Those on the Left would have you think they are sincere in their belief that black lives matter. But they don’t believe it — that much is evident from the fact that they will only defend those black lives in certain circumstances.
If you’re a criminal trying to murder or otherwise victimize other black people, they will absolutely go to the mat for you. If it advances their anti-police agenda, they will turn any career criminal into a martyr.
But don’t expect liberals to help if your goal is to make sure black children have access to a quality education. That would be taking black lives a bit too seriously for their comfort.
What else could explain the impending possibility that D.C. Public Schools will expel 2 in 5 black students due to a completely unnecessary vaccine requirement?
The D.C. Council has enacted a vaccine requirement for children over 12 as a condition for attending school. It has done this out of a continued and still unwarranted sense of COVID safetyism, even though young people are at extremely low risk of complications from COVID. Thanks to higher vaccine hesitancy among black people and a justifiable belief that vaccinations at such a young age don’t pass a cost-benefit analysis now that COVID’s main strains have weakened, this policy could result in mass expulsions that will disproportionately affect black students.
Washington’s public schools have long been an all-around disgrace, mostly because of Democratic politicians who kowtow to one of the nation’s most corrupt local teachers unions.
In fact, the educational system in Washington would be far worse if not for the fact that half of all public school students are able to attend publicly funded but independently operated charter schools. (You can thank a Republican Congress and former President Bill Clinton for establishing this alternative system in 1996.)
Today, it is believed that as many as 40% of black schoolchildren in Washington between ages 12 and 15 have not received a COVID shot.
Washington’s vaccine requirement is unnecessary. Not even New York City and Los Angeles have such a mandate for students in their schools. It was already learned in 2020 and 2021 how destructive and damaging the inability to attend in-person school can be to children. It is even more damaging for nonwhite students and those living in poverty.
If it opts to keep this policy, the D.C. Council will be condemning a large swath of the children in its care to a lifetime of less knowledge, lower incomes, and fewer opportunities — of course, such considerations have never stopped the council before.
Congress, which has plenary authority to govern Washington under the Constitution, should seriously consider an intervention.
