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has launched an investigation into Loudoun County public schools for failing to provide African American students equal access to advanced programs, reports the Washington Post. The announcement follows charges by the Loudoun NAACP that discrimination against African-Americans is “not just rampant, it’s systemic.” It never ceases…
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WaPo Newsroom as Cesspit of Racism and Sexism?
by James A. Bacon The Washington Post Guild has issued a report charging that the Post, the largest-circulation newspaper serving the Virginia market, pays women less than men, and whites more than minorities. The pattern applies not only to the business side of the newspaper but to the social-justice crusading newsroom. Indeed, the discrepancies are…
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You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
Dick Hall-Sizemore As a life-long resident of Virginia for seven decades (there, I have said it), I have seen many changes. Occasionally, reminders of these changes are especially striking. One of those stark reminders occurred about 10 years ago. I was sitting in on a General Assembly committee meeting in which the Chief Justice of…
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Woke… But Not Woke Enough
by James A. Bacon There’s a lot of blue-on-blue happening in Virginia’s schools these days as race consciousness in the educational system reaches a fever pitch. Even well-meaning teachers and administrators desirous of promoting inclusivity and diversity are subject to criticism and/or disciplinary action. Two interesting case studies drove home that point over the weekend.…
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What Does It Mean to Be “White” or “Black” These Days?
by James A. Bacon As President Bill Clinton famously predicted in 1998 based on Census Bureau forecasts, white Americans would lose their majority status in the United States by the 2040s. The prospect of “people of color” comprising an “emerging Democratic majority” has undergirded the Democratic Party strategy of making racial/ethnic identity politics the core…
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Richmond’s Progressive Petri Dish…. Where Black Kids Are the Science Project
by James A. Bacon One of the more interesting questions of 2019 is whether public figures like Governor Ralph Northam and Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras are more interested in striking poses that make them look enlightened on racial issues or in actually bettering the lives of African-Americans. In many cases, I would argue,…
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Disregard that Law
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Well, Virginia made the national headlines again last week and over the weekend. This time it was over the requirement that couples applying for a marriage license list their race on the application. And Attorney General Mark Herring was the hero, saying that, despite what the law said, the couples did not…
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Richmond Schools: Changing Names, Acting White, and Serving Hispanics
by James A. Bacon Look, there’s nothing wrong with re-naming public schools. I take no issue with the Richmond Public Schools changing the name of one of its predominantly black schools from J.E.B. Stuart Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary. And if Richmond school officials want to swap out the name of slave-owner George Mason for…
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Yup, Virginia Universities Discriminate Against Asians
by James A. Bacon A study of five Virginia public universities shows that admission policies at all five institutions discriminate against Asian applicants after accounting for standardized test scores and high-school grade point averages. The University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary, the two most selective institutions, also discriminate against whites in…
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The Unstated Assumption in Richmond’s School Rezoning Proposal
by James A. Bacon Which position is more objectionable? Opposing a rezoning of Richmond schools to achieve greater racial balance on the grounds that it would eliminate neighborhood schools… or the unstated assumption that black kids need more white kids around them to perform better academically? We can be assured that the the “neighborhood schools”…
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English Learners and SOL Scores
by James A. Bacon A couple of weeks ago I speculated on the reasons for the continued fall in Standards of Learning (SOL) English test scores, a trend that was particularly conspicuous for African-Americans and Hispanics. The prime culprit, I suggested, was the imposition of “restorative justice” disciplinary policies, designed to reduce the disparity in…