Richland school leaders consider rejecting controversial ‘race and curriculum' policy
On Tuesday, the board will consider cutting Policy 2360 — titled 'Race and the Curriculum' — because it's not backed up by any Washington state code or laws.
The policy was championed by former school board members Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams before they were removed from office in a recall in 2023 for voting to violate the state's COVID mask laws.
The neighboring Kennewick School Board adopted a similar race policy months earlier as a way to take a stand against the issue of 'critical race theory.'
That was done despite Washington school leaders being adamant that school districts are not teaching critical race theory to students or teachers.
The Richland policy that was adopted said the Richland board believed the history of all races should be valued, and that students should not be taught that their race, economic status or skin color determines their success or moral character.
It also says students must learn 'factual history' from a nonpartisan stance, free from political biases; that materials should be 'free of all forms of indoctrination;' and 'while students are taught that racism exists today, they will not be indoctrinated in the belief that the U.S. is fundamentally or systematically racist.'
Bird, then the board's lone Black member, said at the time of adoption that the policy would be 'setting students up for success.'
But others who spoke at the meeting said the policy's tone was harsh on teachers.
Krista Calvin, an elementary teacher and president of the district's teacher union, said at the time it painted teachers with a 'very broad brush' and furthered a 'nationwide agenda' to villainize teachers.
The 'critical race theory' term emerged in the 1970s in legal circles as a way to examine the law on how it serves the interests of people in power at the expense of others.
Conservatives in recent years have used 'CRT' as a broad umbrella term to encompass progressive ways of re-examining the U.S.'s troubled history with slavery, racism and civil rights.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Where D.C. crime is bad, residents question Trump's motives
'If Trump is genuinely concerned about safety of D.C. residents, I would see National Guard in my neighborhood,' said Karen Lake, 62, a lawyer who has lived in Congress Heights since 2017, in the far eastern corner of the diamond-shaped district. 'I'm not seeing it, and I don't expect to see it. I don't think Trump is bringing in the National Guard to protect Black babies in Southeast.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump might have found a more sympathetic audience in the distant southeastern quadrant of the city, far away from the National Mall, the White House, or the restaurants and clubs of 16th Street and 14th Street, where a young employee of the Department of Government Efficiency recently was beaten in an assault that raised the city's criminal profile to presidential level. Advertisement In neighborhoods such as Congress Heights and Washington Highlands, where the District of Columbia abuts Prince Georges County, Maryland, the city's Black working class struggles with the twin challenges that have diminished the ranks of what was once, when Washington still had a majority-Black population, affectionately called Chocolate City. There's crime, for sure, but also gentrification driving Black residents into suburban Maryland and Virginia. Advertisement In Ward 8, where Congress Heights is found, there have been 38 homicides this year, according to data from the District of Columbia government. That's almost 10 times as many as Ward 2, where the National Mall is located. But when Trump on Monday described the district as 'dirty' and 'disgusting,' menaced by 'roving mobs of wild youth,' he offended some who otherwise might have been more receptive to his 'law-and-order' pitch. 'I know that we're not those things,' said Le'Greg Harrison, who lives in Congress Heights and said he is supportive of more law enforcement, so long as Black residents aren't the target. 'I know we have a beautiful city.' Trump did not mention Congress Heights by name, but residents say they are well aware of the community's crime statistics and the challenges their neighborhood faces. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said that federal law enforcement agents had increased their presence in all of the city's neighborhoods, including those in Ward 8. In parts of the ward, she said, arrests have been made in connection with illegal guns and drugs, as well as murder, cruelty to the elderly and other offenses. 