|
Now? A tough-on-crime former cop just won the Democratic
mayoral nomination in Bill de Blasio’s New York. Former President Barack Obama
is warning fellow Democrats, “You lost a big audience the minute you say
[‘defund the police’].” Sen. Bernie Sanders has rejected calls for “no more
policing.” And White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, a few weeks ago, bizarrely
claimed that it was not Democrats but Republicans who wanted to defund the
police (because they opposed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill).
What happened? Intoxicated by a few policy wins in deep blue
cities, enthusiasm in the left-leaning Twitter echo chamber, and their viselike
grip on the national media, “defund” activists overlooked one important detail:
Their agenda was deeply unpopular with most Americans. A summer 2020 YouGov poll
found that just 16 percent of adults wanted to cut police funding – much less
“defund” the police. Indeed, 81 percent of Black Americans wanted police to
spend as much or more time in their communities. During a year when major
American cities saw an unnerving increase in homicides, after years of declines,
that reaction was not just understandable, it was wholly predictable.
As a result, Democrats squandered an opportunity to build consensus around
meaningful police reform. After all, in the wake of the George Floyd murder,
there was broad national agreement supporting a range of reforms. Prominent
Republicans like Sen. Tim Scott were eager to negotiate. Sen. Ted Cruz, sitting
on a panel alongside Houston’s Democratic mayor, insisted it was time for “all
of us together to look at ways to make sure that our justice system is more
fair.” Rather than pressing an advantage where most Americans were with them,
though, Democrats got suckered by a woke fringe into embracing a deeply
unpopular agenda.
Those who embrace the stew of “anti-racist” policies and practices loosely
referred to as “Critical Race Theory” should take note. As with policing,
there’s broad-based support for practical efforts to address persistent
inequalities. For instance, while residential attendance zones lock many black
and brown children into schools that fail to provide crucial supports, set high
expectations, or deliver first-rate instruction, the nation’s parents support
school choice policies by hefty margins.
Moreover, there’s widespread agreement that schools can do
better talking about race. There’s broad sympathy for the notion that schools
have, at times, taught a white-washed version of history that minimizes our
failings and overlooks the contributions of minority communities to American
commerce and culture. If Democrats want to tackle such concerns in a practical
manner, they have the wind at their back.
[to top of second column] |
As with the self-destructive push to “defund the
police,” though, those intent on tackling such problems have stood
by as their efforts have been overtaken by ideologues in thrall to a
vision of “anti-racist” education that is noxious to the vast
majority of Americans.
Take, for instance, the “anti-racist” insistence that universal
values are actually hallmarks of “white supremacy” culture. The
famed KIPP charter schools announced last summer that the chain was
abandoning its slogan “Work Hard, Be Nice” as an “anti-racist” blow
against “white supremacy” culture. The Smithsonian published a guide
asserting that “hard work,” “self-reliance,” and “be[ing] polite”
are all a product of the “white dominant culture.” Bellevue School
District in Washington state paid for “aspiring white antiracist
leaders” to attend a class called “Humble & Brave,” where educators
learn that these traits “go against the white norm.”
It should come as no great surprise that all of
this is out of step with what the lion’s share of Americans believe.
If one asks parents – of any race – what values they want their kids
to learn, more than 4 out of 5 will endorse concepts like “hard
work,” “being well-mannered,” and “being responsible.” In fact,
Black parents are slightly more likely than white parents to say
that these traits are important. It’s not that hard to understand
why Black, Latino, or Asian parents might resent the notion that
“hard work” or “responsibility” are somehow alien to their culture.
As one parent put it, “We did not immigrate to this country for our
children to be taught in taxpayer-funded schools that punctuality
and hard work are white values.”
The woke fringe cheered earlier this spring when
the Biden Department of Education held up as a model of civic
education the 1619 Project, which teaches that America was founded
as a “slavocracy” and is a nation where “anti-black racism runs in
the very DNA of this country.” Most Americans reject this cartoonish
narrative of their country, with more than two-thirds of adults
opposed to having schools tell students that America was founded on
racism.
And yet, Democratic officials have blithely gone along as
progressive pundits, union leaders, and advocates have raced to
defend even the most noxious goings-on against the critics of
Critical Race Theory.
Look, there’s much of value in today’s efforts to make education
more effective, responsive, and just. Indeed, there are plenty of
places where people of goodwill can find common ground on school
improvement. But, if Democrats intent on school improvement follow
the woke fringe down the same Twitter-inspired, navel-gazing rabbit
hole that swallowed police reform, they oughtn’t be unduly surprised
when they look up in the heat of the 2022 midterm elections to see
Jen Psaki insisting that Critical Race Theory was really a Trumpian
scheme all along.
Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy
studies at the American Enterprise Institute. |
