Raina Fisher

Through the Looking Glass

We forge our bond through the fires of tragedy, and we carve our code in stone and steel.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 19 states took up the mantle and etched “In God We Trust” on all public-school buildings. The Virginia school boards were among those to lead the charge and fortify the ties that bind us (Thatcher, 2019).

So, the body at the front of the pack to unite and inspire us back then is the same coalition to craft a corrosive creed to sear in susceptible minds now. It’s out with the old and in with the new.

We peer through a racial prism and see a black-and-white world where sinners and saints are set in stone. The finicky hand of fate deals the cards, and we have to stick with what we get.

On the altar of anti-racism is where the steadfast bend a knee and make a life-long pact to preach a cult-like maxim to brainwash our youth. In the picture book, Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higgenbotham, a second-grader can make a deal with the devil — the graphic is symbolic for a white child (Damon, 2020).

Story time is the perfect time to plant the seed in their ear. The lesson is to guide the listener at a steady pace. And it is a launch pad for the long journey up ahead.

In the main, this is just one piece to a larger puzzle. “Reading Is Resistance” gives the activist a chance to train her own social justice warrior.

It is all well and good to fight the ills and evils in the world. With that said, we need to draw a line in the sand and point out that a radical is not a protestor.

Our kids do not catch the bus for a drill sergeant to whisk them off to boot camp. In the spirit of the picket sign, it may be a clever move to teach them to read and write out of the gate.

The anchors at NBC weave a web of tall tales on critical race theory as a mere figment — much like Antifa, no doubt. The spin doctors peddle it as a racist dog whistle for the right to galvanize the calvary to the frontlines of a culture war, yet the Virginia Board of Education begs to differ.

An overview of the minutes from the meetings on “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Culturally Responsive Practices” is on their website under the guise of African American history. We don’t have to delve deep to ferret out fact from fable. With a quick scan, we find the guidance comes straight out of the pages of White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (AAHEC, 2020).

Schools collaborate with the authors of critical race theory and recommend materials rife with the tenets for educators to intertwine in a strict outline. Pedagogy centers on the way a teacher teaches. It does not focus on how or what the pupil learns.

The dogma seeps from her bones to flow through the course work. So, there is no need for them to have a book when it is in every aspect of their study from K-12.

Fans of the doctrine think the faultfinders’ shudder to stare at our checkered past in the face. While we may carry a torch for the majesty of the land we love, our flame burns bright for the luminaries who came before us to light the way in the midst of our darkest hour.

There is a haunted house of horrors in our history. The atrocities paint a disturbing picture of what human beings are capable of, but the consensus from the majority is to tell it straight — the good, the bad and the ugly. There is no need to sugar coat it or to water it down.

We should not try to silence their voice. The young and the old alike need to hear the story and learn from them to pave a better path forward.

With all that said, the devil is in the details: empathy is the weapon in this pitched battle to pit one race against the other. It is emotional warfare to brand victim or oppressor on our kids with a red-hot iron like a scarlet letter, and it’s bound to leave a scar on them. There is a way to lift one up without having to knock the other down.

I came home with scrapes on my knees like any other rough-and-tumble kid. I can hear my mom tell me over and over not to pick at it or it is not going to heal. For all the little life lessons that transcend time, it amazes me to think of the grownups who scrape off the outer layer of the wound with a razor blade to hamper it from ever being able to heal.

The root of all evil is the foremost factor which spurs them to stoke the flame and deepen the divide. The sky is the limit, from book sales to funding to mandatory training.

But the for-hire ideologs who push this poison for a living are the ones raking in the dough. To bridge the gap will spell disaster for ratings and click bait. An insatiable hunger for power comes in a close second to money. In their eye, it is worth it to stir the pot, if it means more votes.

We want our young people to be proficient in a range of studies, yet we are failing them on a massive scale. The reading rate in D.C. is a pitiful 38%. As sad as this might be, it is 3% higher than the rate in Tennessee.

The stark disparity that we ought to focus on is with wealthy and poor school districts. The math-is-racist card is a glaring reminder on why a fool shouldn’t teach.

 

RAINA FISHER is a child activist, writer and psychologist writing a memoir on parental alienation. She lives on County Home Road near Paris; her email address is rainafisher@hotmail.com.

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