38 Comments - 47th Ward - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:26 pm: I think Mike Berg is watching too much Tucker Carlson. The right wing can’t define Critical Race Theory, but they oppose it nonetheless. And let’s face it, they are using this issue to loudly proclaim that they are the party of white supremacy. When somebody tells you who they are, believe them. - Commissar Gritty - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:29 pm: While there are a handful of absolute nuts in the ILGA (to avoid any risk of violating the uncivility clause I won’t name names, but I don’t think any regular reader of this blog needs me to), I will fully admit that there are many Republicans who I just have policy disagreements with, but are fundamentally good people looking out for their constituents. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any one have a mean thing to say about Rep. Swanson, for example. My sympathies for the other side end immediately when it comes to national politics. The national party has been trying to strip away voting rights from legitimate citizens, dabbles exclusively in conspiracy theories, and has spent the better part of the last year trying to overturn a free and fair election. They’re even passing laws to make overturning future elections whose results they do not agree with easier. It’s not just the Gaetz, Greene, and our own Congresswoman Miller either. That’s the rank and file congressperson and Senator. They are actively undermining our Democracy, and we won’t be secure as a nation until they’re all swept away. Hopefully, other states still get elections they need to replace these goons. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:31 pm: === Vulnerable Democrat Sean Casten=== How does Berg know if Casten is vulnerable or not, we haven’t seen any map of a district Casten is running in, lol It’s funny when they use Mad-Libs - Henry Francis - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:31 pm: Well I guess accusing the Dems of indoctrinating our kids is better than accusing the Dems of eating our kids. Progress? Another example that today’s GOP is just not a serious party. - Frank talks - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:37 pm: It’s just…. I just….. ugh face palm - John Lopez - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:37 pm: === How does Berg know if Casten is vulnerable or not, we haven’t seen any map of a district… === The same way Lauren Underwood’s fundraising emails use her close race in current IL-14 with reference to Sabato’s Crystal Ball saying, “And right now, IL-14 is ranked as a TOSS-UP.” - Cluster - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:43 pm: Critical Race Theory is turning into the next big outrage in white America. - Nick - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:43 pm: It’s actually been rather amazing if shocking to see how the culture war over this got manufactured in real time. I know it happens all the time but it felt like in only weeks you had states passing laws over something I’ve never heard of outside of maybe some college courses. - Nobody dat Nobody Sent - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:45 pm: Alrighty then… Republicans want to double down on racism and anti-intellectualism. Way to build a smaller and smaller tent! - Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:45 pm: === The same way Lauren Underwood’s fundraising emails use her close race in current IL-14 with reference to Sabato’s Crystal Ball saying, “And right now, IL-14 is ranked as a TOSS-UP.”=== National Mad-Libs Same is Same - JS Mill - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 1:47 pm: The GQP is angry and frustrated as they watch their power wane and they are lashing out. They are trying to keep their voters going to the ballot box while trying, at the same time, to keep those that oppose them from voting to maintain their power where it exists. Rural and southern states. Groups that are struggling for power often take a turn toward totalitarianism while hiding behind false patriotism (just look at Miller’s fundraiser flier). History is full of examples and they also ALWAYS fail. - Roman - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:00 pm: I never even heard of critical race theory until a few months ago (and I’m still not sure I understand what the heck it is.) Now the Republicans are going to base their 2022 campaigns on fighting some grad school philosophical claptrap? I saw Steve Bannon say it was the key to winning back the suburbs. I know fanning racial resentment has can pay political dividends, but this seems a bit esoteric to me. - Earnest - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:01 pm: >The GQP is angry and frustrated as they watch their power wane and they are lashing out. Or they’re excited because they’re on the verge of establishing a white, heterosexual, Christian authoritarian regime. I see CRT as a very effective distraction from addressing the widening gap between the haves and have-nots. - Shark Sandwich - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:11 pm: This is a huge problem, because few people can really look inward and be honest about how racist they actually are. We know it’s bad. We don’t want to be called that, and we REALLY don’t want them to be right when they do say it, but you can’t move forward until you can identify and push out the bad ideas or assumptions that you might have. - Pundent - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:11 pm: =I saw Steve Bannon say it was the key to winning back the suburbs.= He’s going to need a time travel machine to go back to the 70’s because the suburbs don’t look the way Steve Bannon imagines them to be. In fact most of my suburban neighbors are way more afraid of Steve Bannon and his supporters. - Lynn S. - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:11 pm: @Roman– Steve Bannon thinks Critical Race Theory is going to bring suburbanites back to the GOP? Bannon may have gone even more senile than The Orange One he pushed into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The CRT boogeyman might win small towns and rural townships, but I would argue suburbanites are too educated, or live around people who actually know what CRT is, to fall for this claptrap. At some point Rupert Murdoch’s going to die. It will be fascinating to see what happens to Fox News after his demise. - @misterjayem - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:18 pm: It’s worth recognizing that the general was defending the Pentagon and its military academies, not Critical Race Theory or its proponents. That fact isn’t politically useful to either side — but nevertheless, it’s true. – MrJM - Annonin' - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:23 pm: Seems like the general has a pretty level headed response…that should drive Commando Ives and the other whackjobs batsh** crazy - ChicagoVinny - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:25 pm: Having sacrificed any semblance of conservative principles in the last 5 years, the GOP is stripped bare to grievance and rage. Their problem is Biden doesn’t inspire much rage. They flail from a different made up boogeyman to keep the rage going - last month it was “cancel culture.” This month it is “critical race theory.” - Proud Papa Bear - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:33 pm: @Shark Sandwich: Spot on. Race is our national obsession. Conservatives (and many non-conservatives) want to plug their ears, close their eyes, and say everything is fair now (or assert that PoC have it better than whites). People who study CRT say no, everything is not fair, it never has been, and we have a lot of work to do before it is. Argh, I can’t believe I used to be a Republican. - Norseman - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:40 pm: So much for GQP outreach to the minority community. - Amalia - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:40 pm: I’m no fan of the right wing nuts, but Dems have to stop using terms that require several sociology classes to understand fully. If people can’t understand it, the Right will inflame it. - Sir Reel - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:44 pm: Chairman Milley is an example of America’s best and brightest. After 4 years of worst and dumbest, a refreshing change. - 47th Ward - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:46 pm: ===If people can’t understand it, the Right will inflame it.