Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Move On, Can’t Have Divisiveness Over Schools

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Dick Hall-Sizemore
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by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Here is a comment by a politician that would fit very well in the comments in BR over the last year or so and is in full accord with Governor Youngkin’s effort to “root out” divisive concepts in schools:

“Nothing in my lifetime, and I doubt at any other time in the history of the Commonwealth, has ever come so close to the hearts of the people because it involves the education of our children and grandchildren, and is an effort on the part of extreme left-wingers to instill into them every imaginable spurious doctrine”

The commenter:  Virginia Congressman and former Governor Bill Tuck, in a letter to John H. Daniel, June 17, 1955, on the issue of having Black children attend school with White children.

As the great philosopher, Yogi Berra, said, “It’s like its deja vu all over again.”

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56 responses to “Move On, Can’t Have Divisiveness Over Schools”

  1. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Everything old is new again.

    I would say that Conservatives have come full circle on racism, but that would imply that at some point they weren’t.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Nothing “conservative” about using the power of government to enforce segregation.

    2. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Democrats, Dick, both Democrats. You kinda missed that point. And no, Nancy, we haven’t gone 360 on this. We’ve gone 180. That’s the problem.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        I said “Conservatives”. Party migration is immaterial. They just happen to be in the Republicans now in overwhelming numbers.

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          Yeah, in 1955 on this this issue my Mountain Valley GOP folks were the liberals…

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            “With signing this bill into law, we have lost the South for the next 40 years.” He underestimated.

        2. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          what a buzzkiller to point that out!

  2. Steve Gillispie Avatar
    Steve Gillispie

    Perhaps you can expand on this posting with a review of Kendi’s writing and elaborate on those views you support and why.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      From what I have read of Kendi’s writing, there is a lot of what he says that I think goes too far.

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        1955 vs 2022. That’s the difference.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          2022;

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6302426256a58a930b6483b5234978edf210fcf416afd8b3dbad09dea5f7e7fe.jpg

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Shades of “teaching” CRT!

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            The NFL is not the government. If people don’t like what they are doing they should boycott the league. But to compare what the NFL is doing to my son being told in school that he is automatically a racist because of his skin color is insane.

    2. kls Avatar
      kls

      The best, most insightful writing Henry Rogers ever penned was….. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c0eee7ce0fba501ade1378bbb268fb76e09707f9e0114a08053de3bf90f817e.jpg

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    same church, different pew….

  4. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    What a mindless article. Pure stupidity from almost 70 years ago. No observable point whatsoever.

    This is what happens when Libtwits lose elections. They write bizarre crap from so long ago that most readers of this blog weren’t even born at the time of the quote.

    Yes, Virginia was racist. Yes, there was Jim Crow (at least from Richmond south). Yes, there were Democrat politicians that instituted Massive Resistance. Yes, Democrat a**wipes like Ralph Northam wore blackface and attended parties with people dressed in klan robes.

    That was long, long ago.

    1955?

    Seriously?

    What’s your f***&ing point?

  5. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Yeah, it’s deja vu all over again…. except for the part about not wanting Black kids and White kids attending the same schools.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Different classrooms will do, right?

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/204e178631185dc7961862d7240ad29950ab7aa5e3b9c35da55436ef28df3ef9.jpg

        https://www.epi.org/publication/schools-are-still-segregated-and-black-children-are-paying-a-price/

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Yeah, I’ve seen it. But nice to see the article too.

  6. Matt Adams Avatar
    Matt Adams

    “Here is a comment by a politician that would fit very well in the comments in BR over the last year or so and is in full accord with Governor Youngkin’s effort to “root out” divisive concepts in schools:”

    It’s very lazy and does nothing for discourse to reflexively call people “racist” without a shred of evidence for it.

  7. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
    YellowstoneBound1948

    Mr. Hall-Sizemore, I am really surprised. You are better than this.

    We — you and I — are both well north of 70, and I know that each of us remembers a more gentle time, where thoughtful disagreement was still possible.

    As for the other readers here who so easily invoke Jim Crow, how many of you actually remember Jim Crow? I would daresay very few. So stop pretending.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      The remnants of Jim Crow are all around to include the fact that blacks have lower education levels and less family wealth, less land ownership, etc. We have black farmers, who were discriminated against by the USDA and the damage from that is still there.

