This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the dismissal by NBC’s Chuck Todd of parent-led opposition to the teaching of critical race theory in schools.
“It’s manufactured,” he said, brushing aside all the protests, even many near Washington where Todd reports from, of public school parents lining up to oppose CRT. His Meet the Press guest, pollster Cornell Belcher, went further, blaming former President Trump and “tribalism.”
In fact, polls show that even in the liberal Washington suburbs, the majority oppose teaching the revisionism that America is basically racist.
From the roundtable on the June 20 Meet the Press, with comments first from PBS NewsHour chief correspondent Amna Nawaz and Republican pollster Brad Todd:
AMNA NAWAZ: Yeah. And specific to this idea of critical race theory, I have to tell you, I just spent some time reporting on this county in Virginia about an hour outside of Washington. And to your point, this is something that is mobilizing people and resonating very deeply. It was about a 100 degree day. Dozens and dozens and dozens of parents, mostly white, in this largely affluent county, showed up to a school board meeting, for many of them, the very first school board meeting they’d ever attended, specifically because of this one issue.
BRAD TODD: That’s important to note, that you mentioned critical race theory a couple times. This is a parent-led backlash at the grassroots level.
CHUCK TODD: It’s manufactured, and then sort of seems to have been lit, the fire was lit.
BRAD TODD: I disagree. I think it started because parents have had it with the education bureaucracy after COVID. They’re fed up with it. They tend to trust Democrats when it comes to education funding, but they trust Republicans on education accountability. I think that what the backlash you’re seeing on critical race theory in schools is another example of parents trying to hold educators accountable.
NBC ‘Journalist’ Furious That Critical Race Theory Critics Are Doing Better Journalism Than She ishttps://t.co/BENWKXtrI5
— The Federalist (@FDRLST) June 18, 2021
CORNELL BELCHER: It’s coordinated. It’s aggressive. It’s intentional, right? This is, this is part of the tribalism play. The critical race theory is yet another tool in the racial tribal boogeyman’s toolbox to drive and inflame tribalism, which Republicans think helps them in elections. This is Trump 2.0. This is, it’s a continuation of this, right? Critical race theory is an, an arcane sort of ideal. Why is it front and center right now? The same reason that Mitch McConnell attacks Stacey Abrams when she came out for the voting bill. It is racial. It is tribalism. We’ve seen it grow under Trump. And this is part and partial of it. And they think this helps ignite their base. There’s no way this is not grassroots. And, Brad, you know this is organized and is being paid for.
CHUCK TODD: But, you know, Ashley-
BRAD TODD: We’re not very good at organizing anything on our side.
CORNELL BELCHER: You all are better than us.
Media Research Center Vice President Brent Baker explains our weekly pick: “Typical of arrogant news media figures, dismissing grassroots concerns as ‘manufactured’ and racist, as if on their own parents can’t recognize extremist racial teaching that will further divide the country. And it takes chutzpah for Belcher to accuse conservatives of ‘Trump 2.0’ and employing ‘the racial tribal boogeyman’s toolbox to drive and inflame tribalism,’ when liberals have spent the last months racializing efforts to pass voter integrity laws by calling them ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE screams.
