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The radical right strategy for accessing the deep pockets of the American taxpayer, and diverting the billions set aside for public education into the pockets of the for-profit charter school industry, is simply to sow discontent—lots of it. The charlatans don’t need to win any battle. They just need to touch a nerve with enough parents on one topic or another to create a groundswell of angry mothers clamoring for something—anything—that is different. They attempt to villainize our elected officials and intimidate anyone who disagrees, then they will swoop in with the panacea of charter schools to better educate our kids. Not so fast. Nowhere have these scare tactics been more obvious than in the backlash against the proposition that we cease white-washing American history, and instead, own the sins of our forefathers—not with guilt or shame, as the detractors want parents to believe, but with understanding and hopes for reform. What’s more American than that? We teach history so that we can learn from its successes and failures. We teach about the Nazis and the Holocaust, for example, to prepare us to see totalitarianism and genocide when they, inevitably, raise their ugly heads again. At the Fairfax County School Board meeting on February 10th the At-Large Representative Karen Keys-Gamarra presented a resolution celebrating Black History Month. In her remarks, she noted the increasing lack of comity in discussions with constituents, and referenced an email she’d received in which the author threatened to “tar and feather” her. Either the author was unaware of the sordid history of this reference for African-Americans, or they knew and didn’t care. The regular performance artists in the “Public Comments” portion of the meeting behaved as expected—hurling insults and donning large paper bags and Vendetta masks, in mockery of the pandemic mask mandate. In their midst, however, stood one elderly, earnest, white male. He’d come to decry teaching the experiences of Black Americans, referring to those lessons as Critical Race Theory (CRT), because it “makes everyone look at race instead of the person.” He was afraid his grandchildren would be “made to feel ashamed of their skin color.” He grew up in a small New York city apartment with five others, and with his sister “we shared time on one beach chair. That’s not white privilege,” he assured the room. It would be easy to lump this man’s fear with all the other theater of the evening. A better course, for a better world, is to note the irony of a white man who grew up poor, who now believes that gives him a pass on white privilege, and who is now against our schools teaching his own grandchildren the origins and implications of that privilege. He couldn’t understand how his dad’s opportunity (like my own father’s) to get a college degree after World War II, with its attendant opportunity for advancement, was denied to black veterans, so the post-war boom left them behind. He couldn’t understand how, because of red-lining, his family had an opportunity to live in better neighborhoods, with better schools, than an equally-placed black one. And he doesn’t want his grand-kids to learn this because they might feel bad. Teachers don’t teach to shame kids. This is a myth devised by those who believe that a rose-colored view of our history will shield our children from some manufactured trauma that the truth will unveil. That is ridiculous. I’m of German ancestry. I did just fine learning about World War II. My son learned about men’s subjugation of women without needing any therapy. White students are not so fragile that we must shield them from the truth about the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. Just the opposite is true. We need to teach all our children that our places in this world are due to our drive, our brains, and our luck–and also teach them about the accidents of our history, including our race, gender, place of birth, and time. We must be wary of the child who believes that their own bootstraps, however broken or worn, are solely responsible for their upward (or downward) mobility. Indeed, it is the most important lesson we can teach if we strive for a more just and caring world.

For Immediate Release February 10, 2022 media@4PublicEducation.org FAIRFAX, Virginia—Holly Hazard, Chair of 4 Public Education, a Virginia-based public education advocacy group, is announcing the group’s launch during her Community Participation speaker slot at tonight’s Fairfax County Public School Board meeting - 7PM - Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Rd. Falls Church, VA. 4 Public Education is a grassroots organization founded by a team of community leaders in response to increasing attacks on public education. 4 Public Education supports and promotes the right of every child to an exceptional public education that is welcoming, inclusive, safe, relevant, and nurturing. 4 Public Education advocates for public schools at school board meetings, before local and state legislative bodies, curates research related to the importance of public school education, and defends public school education wherever opponents surface, while demanding truth and civility in every discussion. Holly Hazard states, “Negative forces are at work today to undermine our democratic system of government by using our public education system to divide us, terrorize elected officials, and destroy our collective commitment to our public education students. 4 Public Education will inform and engage communities; support educators and policymakers who are committed to freedom of speech, equity and inclusion; bring back truth and civility to conversations about education; and create a community of informed voters who embrace truth in our education system.” “Strong public schools are an important foundation of our democracy,” said Rose Conde, a 4 Public Education founder and a mother of Fairfax County Public School students. “I want my children to learn in an environment where every child is nurtured, challenged, and inspired. Public schools are our best hope of leveling the playing field and ensuring our democratic ideals are passed along to the next generation.” 4 Public Education welcomes parents, community members and advocates to join us in building a strong base to help protect our public schools. When all students’ needs are met, our society benefits from a successful workforce, vibrant culture, and healthy, resilient individuals and families. -end- ABOUT 4PE: 4PE is a grassroot organization founded in 2021 by a team of community leaders in response to increasing attacks on public education. 4PE supports and promotes the right of every child to an exceptional education that is welcoming, inclusive, safe, relevant, and nurturing. 4PE informs and engages communities to champion these values in public education.

Today we launch an initiative with purpose and care: we champion the American ideal of public schools as the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and the right of every child to an exceptional public education. The precept of a free and just society is grounded in an educated populous. When scholars discuss the three or four pillars of democracy, they may list separation of powers, rule of law, a free press, fundamental human rights or elections. However, these are outcomes of a culture that holds up education as sacrosanct. Without this, the pillars crumble because, as history has shown again and again, an ignorant, biased, or mis-informed people will easily be led by the will of a despot, the greed of a corporation, or the frenzy of the self-righteous. Dark forces are at work today to undermine our democratic system of government by targeting not just the voter, or the political class, but by using our public education system to troll unsuspecting parents, divide us, terrorize elected officials and destroy our collective commitment to public education. For some, the cost of education (which can be 50% of some government budgets) is too high and untenable. For others, the lure of the billions of dollars taxpayers invests is too attractive to leave to educators; that treasure trove is waiting to be mined by corporate interests so they can commodify public education, cut costs and value, and hand over the spoils to their stockholders. For still others, this fight isn’t about education at all. We could as easily be at war over climate change or religion. For them this is simply about sullying the reputation of the quality of our schools (Virginia is consistently ranked as the 4th among the top five best school system in the country) in enough parents’ minds so that they will vote for the candidate, any candidate, who will save their children from their fantasy of indoctrination, shame or fear. They use tactics like conflating American history with shaming our kids, creating fear of bathroom use as a means of isolating our LGBTQ+ students, encouraging parents and kids to snitch on their teacher, and also the tried and true grandfather of despotic tools—to ban books that inspire controversy. We ask that you raise your hand in support of public education. Please join us as we celebrate the amazing opportunities our schools provide each child to live up to their potential. Please support us as we advocate for the principle that public education is the fabric that brings Americans together by giving us a common understanding of science, civic engagement, history and kindness. We are excited to champion the ideals of our founding fathers and to remind people that the gift of education is not only the great leveler in a free and open society.