In an apparent PR counter-attack, the Zinn Education Project is soliciting black parents in Loudoun County, Virginia to tell a friendly reporter why they support the controversial Critical Race-style teaching that generated so much protest, and “feel overlooked and invisible in the uproar as they’ve watched ‘parents’ become a synonym for mostly white parents.”
This after the smackdown of proponents of CRT in this year’s elections in Virginia (and elsewhere) that resulted from mass protest of CRT nationwide. The protests over controversial lessons on race and racism in America in Loudoun County, Virginia reached a fever pitch in 2021, catapulting the issue of CRT into the national consciousness.
The backlash against these controversial lessons led to widespread school board protests, the Biden administration investigating perceived threats to school board members by so-called domestic terrorists, and a tectonic shift in electoral results as voters rejected candidates who backed CRT. One Loudoun County teacher resigned, saying she no longer wanted to be a cog in their politicized machine.
Now, one of the main organizations pushing school districts to adopt these radical lesson plans is fighting back. Teaching For Change is a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. that advocates “Building social justice starting in the classroom.” They have an entire unit called the Zinn Education Project, based on Howard Zinn’s far-left book, A People’s History of the United States. The Zinn Education Project, they say, “is a collaboration between Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.” The site lists educator resources such as:
In an email obtained by Legal Insurrection, Teaching for Change exclusively solicits black parents in Loudoun County to tell a journalist why they support their efforts to teach about race/racism in public schools (emphasis added):
Dear teachers signed up at the Zinn Ed Project and other friends of ZEP,An excellent journalist we work with is writing a story about “Black parents who support Virginia schools teaching about race/racism and who feel overlooked and invisible in the uproar as they’ve watched ‘parents’ become a synonym for mostly white parents.”She has a number of interviews completed already, but wants to add the voice of an African American parent in Loudoun County. It would only take about 15 to 20 minutes of the person’s time and would help give voice to a perspective that has been missing from most media coverage to date.As she notes, “Obviously Black parents aren’t a monolith; but this piece is meant to serve as a corrective to the current narrative of white parents hysterical over schools forcing their children to learn about race/racism. I want to give the mic to Black parents to speak on how they feel about their kids learning anglicized, whitewashed history.”If you know an African American parent in or around Loudoun County who might be willing to respond to this request ASAP, please let me know and I can introduce you or the parent directly to the reporter.And while some of you may wear hats as both teacher and parent, in this case she is looking for parents who are not teachers so that the two are not conflated.
Legal Insurrection reached out to the author of the email at Teaching For Change for comment, with the following questions:
- Can you confirm that you are exclusively seeking African American parents to comment on their support for Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Loudoun County schools?
- Can you explain why African American parents feel “overlooked and invisible in the uproar as they’ve watched ‘parents’ become a synonym for mostly white parents?”
- Would you say you’ve received more responses supportive of CRT in Loudoun County Schools, or more responses opposed?
- Would you mind sharing with us the name of the excellent journalist who is covering this story for you, and where will this article be published?
LI received no response as of this writing
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Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds, and on Gab at @RealJeffReynolds.
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