Far-Right Fury: The Political Manipulation of White Grievance
The G-Man Interviews: Alan Singer
(with Host & Executive Producer Gary Glennell Toms)
Hofstra University Professor Explains Why Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs Are Under Attack and Who Is Responsible
Click on the white arrow in the audio bar to listen to the podcast.
Welcome.
The following excerpt is from a May 2024 Daily Kos article entitled “The Political Manipulation of White Grievance.”
“Right-wing money, institutes, and foundations are behind the political manipulation of white grievance about the transformation of American society stirring up and exploiting covert and overt racism. It funds campaigns challenging affirmative action as anti-white, even though the largest beneficiary of affirmative action has been white women, and as a result, the income of white families.
“In an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Steven Brint, a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of California at Riverside, documented the right-wing forces behind efforts to suppress academic freedom in American schools and the war on mythologized Critical Race Theory and the teaching of supposedly ‘divisive concepts.’ Brint accuses the political right of perverting the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, passed after the Civil War to protect the rights of newly freed African Americans, as a vehicle to protect white people from efforts to rectify racial inequality in the United States.
“Brint found that in 2021, Republican controlled state legislatures began proposing almost identical legislation banning what they claimed was the teaching of ‘divisive concepts’ in public schools and universities and the promotion of racial and ethnic diversity in hiring. Brint believes the war against Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was a response to the protest movement following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.”
The article was written by Alan Singer, a social studies educator in the Department of Teaching, Literacy and Technology at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. Professor Singer has taught at a number of secondary schools in New York City, including Franklin K. Lane High School and Edward R. Murrow High School. He is the author of “Education Flashpoints: Fighting for America’s Schools,” which is based on his award-winning Huffington Post blogs, “Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach: A Handbook for Secondary School Teachers,” “Social Studies For Secondary Schools,” and “New York and Slavery, Time to Teach the Truth.” He joins me to discuss his article in greater detail and why he believes it’s crucial in addressing and understanding racial discord in America.
The interview was conducted on May 28.
Photo credit: Hofstra University