Manhattan-based political commentator Deroy Murdock is a Fox News Contributor.
As if Dr. Martin Luther King never lived, and George Wallace never died, the Minneapolis Public Schools have embraced old-fashioned, naked bigotry: In case of layoffs, they will ignore classroom effectiveness, override seniority and dismiss white teachers before ‘educators of color.’
One might respect this madness if it at least were written in clear, bracingly cold English — e.g., ‘Fire Whitey first.’
Instead, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers’ new contract with its school district swaddles this policy in a euphemistic fog: ‘If excessing a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the site, the district shall excess the next least senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population.’
Education and law experts blast this ludicrous measure.
A new contract between Minneapolis Public Schools and the teachers’ will dismiss white teachers before ‘educators of color.’ It’s just ‘naked bigotry,’ Deroy Murdock writes
Ryan Girdusky, founder of the 1776 Project PAC, which supports patriotic school-board candidates, called it what it is: ‘Critical Race Theory in Practice. It’s state-sanctioned racism.
‘Qualified teachers who happen to be white will lose their jobs simply for their skin color. This is something that we’ve worked decades to escape,’ he said. ‘It’s totally unacceptable. It hurts children, parents, teachers, and the community at large and breeds an immense amount of social distrust.’
Catrin Wigfall, a former teacher now at the Center of the American Experiment, a Minneapolis-area free-market think tank, is just as indignant.
‘While increasing teachers of color is a worthy goal, the layoff provision in the Minneapolis teachers’ union agreement with the district is a political solution that likely won’t stand up in court and is not good, long-term policy.’
She insists ‘the district risks finding itself embroiled in lawsuits, which would detract time and resources from improving the district’s abysmal academic performance record.’
Lawsuits seem like the first buzzsaw that awaits this rotten idea.
It’s almost designed to split in two the moment it faces a 14th Amendment equal-protection action or a complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The US Supreme Court already rejected race-based teacher layoffs, 5-4, even to address past discrimination. See Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986).
This scheme faces a practical problem that also screams for litigation: Who, exactly, is white?
While some teachers might appear Caucasian and, thus, worth sacking, plenty of seemingly white people also have black, Hispanic, Asian, and — especially in the Midwest — American Indian blood.
The last thing Critical Race Theorists want is ethnic comity. Just as class struggle motivated old-school Marxists, racial struggle is what fires up today’s cultural Marxists.
Who will insist that a vulnerable teacher is white when she pleads, ‘Excuse me, but my mom is Chippewa’? Even better: In the era of identity politics, who will tell a blond, blue-eyed Spanish teacher — who identifies as Hispanic — that he really is blanco?
In one of The Simpsons’ funnier chalkboard gags, Bart repeatedly writes: ‘I saw nothing unusual in the faculty lounge.’
Imagine what Bart might observe in the faculty lounge the day after Mrs. Smith gets dumped. Never mind her brilliant students, personal warmth and excellent attendance record. Being the next white person on the roster scored her a pink slip.
The ensuing faculty-lounge discussion is anything but collegial. Instead, some whites see their black co-workers and think: ‘Look what you people did to my competent friend.’ Some blacks will eye whites and think, ‘Why are you staring at me? This wasn’t my idea.’ Others will think, ‘Too bad, but cracked eggs are part of the recipe for a racial-justice omelet.’
There will be plenty of nervous looks, but few words, as everyone fears saying anything that might make matters worse. So, a brittle tension will descend upon a space where teachers of all backgrounds previously savored coffee, tea, and amiable conversation.
How, precisely, do the architects of this rubbish expect that sadness, suspicion, and anger will foster peace, love, and understanding?
Then, again, the last thing Critical Race Theorists want is ethnic comity. Just as class struggle motivated old-school Marxists, racial struggle is what fires up today’s cultural Marxists.
The black-white acrimony that schemes like this one ignite also stoke the revolutionary flames of which they fantasize. These racial arsonists must be stopped before they gaze ecstatically upon their blazing handiwork.