'President Trump is committed to making D.C. safe again for all residents,' she said in a written statement. On a humid, overcast afternoon in Washington this week, hungry patrons, mostly Black, pulled up to the retail space known as Sycamore & Oak, which Harrison helped bring to Congress Heights. They grabbed a bite from Black-owned restaurants and discussed what they called Trump's takeover of their city. Advertisement Among the residents of Congress Heights and other neighborhoods of Southeast Washington, the apparent new order has been met with a sense of both incredulity and inevitability. Despite the area's challenges, residents say they take pride in their neighborhood and their city and feel disrespected by the president's portrayal. They feel unseen and misunderstood, their challenges reduced to crime statistics, their children cast as threats, and their culture caricatured. They don't reject safety measures outright. Gerald Walker, a 38-year-old Congress Heights resident, said federal intervention was 'definitely needed.' The National Guard, the FBI, a federalized District of Columbia police force -- 'the more the better.' But many said they were by no means seeking out additional federal involvement in their neighborhoods. And some said they resented being treated as political piñatas in a larger national narrative. It has 'nothing to do with crime in D.C.,' said Ronnie McLeod, 68, a retired bus driver and lifelong Washingtonian who lives in Congress Heights. 'Crime is already down!' 'It's got something to do with something else,' he said. Most of all, many Congress Heights residents say they do not trust Trump's motives. 'He's very out of touch with D.C. people in general,' said Michelle Lee, 42, who lives in Southeast Washington. He may know the political culture of the city, may even have a passing understanding of the ritzier parts of town, she said. Lee, seeming to address the president personally, added, 'You have no idea what an actual resident of D.C. does, goes through.' Advertisement It's not the first time a violent crime against a young, white political staffer has prompted outrage from the federal government. In 1992, an aide to Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama was murdered on Capitol Hill. In the aftermath, Shelby forced a referendum to restore the death penalty in Washington; the initiative was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. Some residents of Southeast described the president's decision to declare a crime emergency and federalize the Metropolitan Police Department for a 30-day period as a power grab or a way to appease affluent white Washingtonians who are anxious about crime. (Any extension would have to be granted by Congress.) Some residents saw the move as a sly way to further gentrify what is left of affordable Washington, by striking fear in residents of low-income neighborhoods that federalized police officers will harass them, or worse. 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Advertisement Like opponents of Trump on national cable talk shows and social media, residents of Southeast Washington said the president's message of 'law and order' was undermined when he pardoned even the most violent assailants who attacked police officers during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They also brought up his own criminality and raised the possibility that he was deploying forces in Washington to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. But the residents of Southeast Washington have taken the president's moves personally. Trump, they said, is using them. Older residents remember a time when crime was much worse. 'I grew up in the town in the '90s, when we were, quote unquote, the murder capital for almost 10 years,' said Harrison, 40. 'I wouldn't call what we have a state of emergency,' he said. Still, any deployment of extra enforcement must be done with sensitivity for Black citizens, he added. Many Black communities have said for years that they want to be protected from crime, but they don't want to be aggressively targeted for simply being Black. The president's orders have only underscored those positions. 'My father was murdered in my home when I was 15 years old,' said Erica Champion, 28, who was born and raised in Southeast Washington. 'I watched him die.' Champion said she believed the federal government should step in to prevent violent crime, but she is concerned about abuse of power from law enforcement officers and the White House. 'I just don't want him to use it as a means to make it a dictatorship,' she said. Advertisement Local residents said a more comprehensive strategy to combat crime in the city would involve bigger investments in recreation centers, arts and youth job programs. But that will be difficult after Republicans in Congress forced a $1 billion hole in the district's budget. Trump's federal government layoffs already have Washington officials slashing revenue projections. This article originally appeared in
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Do Cuomo and Adams secretly want Mamdani to win?