=== Or, like with masks and vaccines, the Right will lie and distort simple concepts as long as it keeps their base outraged. - Levois J - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:54 pm: I too hate nat’l politics because there are serious problems worth considering other than CRT. I’m not a fan of CRT but there are far more important issues to consider than that. - Earnest - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:58 pm: >It’s worth recognizing that the general was defending the Pentagon and its military academies, not Critical Race Theory or its proponents. You mean the comparison of CRT to communism wasn’t a compliment? - Earnest - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 2:59 pm: Dang, I just let myself get distracted from economic issues yet again. - Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:00 pm: ===distracted from economic issues yet again=== You ain’t the only one https://www.facebook.com/illinoispolicy/posts/10158524440413667 - The Other Rich Hill - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:05 pm: @Amalia: “I’m no fan of the right wing nuts, but Dems have to stop using terms that require several sociology classes to understand fully. If people can’t understand it, the Right will inflame it.” The term Critical Race Theory comes from academics who were trying to understand why, despite decades of Civil Rights laws on the books, minorities in this country were not achieving the intended equality… The Left doesn’t use the term. The Right only uses it because it contains the word “race” and they believe they can demonize the very idea that we should stop and think about why races are not treated equally in this country. - Moe Berg - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:10 pm: Mike Berg, no relation , style takes are also available at the state level. Fundraising email I got yesterday from Don Tracy, ILGQP chairperson: “Democrats spit in the faces of those they disagree with, believing they are morally superior. They cancel complete strangers for daring to question their radical ideology, and throw harsh names like ‘racist,’ ‘bigot,’ and ‘hater’ at people they don’t know.” - Telly - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:11 pm: The national GOP frenzy over Critical Race Theory reminds me a bit of the stir the IllInois GOP has been creating over the police reform bill. I get how both issues fire up the base, but it remains to be seen if those issues help them win general elections. We’ll see. The GOP found success in weaponizing “Defund the Police” last November in several congressional races, largely because the argument against a silly slogan was so simple to make. CRT is a complicate academic construct that can’t be condensed to a bumper sticker, so it might be much harder to weaponize. - Annonin' - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:13 pm: Mr/Ms Amalia It isn’t that complex Jackie Robinson was the first black man in Major League Baseball and it did not happen til the late 40’s WHY??? Is that simple enough. No classes needed - Jed - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:23 pm: == That was started at Harvard Law School years ago. And it proposed that there were laws in the United States, antebellum laws prior to the Civil War, that led to a power differential with African Americans, that were 3/4 of a human being, when this country was formed. And then we had a Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation to change it== It is encouraging that as a military leader, the chairman is well read on CRT, eastern philosophies and communism. It’s a little unfortunate that he’s not as well read on the US Constitution that originally defined an African American as 3/5 of a person and not 3/4… - Last Bull Moose - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:31 pm: In my lifetime athletics and the military have been the least racist parts of society. Neither setting rewards decisions based on anything but performance. Understanding white, black, and brown racism is important to the military because racism of any stripe damages cohesion and undermines performance. It cannot be tolerated. I had the personal advantage that the first blacks I knew were my college football teammates. They were good people and have generally had successful careers. (Our college program had a high graduation rate. that helped.) - Quizzical - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:32 pm: Republicans: If you study the media and culture, you will find systematic bias against heterosexual white males. Liberal politicians infected with these ideas are enacting policies that hurt heterosexual white males. Republican: It is outrageous to study American media and cuture for signs of bias based on sexual orientation, race or gender. American law and culture guarantee equality for everyone. People who suggest or teach otherwise should be hung. - Independent - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:43 pm: The Republican party simply latches on to buzz phrase after buzz phrase pushing bogeymen while offering nothing useful. I’d love for a rational Republican party to re-emerge that would offer rational counterpoints to overreach from the Democrats. In this anti-intellectual, bumper sticker slogan, social media, hyper-populistic era I’m not sure it’s possible. - Grandson of Man - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:47 pm: Dems don’t use terms like CRT and “woke.” Who calls themselves woke? I don’t know such people. Maybe a few people called themselves that at one point, but it’s not a thing. It’s just a word right wingers use as a new dog whistle, to eternally whip up fear and hatred in the GOP base. It’s another way of smearing populations who’ve historically experienced discrimination and bigotry and who are taking action to change things—people trying hard to not be the next George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, et al. - Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Jun 25, 21 @ 3:53 pm: “Jackie Robinson was the first black man in Major League Baseball” https://theundefeated.com/features/moses-fleetwood-walker-was-the-first-african-american-to-play-pro-baseball-six-decades-before-jackie-robinson/ Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.