#racial equity

[hombrepolitico]

Race Equality

From this nice collection via @mathymatical

[justinspoliticalcorner]

US public schools burned up nearly $3.2bn fending off rightwing culture attacks – report

Researchers surveyed 467 schools and found funds for learning improvements were diverted to security, PR and attorneys in wake of targeting

Lois Beckett at The Guardian:

Attacks targeting American public schools over LGBTQ+ rights and education about race and racism cost those schools an estimated $3.2bn in the 2023-24 school year, according to a new report by education professors from four major American universities. The study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the financial impact of rightwing political campaigns targeting school districts and school boards across the US. In the wake of the pandemic, these campaigns first attempted to restrict how American schools educate students about racism, and then increasingly shifted to spreading fear among parents about schools’ policies about transgender students and LGBTQ+ rights.

Researchers from UCLA, UT Austin, UC Riverside and American University surveyed 467 public school superintendents across 46 US states, asking them about the direct and indirect costs of dealing with these volatile campaigns. Those costs included everything from out-of-pocket payments to hire to lawyers or additional security, to the staff member hours devoted to responding to disinformation on social media, addressing parent concerns and replying to voluminous public records requests focused on the district’s teachings on racism, gender and sexuality. The campaigns that focused on public schools’ policies about transgender students often included lurid false claims about schools trying to change students’ gender or “indoctrinating” them into becoming gay. This disinformation sparked harassment and threats against individual teachers, school board members and administrators, with some of the fury coming from within local communities, and even more angry calls, emails and social media posts flooding in from conservative media viewers across the country.

In addition to the financial costs of responding to these targeted campaigns, the study revealed other dynamics, the researchers said. “The attack on public officials as pedophiles was one I heard again and again, from people across extremely different parts of the country: rural, urban, suburban. It speaks to the way that this really is a nationalized conflict campaign,” said John Rogers, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the study. The frequency with which both school board members and school superintendents were “being called out as sexual predators – it was really frightening”, Rogers said. Superintendents from across the country told the researchers how these culture battles had affected their schools, and cut into resources they would have preferred to spend on education.

[...] While disagreement, debate and dealing with angry parents are a normal part of local public school administration, the researchers noted, the political campaigns that schools have faced in recent years have been anything but normal. Many of them have been driven by “a small number of active individuals on social media or at school board meetings”, and fueled by misinformation. The school-focused campaigns, which started with claims that elementary and middle schools were harming white students by teaching critical race theory and later shifted to attacks on schools’ policies for transgender students, were nationally organized, with “common talking points” that could be traced back to conservative foundations and rightwing legal organizations, and were intensely amplified by rightwing media coverage, Rogers said.

Public schools across the US burned up nearly $3.2BN worth of money fending off right-wing culture war items such as book bans, anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, anti-student inclusion, and anti-racial equity policies.

See Also:

The Advocate: U.S. public schools lost $3.2 billion fighting conservative culture wars: report

[itsmythang]

I wonder if Groyper News Desk realizes he's admitting that right-wing white conservative men went from brave world traveling conquers to cowardly cucks in just a few short generations?

If Black people were truly as “inferior” as racists claim, why did this country spend centuries creating laws, systems, and barriers specifically designed to block Black education, wealth, voting, movement, ownership, and opportunity?

Why outlaw literacy? Why ban voting? Why enforce segregation? Why destroy thriving Black communities? Why rig housing, lending, and employment?

If we were supposedly so incapable, none of that would’ve been necessary.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

The evidence for two-tier policing

The police guidance is unambiguous and publicly available, so why do so many commentators continue to deny what it says?

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Jun 10, 2026

‘The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’ These words are among the most frequently quoted from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. We see them in memes, in online arguments, repeated endlessly in opinion columns in the national press. The passage has turned into the very thing that Orwell hated the most: a cliché.

Yet ideas become clichés for a reason. So many aspects of Orwell’s novel seem prescient today, not least this tendency among authoritarians to blur the lines between truth and fiction and demand that the population play along. There is no clearer example than what has become known as ‘two-tier policing’. The evidence for it is overwhelming, and yet commentators, journalists, politicians, podcasters, activists and online loudmouths continue to deny it. Once again, the narrative has taken precedence over reality.

The notion that members of the public must be treated differently according to their group identity is not simply a speculative explanation for egregious police conduct. It is explicitly encoded in guidance published by the College of Policing and the NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council). There are numerous recorded interviews with officers who tell us that their job is to investigate and arrest those who have caused offence to particular groups. Multiple whistleblowers have revealed details of training sessions they have been compelled to attend that have instructed them to take a two-tier approach.

But you wouldn’t know any of this had you only read a recent article by Andy Hughes, LBC’s Crime Correspondent. Hughes argues that it is ‘nonsense to say police are told to treat people differently based on their ethnicity’ and claims to have spoken to dozens of officers who have confirmed his view. It seems odd that Hughes does not realise that there is nothing particularly surprising about officers repeating the party line. Far more revealing are those who are speaking out about two-tier policing – none of whom Hughes appears to have spoken to – in spite of the risk to their career. They’re called ‘whistleblowers’ for a reason.

