Sabotage in the Liberal City: The disparate racial impact of progressivism’s pandemic-era policy blunders.

New York Times ^ | October 6, 2020 | Ross Douthat

[karpov]

...

[T]he pandemic-era policies of many progressive jurisdictions are sabotaging basic civic goods, with anti-Trump zeal as an accelerant and with effects on minority communities that are likely to far outlast the Trump era. This means that for many African-Americans and Hispanics, a key legacy of 2020 may be a well-intentioned liberal betrayal of their interests, a hollowing-out of the institutions that protect and serve them, and the deepening of America’s racial inequalities even if Trumpism goes down to defeat.

The most important part of this sabotage, which is the subject of an essential Alec MacGillis article for The New Yorker and ProPublica, is the failure to reopen public schools in many liberal cities, which is consigning a heavily minority and low-income school-age population to a far-inferior virtual experience or (for many kids) no real education at all.

This failure has many causes — including, yes, the Trump administration’s inability to develop a national strategy for school safety. But in MacGillis’s account it’s clear that anti-Trumpism, and particularly a partisan impulse to resist the White House’s push for reopening, created a permission structure for teachers’ unions that already opposed in-person school to force a continued shutdown.

Without minimizing the real uncertainties around reopening and student health, he suggests that advocates of closure ended up cherry-picking studies to exaggerate the dangers and ignoring the evidence that a reasonably safe reopening was possible — including not only European case studies but more local examples like Baltimore, where MacGillis lives and where in-person summer schooling produced zero new known cases.

The result of this urban shutdown is an autumn in which schools have successfully reopened for much more of white America than minority America:

[Rummyfan]

This failure has many causes — including, yes, the Trump administration’s inability to develop a national strategy for school safety.

It is not the administration's responsibility to develop such a strategy. Recommendations can be made but ultimately it is up to the states and municipalities and the individual school districts. And if President Trump were attempting to do so he would be accused of being a dictator. Again....

[dalight]

This effect is/was deliberate. Have to keep folks poor to keep them looking for handouts.

[cgbg]

I think the definition of the “white nice parents” in the article is parents who don’t have a problem having their kids being bullied by minorities on the school grounds.

There is nothing “nice” about that (at least for the kids).

[God luvs America]

yup...

“a key legacy of 2020 may be a well-intentioned liberal betrayal of their interests, a hollowing-out of the institutions that protect and serve them, and the deepening of America’s racial inequalities even if Trumpism goes down to defeat.”

“well intention” = intentionally keeping them poor to keep them voting for demoKrats

[God luvs America]

of course the whole irony is while this sad man attempts to blame President Trump, the lives of these people were worse under obama...

[rwa265]

Your analysis is spot-on.

[rwa265]

Your analysis is spot-on.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Summary: All you minority plantation dwellers have been screwed again by your white rich loser Progressive overlords .... hope they said “I love you” while they were screwing you.

[jonascord]

"It is not the administration's responsibility to develop such a strategy."

Democrats ARE CONVINCED that all control of every facet of our society MUST cascade from the Central Party.

The question must be whether they should be allowed to control so much as a bowel movement. (And they do. Flush the toilet and tell me the Party does not control it.)