      We STILL HAVE roads and schools named for racists and and we still complain when monuments to slave-owning Confederates are taken down.

      It’s nice to continue to blather about one-parent families and ignore the facts but it ain’t the truth and this guy also is “north” of 70 I remember then and I still see it now as well as the denial of those who looked the other way then and now.

      1. YellowstoneBound1948 Avatar
        YellowstoneBound1948

        Standing by while you save the nation.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          recognizing the simple truth is “saving the nation”?

          eh?

          If you are “north of 70” – do you not remember what was going on in the 1960’s ? Do you not believe that the racism that went on for decades did not have downstream impacts of succeeding generations?

        2. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          For me, there are two parts to this:

          1. – Do we recognize and acknowledge that prior acts of racism and discrimination affected succeeding generations of African Americans? Do we acknowledge it?

          2. – Can we teach that history?

          Or are we saying that no matter HOW we teach such history, it will make white kids feel they are being labeled as oppressors who benefit from white privilege?

          I’m trying to understand the issue from Conservatives perspectives.

          Is there dispute of the history and current realities or is there opposition to teaching it?

      2. Ronnie Chappell Avatar
        Ronnie Chappell

        60 years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, why are Blacks less educated? Asians suffered extraordinary racial discrimination. They were prohibited from immigrating to the country. Once here prohibited from owning land. During WWII they were put in concentration camps. The hatred many WWII veterans felt for Asians continued for decades after the war. And yet, they excel in the classroom. In California, where affirmative action in university admissions is prohibited, they account for 4o percent of students admitted to elite schools. Many schools now discriminate against Asians to hold down their numbers in the interest of “diversity.” Washington DC has Black leadership, well-funded schools, well paid teachers and thousands of students who can’t and never will read at grade level. Why the achievement gap between Asians and both Black and white students? Could the fact that Asian kids are almost 4 times less likely to grow up in a single parent household than a Black kid or 2 times less likely than a white kid have something to do with it?

  8. tmtfairfax Avatar
    tmtfairfax

    The staff of Fairfax County Public Schools prepared a document that classified children of military families as “privileged.” If that’s not unacceptable divisiveness, what is?

    Teachers pounded in my head (and probably yours too) that generalizing is flawed reasoning and can be harmful to others. But the Woke use generalization all the time as the basis for all of their positions on issues and people. That sure seems divisive to me.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      I’d “up-vote” this one twice if I could.

    2. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      is it “generalizing’ when kids are classified as “at risk” or qualify for reduced or free lunch?

      If criteria are specified for the classification – that’s not really generalizing anyhow, is it?

  9. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    What a mindless article. Pure stupidity from almost 70 years ago. No observable point whatsoever.

    This is what happens when Libtwits lose elections. They write bizarre crap from so long ago that most readers of this blog weren’t even born at the time of the quote.

    Yes, Virginia was racist. Yes, there was Jim Crow (at least from Richmond south). Yes, there were Democrat politicians that instituted Massive Resistance. Yes, Democrat a**wipes like Ralph Northam wore blackface and attended parties with people dressed in klan robes.

    That was long, long ago.

    1955?

    Seriously?

    What’s your f***&ing point?

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0a513d51624d5be445bf6466ca043fd15c195e21adad03276414a4150ff3432.jpg

      https://www.historicfairfax.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/HFCI1401-2017.pdf

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        January 1966 is probably just like yesterday to you?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Nope , not at all, but claims that NoVa was not Jim Crow need refuting.

          And the current issues with Black NFL coaches shows that some issues are still will us.

          It’s a simple thing to recognize history and current reality – for some folks.

          1. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            “LarrytheG how_it_works • 11 minutes ago
            Nope , not at all, but claims that NoVa was not Jim Crow need refuting.

            And the current issues with Black NFL coaches shows that some issues are still will us.

            It’s a simple thing to recognize history and current reality – for some folks.”

            Harper v Board of Elections had nothing to do with NOVA. It was in regards to Virginia’s poll tax, that was instituted state wide.

