Race

A water drop and ripples

Maybe a reminder is necessary on “Latinx.”

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2021 |

Enforced use of the term, “Latinx,” is exactly the cultural imperialism that progressives claim to oppose.  As usual, they only actually oppose the forced spread of ideas that don’t jibe with their own beliefs.  Just look at how Marisa Penaloza writes about a Pew Research Center survey finding “only 3% [of Latinos] say they use…

A water drop and ripples

Data on Antisemitism in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs brings forth the obvious scam.

By Justin Katz | December 20, 2021 |

Here’s an interesting finding from Heritage, which prompted 2,000 rabbis to call for an end to DEI programs on campuses: The Heritage Foundation researchers reviewed the Twitter feeds of 741 DEI officials at 65 different U.S. universities to determine their attitudes on Israel and China. They found that DEI staff “tweeted, retweeted, or liked almost…

The ACI in Cranston

Prison statistics probably aren’t a stronghold for progressives.

By Justin Katz | December 14, 2021 |

Somewhere in the wilds of Rhode Island progressive social media in the past couple months, I came across the Rhode Island Department of Corrections’ “Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Population Report.” I think the context in which it was deployed like a statistical weapon was to support the claim that inmates at the state Adult Correctional…

A young woman shushes

Critical race theory enters with tilted treatment of “funds of knowledge.”

By Justin Katz | December 14, 2021 |

The method is to train teachers with theories and techniques that are reasonable on their face, but that are joined with ideological preferences that are communicated in hidden assumptions. 

Children at sunset

COVID might have brought a new normal in enrollment, but it didn’t change racial trends.

By Justin Katz | December 13, 2021 |

One of the questions on my mind when I thought to create the Rhode Island Public Schools October Enrollment application in Anchor Rising’s People’s Data Armory was the effect of COVID and shutdowns.  As the chart below shows, enrollment in 2020 was down about 3% from the prior year, and it slid a bit rather than…

Whiteboard harassment of Ramona Bessinger

How is the Rhode Island Foundation permitted to push racist policies in Providence schools?

By Justin Katz | December 11, 2021 |

Lean back a moment and clear your eyes.  If you’re older than thirty, recall lessons you learned when you were young — that it is always wrong to discriminate against people based entirely on the color of their skin.  Now read this short paragraph: One of the [Providence school] district’s current incentives, which will continue…

A toy school bus

RI charter schools are a haven for low-income minority students.

By Justin Katz | December 9, 2021 |

Charter schools offer a prime example of how the easy access to data enabled by Anchor Rising’s People’s Data Armory can shed light on public debate. Listening to public debate about charter schools and how they take money from regular district schools, one gets the impression of advantaged families drawing resources away from disadvantaged ones,…

A water drop and ripples

More audience-guilting, this time from an NPR host.

By Justin Katz | December 8, 2021 |

Without making too much of it, I thought this was interesting.  NPR host Sam Sanders received a letter from listener saying he (Sanders) is distracting in the amount that he “grunts and murmurs (‘Uh!’, ‘Mmm…’, ‘Ahhh…’) when a guest is speaking.”  Perhaps because the letter writer went a bit far in likening it to the…

Statue of justice

Woke bullying from the RI ACLU indicates a strategy or pattern.

By Justin Katz | December 7, 2021 |

Yesterday, a post in this space looked at the way in which Trinity Rep leveraged woke identity politics to bully a Providence Journal theater critic over a critique in her generally positive review of A Christmas Carol. Today, let’s consider a letter that RI ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown (a white man) and Policy Associate Hannah Stern…

A white student looks away

Westerly’s teacher training shows how “Culturally Responsive Teaching” smuggles radical racism into the classroom.

By Justin Katz | December 3, 2021 |

In October, the national good-government group Judicial Watch published training documentation from the Westerly, Rhode Island, school department received from a whistleblower.  The training was developed by Rhode Island’s Highlander Institute, which recently transformed from a legitimate educational organization helping students with “learning differences” into one of the state’s leading promoters of the racist ideals…