Commentary
ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS Guest Columnist
“The Light of the American Dream”
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t long last, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are inching closer and closer each day to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic here in America. We are not quite there yet. There are still 500 of our countrymen dying every day from complications of this insidious virus. But all over the nation, there is a different feeling in the air. There are people in the streets and restaurants. They are talking, hugging, smiling and laughing. It's simple, but it was missing for the last year. We are finally seeing a marked lift in the spirits of the American people, and there are some important lessons we can draw from this. Restaurants have reopened their doors. Public events are being held. Conferences are taking place. Droves of people have voted with their feet for this to happen. They have made the decision that, after giving in to fear for so long, they are ready to reclaim their lives. The American people have stood up and shown that it is time to get back to work and get back to life. In recent days, the CDC has had to scurry to catch up with the reality: Americans who have chosen to get vaccinated, and even many who have not, are largely forgoing mask-wearing and getting back out into the world. The CDC declared something most Americans already had internalized when it decreed on May 13 that those who have been vaccinated don't have to wear a mask even indoors, except in specific situations, such as hospitals, nursing homes and public transportation. This is a prime example of the people leading the way and our health officials following. This was not guidance as much as an admission of the truth. The power of the people is palpable. The belated guidance demonstrated that the people still have the power to shape policy in America, should we
only decide to use it. COVID-19 is real. The death toll has been significant, and the impact on all of us undeniable. The number of lives COVID has claimed in the last year and a half is nothing short of gut-wrenching. At the same time, the hysteria, paranoia and fear generated by the virus had its own toll: on our mental health, economy and so much more. Thankfully, as the death toll is easing in America, so is the feeling of unease and apprehension. The people are no longer letting fear run our lives. We are reclaiming our liberties as we shed our anxiety alongside our masks. And yet, even with the pandemic winding down, we are finding that this may not be the only instance where
From the Editor
health officials have been lagging. The recent news that the Biden administration and the scientific community are now investigating whether the virus originated from a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology comes after a full year of this idea being derided as a conspiracy theory. It was dismissed out of hand by the left-wing media; proponents of the theory were immediately written off as nuts or racists. We still do not know exactly what happened, but it is clear that we need the facts. We owe it to the American people, and the entire world, to thoroughly investigate and conclusively determine how and why COVID-19 started. The people have the power to encourage that to happen, so let's raise our voices. We are ready to put this pandemic behind us. With vaccines in arms, Americans are ready to get back to what we do best: working hard, succeeding and leading the world. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The American dream is just waiting for people to step forward and claim it. In the coming months, as more people emerge, we will see life begin to go back to normal. Businesses will reopen. Friends and families will reconnect. The toll of the pandemic is diminishing, because the people have made it so, and the government followed our lead. Years from now, COVID-19 will be a unique moment in time that did not derail us but did challenge us. Then it led us to even higher levels of resilience and success. We are almost there. Armstrong Williams is a political commentator, author, entrepreneur. To find out more about Armstrong Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
LISA COLLINS Publisher
“Getting to the Bottom of Critical Race Theory”
L.A. Focus/July 2021
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o three words seem to have set conservatives afire in 2021 as critical race theory with the debate over the teaching of systemic racism sparking a culture war and engulfing national politics and a growing number of local school boards as hysterical white parents seemed to have whipped themselves into a frenzy over the idea of it being taught to their kids. One white parent called it ““psychological child abuse.” Wrote one conservative columnist, “It is a perverse worldview, unsupportable by the evidence, in which all of America's key institutions are inextricably rooted in white supremacy; it is an activist campaign demanding the destruction of those institutions.” Even Televangelist Pat Robertson stirred the pot telling his 700 Club viewers: “People of color have been oppressed by the white people and that white people begin to be racist by the time they’re two or three months old, and therefore the people of color have to rise up and overtake their oppressors and then — having gotten the ‘whip handle,’ if I can use that term — then to instruct their white neighbors how to behave. Now that’s critical race theory.” The hysteria –fueled by former President Trump who labeled CRT as toxic propaganda after the release of the New York Times 1619 Project–reached fever pitch in January as conservatives launched a growing misinformation campaign around the academic concept. In January, GOP lawmakers began quietly drafting and introducing bills in an effort to stop schools from teaching about racism or any topics that confront America’s history of racial oppression and over the past
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six months, Republicans in more than two dozen states have proposed bills that aim to curtail educational discussions about race, racism, and systemic oppression in the U.S. Under a bill that was proposed in Arizona, teachers could be fined $5,000 for teaching students to feel “guilt” over their race. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced the Combating Racist Training in the Military Act, a bill prohibiting the armed forces and academics at the Defense Department from promoting "anti-American and racist theories" including critical race theory. To be honest, as informed as I am, I was unfamiliar with critical race theory, which clearly wasn’t around when I was in school. And I am not alone. One informal poll found just a third of those surveyed understood what critical race theory was. So, what is critical race theory? Well, that depends on who you ask, but at its core is the premise that racism is a social construct and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in America’s legal systems and policies." Hardly new, critical race theory reportedly originated in the 70s with the late Harvard professor Derrick Bell, dubbed as the father of critical race theory, who taught a course entitled “Race, Racism, and American Law. In 1993, a group of legal scholars published a seminal book on the theory, Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment. As believed by some, it does not assume that all white people are racist, but instead seeks to engage government, systems and individuals about how policies and
practices work to disadvantage and harm racially marginalized populations. “For ins t a n c e , applying a critical race lens to the issue of mandatory minimum prison sentences helps us focus on the over-policing of Black youth (making them more likely to be searched, arrested, and tried for minor offenses)." That’s according to African-American Policy Forum, founded by Kimberle Crenshaw, a leading scholar of critical race theory. For all of the controversy, most experts agree that it is the misinformation about CRT that is shaping its resistance and fueling the controversy. Personally, while I believe that there is a benefit to fully understanding how America’s policies–including systemic racism have shaped and intersect with all facets of society, I am proud to have been born from a race of people who despite a plethora of challenges and obstacles have accomplished so much after having started with so little (like the woman who inspired our feature story on page 10); and to worship a God through whom all things are possible. Keep the faith!