I have worked with a number of very successful candidates and politicians. The one really invaluable skill they all had in common was that they understood basic math. They knew that two plus two often leads to victory, and that two minus one — or three — usually leads to defeat. Addition, subtraction, division. Simple. Unless, to paraphrase a line from 'Top Gun,' 'Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash.' There is no doubt that many New York City residents — as well as countless people around the country and world who now fear for that iconic city's future — have been shaken by a recent Siena College poll showing that far-left socialist Zohran Mamdani leads the race to become the next mayor by 19 points over his next-closest opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Behind them are Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa with 12 percent and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams with 7 percent. Mamdani has the gift of basic math working massively in his favor. In this particular case, division. Without doing a thing, the cliché 'divide and conquer' has been the most important campaign strategy in his quiver. Other than offering the socialist panacea of 'a chicken in every pot' — free stuff to constituents who really know nothing about him — it is the one factor that may make him the next mayor of New York. Mamdani doesn't have to pay for it, focus-group it or expend any political capital. He simply has to sit back and prepare as the respective egos of Cuomo and Adams hand him the keys to Gracie Mansion — and the four years he will need to bring New York City to its knees. Why? Because Cuomo and Adams are now engaged in an ego-fueled blinking contest to see who might exit the race first. That, or they secretly want Mamdani to win. Either way, it's Mamdani with the Cheshire Cat-like smile. This is proving to be an interesting election in that the winning candidate will be the one least despised by the voters. Each of the four major candidates have high negatives and elicit harsh criticism from various blocks of voters. Sadly, forgotten in this high-profile contest between dueling egos are the millions of people in the city who are either barely getting by or suffering in the throes of dysfunction and despair — ironically enough, often caused by the failed policies of previous ego-driven mayors. Many of the residents of New York City who are struggling daily with poverty, crime and lack of education for their children are Black or minority. Ah, but we are seemingly not allowed to talk about that. Many on the left — with a huge assist from Democratic leadership, the media, academia and teachers unions — have gamed it so if you even try to point out the failings of a major American city such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington or Baltimore and who is running it, you risk being labeled a racist, bigot or a misogynist. I don't care what a mayor looks like or how they identify sexually. The only thing I care about is the suffering of millions of constituents. Life for those people is beyond brutal in many cases — an irrefutable fact you almost never hear about, because that would run counter to the various narratives of the left's noise machine. For example, let's look at another major American city that is a poster child for failure, massive dysfunction and turning its back on those most in need: Chicago. A city in which, as I have pointed out in the past, more than 40,000 men, women and children — almost all minority and from the inner city — have been murdered over the last six decades. Extrapolate that number across multiple American inner cities and you have our nation's greatest failing … ever. Except, 'shhhh,' once again, you are not supposed to talk about it. New York City is Chicago on steroids. It has multiple — fixable — problems and life-crushing emergencies across the five boroughs. Unfortunately for those most at-risk inhabitants, many of the people who can help them are entitled elites who exist in bubbles of luxury and safety floating far above the 'unwashed masses' of the city. Two of those elites are Cuomo and Adams. To them, it seems as if the title of 'mayor' is yet one more trophy they can amass, serving either as a potential stepping stone to higher office or to private sector appointments and riches once the last term is complete. In the meantime, those millions of desperately hurting New Yorkers ignored by the elites had better prepare themselves. If (when) Mamdani wins, things will get much worse. 'Free stuff' is the false promise to grab the vote of those New Yorkers. Once Mamdani secures that vote, it will only be about what is best for him and his socialist movement going forward. Those at-risk residents won't even be a fleeting memory.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Notice a theme to Trump's planned takeovers of cities? These Black mayors do.
President Trump has warned he might send the National Guard to other cities. The Black mayors of those cities vow to push back. OAKLAND, California ‒ Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and other officials in this California city are treating President Donald Trump's warning that he might send the National Guard there as more than just an offhand comment. They're bracing for a fight. Lee and other Black mayors, along with civil rights activists and lawmakers across the country are increasingly concerned about Trump singling out cities like Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, DC. All of them are led by Black mayors and all of those leaders are Democrats. 'We just can't help but feel in some kind of way that we're being specifically profiled," said Van R. Johnson, president of the African American Mayors Association and mayor of Savannah, Georgia. 'That's not right. That's not fair. We want our federal government to work with us. We're just a phone call away.' New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Trump's takeover of DC's policing a 'blatantly racist and despicable power grab.' 'It won't stop in Washington, DC," she said in a statement. 