Then there is the police guidance itself. Hughes attempts to shrug off the Police Anti-Racism Commitment on the grounds that he doesn’t understand it:

‘The NPCC guidance says: “Producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences.” I’ve read this section several times, and I still don’t know what it means. The wording is “clumsy”, as the NPCC admits, and police chiefs say they will review the guidance. But to suggest this means every police officer is now told to treat people differently based on race is inaccurate – and dangerous.’

A generous interpretation would be that Hughes simply hadn’t read the following sentences in the guidance, which could not be clearer even for those unfamiliar with the activist jargon.

And there you have it. The ‘Police Anti-Racism Commitment’ explicitly states that officers should treat people differently based on race and that they must reject the principle of equality before the law. Their commitment to racial equity, it says, ‘does not mean treating everyone “the same” or being “colour blind” (racial equality)’. Of course, it’s unlikely that Hughes stopped reading at that point. It’s more plausible that he realised that the document flatly contradicted his narrative and decided to omit the relevant line.

However, the ‘clumsy’ language that Hughes cites (but does not understand) is evidence enough. When the guidance calls for ‘equality of policing outcomes’, it is saying that suspects should be treated differently according to their race in order to reduce disparities. It draws on a principle of Critical Race Theory, that equality of outcome is evidence of unequal treatment. As Ibram X. Kendi puts it, ‘racial inequality is evidence of racist policy’.

It’s the same logic that prevented Valdo Calocane, a paranoid schizophrenic, from being sectioned by the NHS. Having perpetrated a violent crime, mental health staff did not detain him because they were concerned about ‘over-representation of black men’ among those committed. They were simply following the NHS guidelines, but Calocane went on to murder two teenagers and an older man in June 2023. When ‘racial equity’ is adopted as policy, it costs lives.

Let’s have a closer look at the evidence of institutional capture as reflected in the official police guidelines.

The key change in policing practice occurred because of the shift from equality (treating everyone the same) to equity (treating people unequally to ensure equal outcomes). These principles are oppositional, but are frequently presented as synonymous. When Sir William MacPherson wrote his report in 1999 about the racially-motivated murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence six years prior, the need for racial equality was emphasised. This was not a controversial stance, and the vast majority of the public still agree that racism in law enforcement must not be tolerated. 

Twenty-one years after the report, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) submitted written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee for a follow-up inquiry. By this point, there had been a clear shift away from equality and towards equity, although the specific term was not yet used. While the NPCC made a pledge ‘to embed diversity, equality and inclusion into our workforce and into the services provided to communities’, point 9 was perhaps the most significant: ‘We are committed to understanding disparity within policing and to explaining that disparity. If we cannot, we will reform.’

We all understand that disparity of outcome does not automatically mean that there has been unequal treatment. Nobody, for instance, claims that since 96% of the prison population are male, that must mean that sexism against men is embedded into the system. So while black people are represented in prison at roughly three times their share of the population, we cannot assume that this is because of racism in the police force. Tony Sewell, the chair of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in 2021, has persuasively explained how family structure, education and socioeconomic factors can account for the disparity.

In other words, the NPCC was proceeding from a false premise. But it was only after the death of George Floyd in 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter riots and protests that the concept of ‘equity’ became the guiding principle. The Police Race Action Plan, launched in May 2022, opens by explaining that it had been authored in response to an event that had taken place across the Atlantic and in a completely different context of police practices.

‘In the summer of 2020, nations across the globe were rocked by the outpouring of emotion following the murder of George Floyd. It provided a catalyst for the expression of deep concerns about the social injustice experienced by Black people. This was the same in the UK. Although this was a wider expression against societal injustice, it was about policing.’

The document repeatedly referred to the need for ‘equitable’ rather than ‘equal’ treatment. By now the seeds had been thoroughly sown for the abandonment of the principle of equality before the law. By the time we get to the updated Police Race Action Plan of 2025, also produced by the NPCC and the College of Policing, the language is explicit: ‘The police service of England and Wales is committed to anti-racism and racial equity’. Every force in England and Wales has been encouraged to implement this plan, which has led to local forces producing their own likeminded policy guidance. 

In 2025, the Met Police commissioned what it described as ‘two key documents’ - 30 Patterns of Harm and A Structural Companion Guide - as part of its London Race Action Plan. The analysis was based on the highly tenuous premise - expressed as though it were incontestable - that ‘anti-Black harm is not incidental to policing; it is structured into its logic’. On the ideal of police neutrality, the author of the review (Dr Shereen Daniels) had this to say: 

‘Neutrality is often presented as a position of fairness, balance, or objectivity. But in practice, especially in institutions like the Met, neutrality is not neutral. It reflects dominant norms, particularly whiteness, in how risk, credibility, professionalism, and even “evidence” are defined. To claim neutrality is to claim distance from bias. But that distance is not real. It is structurally coded. It hides power while appearing impartial.’

