Karina Elwood, a reporter for The Washington Post, wrote an article concerning Virginia’s education department proposal to select dozens of revisions to an elective course on African American history, striking some reference to white supremacy and systemic racism, among other changes (“Va. proposed changes to African American history course, documents show,” June 23). The review is ongoing, but some professors involved in creating the earlier curriculum are concerned that the proposed revisions would dilute some of the topics and language explored in the course if implemented.
The review was revealed in public records obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight and shared with the Washington Post. The revisions examined whether the African American history elective complied with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order banning “inherently divisive concepts” from the classroom.
Here lies the rub: Who decides what is divisive?
Against this backdrop is the picture of our governor speaking at the June 28 rally in Chesapeake. Our governor, along with other red-state governors, has decided that affirmative action; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); and learning the real American history goes against the Constitution. Our governor must realize he is the governor of the whole state, not just those willing to follow him over a cliff.
This problem is as old as this nation. Our forefathers punted on the issue of this “peculiar institution” because it was so difficult to solve. A nation that permits the genocide of a race of people for about 400 years now wants to rewrite history.
After the Civil War, those marginalized free people still had to deal with a majority who put their own interests first and let the problem get out of hand. They had to stand by and watch federal troops protect the newly freed ex-slaves during Reconstruction. When Reconstruction was overturned, next came the reign of terror and the beginning of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow.
Fast forward to the 1950s, the courts declared school segregation illegal, so the school districts were ordered to desegregate. In red states such as Virginia, many parents and community leaders decided that they were not going to integrate. Forget the law; nobody was going to make their children attend school, mixing with the “mongrel” race. Those who could afford to placed their children in private schools. They used violence to prevent black students from attending white schools. Black students were left to fend for themselves.
In reaction to the court’s ruling, white political leaders fought fiercely against implementing Brown v. Board of Education. In 1956, Congress wrote the Declaration of Constitutional Principles, also known as the Southern Manifesto. Other states soon followed suit.
In Mansfield, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, white residents protested over the schools’ decision to admit 12 Black students to an all-white high school. On Aug. 30, 1956, the students were met by mobs of pro-segregationists who patrolled the streets, threatening to use violence to prevent the 12 from attending high school.
In 1957, nine Little Rock, Arkansas, students attempted to attend Little Rock Central High School. They, too, were met by angry mobs and the National Guard preventing them from entering the school. Only after President Dwight Eisenhower intervened with federal troops were the students allowed to attend the school unharmed.
Unfortunately, our governor has chosen to be on the wrong side of history. Advocating for those who look like him does not inspire confidence in the masses.
Paul Butler is retired from the U.S. Navy and the Transportation Security Administration in Norfolk. He lives in Virginia Beach.