'The stakes are high not just for Washington, DC, but for the future of democracy in every corner of this country.' Trump used his presidential powers in early August to take over policing in Washington, DC, complaining crime is rampant and officials haven't done enough to address it ‒ despite statistics showing crime in the district is at a 30-year-low. Trump also threatened to deploy the National Guard to help fight crime in other communities. "We're going to take back our capital," Trump said Aug. 11. "And then we'll look at other cities also." He called it a "historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse." Different visions for tackling urban problems White House officials argue the nation's capital is filthy and that Trump has seen that firsthand. In March, Trump signed an executive order titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful," which sets up a task force of federal officials to clean up the city. 'If Democrats had any common sense, they would follow President Trump's lead to crack down on violent crime that has plagued our nation's capital – and Democrat-run cities across the country," Taylor Rogers, White House assistant press secretary, said in an email to USA TODAY. "Instead of criticizing President Trump's popular, tough-on crime policies, they should focus on cleaning up their own cities which are some of the most dangerous places in America." Many big cities are run by Democrats, but both violent and property crimes have fallen nationwide in recent years, federal data shows. Civil rights leaders criticized Trump for portraying cities, especially those led by Black mayors, as crime ridden. "Painting a false picture of the city's largest Black-majority cities, led by Black mayors, is part of the Trump administration's ongoing strategy to exploit racial distrust for political gain,'' Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and George Lambert, president of the Greater Washington Urban League President, said in a statement. If Trump really wanted to help cities, several mayors argued, he wouldn't be cutting funding for anti-poverty programs and community policing efforts. 'We need to have this federal government invest in cities like Oakland instead of disinvesting in us,' said Lee, who spent 27 years in Congress, including during Trump's first term. 'It doesn't make any sense what this government is doing if they want to see cities not just survive but thrive.' More: 'DC has a right to govern itself': Civil rights leaders denounce Trump's takeover move 'Reasonable people can look at the optics' Trump has yet to publicly bring up race in his criticisms of those cities, but experts point to his history of racially disparaging remarks, including during his first term when he questioned why the United States would let in people from countries like Haiti and parts of Africa, which he referred to using an expletive. Trump also called Baltimore, a predominately Black city, a 'disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.' While the president didn't specifically mention race then or in his recent references, it's clearly implied, said Jason Williams, a professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Williams said urban centers historically have been code for talking about Black people or communities of color. 'He doesn't necessarily have to say it in order for his base to know what the implications are,' said Williams, adding that most people know DC has a significant Black population. 'It does give him some plausible deniability. Not that I think this president would care." Oakland's Lee told USA TODAY she finds Trump's actions "fearmongering and diversionary." "A lot of what he does is to provoke unrest and that gives him an excuse, so we have to be prepared and ready to fight," she said. Oakland has a contingency plan if Trump tries to send in National Guard, Lee added. When asked if she could provide any details, the mayor replied, 'I'm not at liberty to do that right now. That would be inappropriate at this point.' In DC, Trump justified his actions by citing a recent overnight assault of a former federal official and in Los Angeles, he called in the National Guard to quell civil protests spurred by the aggressive immigration crackdown. He might take advantage of other isolated incidents to target other big cities, said Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy at the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization focused on criminal justice. "It's the red meat that Trump uses to rile up the MAGA base and it is effective as bait only when it's left unchecked," Rahman said. 'We've been here before' Federal officials have sometimes used their powers to undermine Black urban leadership and portray them as chaotic and incompetent or crime prone, Williams said. He pointed to examples such as the urban renewal of the 1960s and 1970s when federal officials displaced Black neighborhoods with highways and a century earlier, after Reconstruction, when governments dismantled post-Civil War gains. 'We've been here before with federal overreach and an attempt to try to roll back hard-won wins," Williams said. The nation's capital has long been in the crosshairs of Trump and GOP congressional leaders. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold funds if Bowser didn't remove a Black Lives Matter mural from a street near the White House. 'DC has always been this sort of political football for the Republicans,' Williams said. While some Black mayors are concerned about their cities becoming a Trump target, they're continuing their work to combat crime, Johnson, the Savannah mayor, said. 'We're worried about fighting our federal government as well as fighting crime," he said. 'It's a continuous 'what if, what next,' which we think are distractions from what the American people are really talking about.' Johnson said the ideologies and approaches of some Black mayors may be different than Trump's, but that doesn't mean they can't be partners on issues, including crime. 'We understand elections. We're politicians ourselves," he said. 'We're charged with playing with whoever is on the field. When Donald Trump became president, he became president of our cities too.' Contributing: Phillip Bailey