Such dogma was the inevitable result of the ideological capture of the College of Policing and the NPCC, whose Police Race Action Planestablished a new performance framework for law enforcement. This was then filtered down through training, policies and local action plans. Suddenly, officers were being told to acknowledge their ‘white privilege’ when they should have been honing strategies for crime prevention. The influence of this ideology has been undeniable, but that hasn’t stopped many from denying it.

Those who cling to their belief that two-tier policing is a myth have a Sisyphean struggle ahead of them. They will have to explain why all of the relevant guidelines explicitly promote a two-tier system and expect officers to implement it. They will have to account for why so many police officers have described training sessions in which they are instructed to treat suspects according to the principle of equity rather than equality. In short, it is their unenviable task to disprove what the evidence so plainly reveals. Good luck with that.

[jtwb768-babbles]

Trump’s War on Students: How Threatening to Pull School Funding Became the New Political Circus

There are few things in American politics more dangerous than a man with too much power, too little empathy, and a pathological need to perform for the cheap seats. Enter Donald Trump—again. Just when you think the man has exhausted every possible avenue for pettiness, cruelty, and constitutional illiteracy, he finds a new one. This time, it is not migrant families at the border, or the integrity…

Trump’s War on Students: How Threatening to Pull School Funding Became the New Political Circus

[morrigans-crows]

✨ Happy Juneteenth 🖤 Today we mark a turning point in American history: June 19, 1865, the day enslaved Black Americans in Texas were finally informed of their freedom—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. This day, long celebrated in Black communities, has become a nationwide moment for reflection, remembrance, and action.

As witches—rooted in the unseen, the ancestral, and the arcane—we’re called to not only remember but to respond. The spells we cast, the rituals we perform, the intentions we set—all lose meaning if we turn away from injustice.

Juneteenth isn’t just a historical marker. It’s a call to honor Black freedom fighters past and present. It’s a reminder that white supremacy didn’t vanish with emancipation—it evolved.

So what can witches do? 🕯️ Light a candle and name the names of Black ancestors and activists. 📚 Educate yourself—especially if you’re white—and resist the temptation to make comfort your compass. 💸 Support Black-owned businesses, authors, artists, and organizers. 🧹 Cleanse your space—but don’t forget to clear the internal clutter of bias and silence.

There is no magic without justice. There is no freedom without action.

Let today be a spell of remembrance, a ritual of resistance, and a spark for transformation.

🖤 If you’re not sure where to begin, start with this: read the history, pass the mic, and hold space for the grief and joy that Juneteenth represents. And if you’re already doing the work—keep going. The ancestors are watching.

✨ Sign up for my newsletter at www.morriganscrows.com for a 15% off coupon and a 14-page Free Beginner Witch’s Guide to Crystals e-booklet.

[plannedparenthood]

Introducing: #BusinessForBC

Right now, a growing number of businesses are pledging to guarantee birth control coverage for their workers. Why? Because it’s essential health care that helps workers thrive, and because access to birth control fosters more equitable, inclusive working environments. 

Business for Birth Control’s call to action is so important right now, because sexual and reproductive health care is under threat in the U.S. and around the world. Any day now, the Supreme Court will make a decision on two dangerous Trump administration rules that would allow employers and universities — based on their personal objections — to deny birth control coverage to employees and students. And the Trump administration has tried to bully the United Nations to eliminate references to sexual and reproductive health as part of their global COVID-19 plans, ignoring the essential nature of reproductive health care during a pandemic and always. 

Businesses that pledge to be a #BusinessforBC are helping to educate and inspire others in the business community to show their support for accessible birth control for all people. These companies know that access to birth control improves economic and health outcomes. Nearly 90% of women of reproductive age have used contraception in their lifetimes, and access to birth control has been proven to increase education level and wage earning. 

Pledging to guarantee birth control access is part of a larger commitment to racial and gender equity, too: Women of color, especially Black and Indigenous women, face disproportionate barriers to accessing affordable health care. Access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health services is key to addressing historical disparities in unintended pregnancy, maternal mortality rates, and higher rates of breast and cervical cancer. 

Women of color also face greater institutional barriers to promotion in the workplace. Black women and Latinas in the U.S. today earn just over half of what their white male counterparts earn. We have a long way to go, but committing to birth control coverage is one step toward greater racial equity in the workforce and more inclusive economic growth. 

Businesses that have pledged to be a #BusinessforBC include:

Amalgamated Bank

Argent

Bad Robot Productions

CREDO Mobile

Female Quotient

Hims & Hers

Jaya Apparel Group, parent company to Cinq à Sept and Likely

Postmates 

The Helm

The Lede Company

Trillium Asset Management

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Learn more about #BusinessForBC at BusinessForBirthControl.org.

[milkydaze]