          2. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            To the degree that NoVa was Jim Crow, it’s because the neo-confederate throwbacks in Richmond passed statewide legislation that required it.

          3. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            have you heard of T C Williams?

          4. how_it_works Avatar
            how_it_works

            Born in Hanover, Virginia, USA on 23 Sep 1894 to William Thomas Williams and Mary Virginia Moore. Thomas Chambliss Williams married Diana Celeste Bennett. He passed away on 24 Feb 1968 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

            Wasn’t from NoVA, was he?

          5. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            re: ” it’s because the neo-confederate throwbacks in Richmond passed statewide legislation that required it.”

            so.. couldn’t be a racist and move to NoVa…. and practice Jim Crow?

            “come-here’s” can’t be racists by definition?

            And he was far from alone -and obviously many thought very highly of him – they named a school that black kids would attend in honor of a racist and folks claim “NO… we had no Jim Crow in NoVa” !

            Racism was very much part of NoVa during Jim Crow – they named schools after him AND other racists and segregationists.

            And no surprise that folks still deflect from that history, it’s a standard practice.

  10. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    I have a lot of respect for you and your opinions, Mr. Hall-Sizemore. This little screed, however, is an unjustified and inapplicable low-blow, and I think in your heart you know it.

    If you have evidence that any person who posts to this blog is anywhere near as racist as Mr. Bill Tuck, then I think you should present it. If not, I respectfully ask that you leave the leftist “gotcha” semantic attacks and the “whataboutisms” to those less talented and [heretofore] less honorable than you. Thank you.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      I am not accusing anyone of racism. I ran across this quote from Tuck in my recent reading and was struck by what I see as a parallel to the debate going on today. To me, many people seem to have the attitude of wanting to just forget about the racism of the past and pretend that it had no effect on society today. They want to protect school kids from the far left and its “spurious” and “divisive” concepts. Being “far left” does not mean that something is wrong de facto. After all, what was “far left” for Tuck is now accepted as the right thing to do by everyone on the political spectrum except for the far-right White Supremacists.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Of course you were equating Tuck’s defense of segregation with today’s debate over the “America Sucks and It’s White People’s Fault” that is being peddled by Kendi and his ilk. It was beneath you.

      2. Cathis398 Avatar
        Cathis398

        how dare you even SUGGEST this blog is filled with racism against Black people? [note: management asks you to ignore the 80% of comments on this piece, to say nothing of the whole site, that openly express racism toward Black people]

        1. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          See, I actually agree that this blog too often devolves into some effort to create a safe space for threatened white people. Sometimes I call Jim on the point. But I gave Kendi the benefit of a full read of his book, and his “anti-racism” is just reverse racism, and his economics are Marxist. I don’t mind that at the college level, but keep it away from the Kindergarteners.

          1. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            Kendi’s work mirrors what has occurred in South Africa post apartheid.

          2. kls Avatar
            kls

            And that country has done so well…..

        2. how_it_works Avatar
          how_it_works

          People who upvote their own comments…

        3. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Racism but then it gets cloaked as aginst the preaching of white privilege.

          It’s “okay” to talk “racial history” but don’t be showing that black families still suffer from decades of racism so that they have less education, lower levels of wealth, own less land and the like.

          There is one black NFL coach and crickets from the usual suspects as to why because they know if they trot out the usual one-parent and other various ‘culture’ argument it would be oh so visible.

      3. Matt Adams Avatar
        Matt Adams

        “Dick Hall-Sizemore WayneS • 15 minutes ago
        I am not accusing anyone of racism. I ran across this quote from Tuck in my recent reading and was struck by what I see as a parallel to the debate going on today. To me, many people seem to have the attitude of wanting to just forget about the racism of the past and pretend that it had no effect on society today. They want to protect school kids from the far left and its “spurious” and “divisive” concepts. Being “far left” does not mean that something is wrong de facto. After all, what was “far left” for Tuck is now accepted as the right thing to do by everyone on the political spectrum except for the far-right White Supremacists.”

        That’s exactly what you insinuated, also “White Supremacists” speak for themselves and their bigoted ideology. You’re again being disingenuous and frankly self-righteous.

