During a 2002 Saturday radio address on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, former President George W. Bush proclaimed, “We have overcome the institutionalized bigotry that Dr. King fought. Now our challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life.” 

Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump have all said education is “the great civil rights issue of our time.”  But if you listen to this year’s crop of Democratic presidential aspirants, “systemic racism” is the scourge still plaguing America some fifty years after civil rights legislation was signed and passed into law.

Corey Booker:  ‘We have systemic racism that is eroding our nation from health care to the criminal justice system. And it’s nice to go back to slavery, but dear God, we have a criminal justice system that is so racially biased, we have more African Americans under criminal supervision today than all the slaves in 1850.’

Andrew Yang: ‘We can’t legislate away racism because racism runs so deep in the American soul.’

Julian Castro:  ‘White supremacy is a growing threat to this country and we have to root it out.’

Kamala Harris: ‘I made a decision that if I was going to have the ability to reform the system, I would try to do it from the inside. Was I able to get enough done? Absolutely not.’ 

Besides the fact these candidates are no longer in the race, the other common denominator between them is they are women and minorities in a Party that constantly touts its ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusiveness.’

The three leading contenders for the Democratic nomination – two old white men and a gay former small town mayor – have also jumped on the ‘systemic racism’ bandwagon:

Pete Buttigieg: ‘I have proposed the most comprehensive vision to tackle systemic racism.’

Joe Biden:  ‘The fact is that we in fact there is systemic racism.’ (Quoted verbatim)

Bernie Sanders: America is “a racist society from top to bottom.”

Because education was so strictly prohibited during slavery, Africans Americans uniquely understand the importance of a quality education. Education opens your mind to new ideas and thoughts and gives one a freedom that can’t ever be taken away.

That is why I believe the Democratic Party- and their presidential candidates, the Teacher’s Unions and the NAACP are so adamantly against providing African American parents choices in their children’s education.

A 2017 poll showed wide support for school choice, especially among Latino and African American voters:

‘Seventy-five percent of Latinos and 72 percent of African Americans support school choice compared to 65 percent of Whites. In terms of political affiliation, 84 percent of Republicans support school choice (up slightly from 80 percent in 2016), compared to 55 percent of Democrats (down from 65 percent in 2016); 67 percent of Independents voiced support for choice. Of the four generations surveyed, Millennials had the highest level of support for choice with 75 percent.’

Although they oppose school choice, the NAACP reluctantly admits charter schools are effective:

‘While high quality, accountable and accessible charters can contribute to educational opportunity, by themselves, even the best charters are not a substitute for more stable, adequate and equitable investments in public education in the communities that serve our children.’

The Democrats always talk about ‘the children’ in their campaigns. If they really cared, they would put them and their parents first over their teacher’s union allies.

As the Democratic nominating field gets whittled down and the campaign extends to more diverse states, the issue of School Choice must take a more prominent role in the campaign.