It seems Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is upset that everyone is not embracing his own obviously correct position on educating “minority children.” And the way he expressed that unfortunate position was unfortunate:
“The irony of some of the groups who are opposing doing something to help these minority children is beyond my logic. If you want to advance the state of colored people, start with their children,” Deal said in an Oct. 3 speech, Fox 5 in Atlanta reported Wednesday.
Colored people, huh? Deal’s explanation is that he meant “NAACP,” which, sure, okay, if you say so. Deal also gave a classic “I think you know I’m not a person who has racially prejudiced or biased opinions” defense, which might have been more convincing had he not flirted with birtherism in the past. And then there’s the substance of the education dispute, in which Deal is essentially berating the NAACP for not honoring his status as a civil rights leader and blindly following his preferred education policy of having the state take over struggling schools.
Critics ― including the NAACP, teachers and dozens of school boards ― say that other states that have tried this approach have not helped failing schools. They also say it would hurt local control of public education and harm school districts financially.
To summarize: former birther-curious Republican politician is championing education policy opposed by the NAACP, teachers, and school boards, claiming it is better for “minority children” and his opponents are opposed to helping “colored people” rather than acknowledging that they disagree with him that his policy will be helpful to begin with. But don’t worry because he’s totes not a racist.
Or in even more brief: “white guy lectures black people about what’s best for their children while pushing a policy that the NAACP says is bad for kids.” Is there a dictionary somewhere in need of an illustrative example in its definition of white privilege?