      4. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Of course you were equating Tuck’s defense of segregation with today’s debate over the “America Sucks and It’s White People’s Fault” that is being peddled by Kendi and his ilk. It was beneath you.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          “This is not a State for all of its citizens” — Guess who, Feb. 2022

          Vuja de — when things get so weird you hope to never see it again.

      5. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Thank you for your response. I still think this particular article would have been best left unsubmitted, but I believe that you did not intend to accuse anyone of racism,

      6. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        The disagreement seems to be whether or not we can TEACH that there are real , current-day downstream impacts of decades of racism and discrimination, and apparently the answer is that we really can’t teach that because it gets to the issue of white privilege – even though there is quite a bit of data that confirms those impacts.

  11. Ronnie Chappell Avatar
    Ronnie Chappell

    I’ve not heard parents or our governor object to the teaching of history. Slavery, Jim Crow and the courage of those involved in the civil rights movement and the progress made over the last 60 years are and should continue to be taught in our schools. I have heard parents and the governor object to the teaching of “white privilege” and “systemic racism” as explanations for differences in educational achievement, incarceration rates, household wealth, etc. I don’t see how Black kids benefit from believing they have no chance at success because some white, racist executive or HR professional is going to hold him or her down. Imagine the uproar if instead, we taught kids that growing up in a single parent, female-headed household meant they were far more likely to be poor, be the victim or perpetrator of crime, join a gang, go to prison, read below grade level, drop out of school, use drugs, conceive a child out of wedlock and remain poor. Despite the fact that all of that is true lots of single parents, Black and white would object to teaching it … pointing out that doing so sets kids up to fail even though many escape that circle of despair. And yet, it better explains the unequal outcomes so many cite as evidence of racial injustice. If systemic racism is as strong and pervasive as claimed, Oprah wouldn’t be a billionaire, Blacks wouldn’t serve as mayors, police chiefs and chief prosecutors in our largest cities, Barak Obama would never have been president, Kamala Harris wouldn’t be vice president, Condi Rice and Colin Powell wouldn’t have been Secretary of State, Denzel Washington and Will Smith wouldn’t be up for Oscars and 70 to 80 percent of the players in the NFL and NBA wouldn’t be Black. Today, it’s not enough to teach your kids that we are all — “red and yellow, Black and white” — God’s children. Today, some want to teach them they’re racists if they believe in equality not equity and merit not quotas. In fact, some want to teach them that because of their implicit biases — they are racists without realizing it.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      How do you explain the coaching issues in the NFL and NBA? same problem, one parent families?

      1. Ronnie Chappell Avatar
        Ronnie Chappell

        According to a recent Washington Post story, over a 33-year period, Blacks were successful candidates in filling 11.8 percent of 160 open head coaching positions. This in a country in which African Americans account for only 12.4 percent of the population (2020 census.) A single additional Black hire would bring the percentage to 12.5. If this kind of “equity” was the case throughout the economy, people would be celebrating. I wonder what percentage of senior leadership at the “Washington Post” is Black? And yet, we get a story about how 32 NFL owners, whose teams are 70 percent Black, who reward merit and who together have created hundreds of young Black millionaires, are either out-and-out racists or racists and don’t know it. Brian Flores, who has sued the NFL, will have a hard time winning his lawsuit. “Dolphins owner Stephen Ross ran the ‘blackest’ organization in the NFL,” Black sportswriter Jason Whitlock observed in a recent column. “At one time, his head coach, general manager, assistant general manager, defensive coordinator, and several members of his ownership group were all black.” At what point did Mr. Ross become a bigot? When he decided to fire Brian Flores? Mr. Flores has complained the NY Giants had already decided who to hire when they brought him in for a meaningless “Rooney Rule” interview. The Giants had no choice. It’s a rule. It guarantees an interview. Not a job. What it does is ensure visibility and an opportunity to impress — or not impress – year after year. I think Black WSJ columnist Jason Riley is right when he suggests that Brian Flores has made advancement more difficult for Black coaches. ” …. the reality,” he wrote, ” is that lawsuits such as this one could hamper efforts to increase the number of black coaches in the NFL. Teams might be less likely to hire someone they can’t fire without being labeled racist.” Let’s hope that’s not the case. At least two Black and one “mixed race” head coach have been hired in recent weeks.

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