This new episode reminds me of a story we covered in mid-2022 -- in which multiple left-wing organizations in DC were tearing themselves apart from within over deranged, identity politics-fueled, ideological bloodletting. Back then, various groups were consumed by internal recriminations over race and power, mostly or entirely paralyzing their work. In case you missed it at the time, here's a passage from the The Intercept's lengthy and delicious piece describing the self-inflicted dysfunction:
“The most zealous ones at my organization when it comes to race are white,” said one Black executive director at a different organization, asking for anonymity so as not to provoke a response from that staff...Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and other reproductive health organizations had similarly been locked in knock-down, drag-out fights between competing factions of their organizations, most often breaking down along staff-versus-management lines. It’s also true of the progressive advocacy space across the board, which has, more or less, effectively ceased to function. The Sierra Club, Demos, the American Civil Liberties Union, Color of Change, the Movement for Black Lives, Human Rights Campaign, Time’s Up, the Sunrise Movement, and many other organizations have seen wrenching and debilitating turmoil in the past couple years. In fact, it’s hard to find a Washington-based progressive organization that hasn’t been in tumult, or isn’t currently in tumult...
You can retrospectively read that delightul essay in all its schadenfreude-laden glory right here. Which brings us to the latest installment within the genre, courtesy of The New Yorker. The new piece chronicles an ugly, internecine rumble that is ripping apart a scrupulously "progressive" community in Massachusetts. Many left-wingers long ago abandoned reason and rational discussion as a means of conflict management and resolution, opting instead for ad hominem bullying, often centered around identity. But what happens when lefty pieties collide? Who wins the grievance war? The good liberals of Amherst are in the process of finding out:
White liberal parents accuse Christian black and Latino counselors of being homophobic and transphobic. Chaos ensures. 3/ pic.twitter.com/24gsHEo028
— Yang (@AxiomAmerican) April 4, 2024
The bien pensant white parents are all-in on gender politics -- but several school officials, who happen to be people of color, are not. When the former group screams "transphobia," the latter replies, "racism." They're just blasting the big guns at each other, resulting in great distress:
The black and Latino counselors stuck to their Christian beliefs on gender and sexuality, which proved very distressing for the white liberal parents. 5/ pic.twitter.com/36bEfXd41P
— Yang (@AxiomAmerican) April 4, 2024
Trans-identifying kids reported being bullied for their identity to staffers… but the bullies often didn’t receive punishment because they were usually black or Latino. 7/ pic.twitter.com/uCWpG5nR4P
— Yang (@AxiomAmerican) April 4, 2024
Identity politics chaos in a community that voted 90 percent plus for Biden in 2020:
The article ends by noting that there is still much infighting between issues of race versus gender identity. One wonders which side will prevail. /End pic.twitter.com/V44es93kyG
— Yang (@AxiomAmerican) April 4, 2024
The trans kids were reportedly bullied, but their bullies were often students of color, so there was a reluctance to punish the bullying. You know, "equity," etc. But why should racial equity trump the scourge of transphobia? That's what some of the white leftists have wondered aloud, and for their pondering, they're blasted as racists. Isn't this fun? Another vignette from the piece -- which, again, profiles a public middle school in one of the deepest blue towns in America:
Members of POSH, the anti-sexual-harassment club, brought complaints that one of their teachers was commenting inappropriately in class about students’ race, weight, and clothing. A district investigation found that the claims were unsubstantiated; the teacher, who is Black, filed a formal complaint against the club’s faculty adviser, who is white, alleging that she “used her power as the Advisor of POSH to commit racist and sexist attacks on me.” The adviser was briefly placed on paid leave, then moved to a new role at the high school. In January, members of the union filed a grievance asking, among other things, that POSH stop meeting; they also proposed “appropriate consequences and further education for students who have engaged in bullying of staff.”
The story ends with an anecdote about a black woman who was made interim principal at the school, amid all the turbulence. A white parent of a trans and biracial student objected to the appointment, which shocked many in the community. The source of the objection, apparently, was a "restorative circle that [the interim principal] Gayle-Brissett had facilitated more than two years earlier," which had driven no complaints at the time. It's all just crazy, emotionalist, vindictive Calvinball. The grand finale:
At the January school-committee meeting, Gayle-Brissett refuted the allegations about the restorative-justice circles, and suggested that the criticisms of her work were racially motivated. “There have been whispers that some members in the middle-school community are intent on removing people of color, especially Black people, from leadership positions,” she said, adding that, in her view, a “very important social-justice issue for our time—that is, inclusion and justice for our L.G.B.T.Q.I.A. community—is being weaponized.” A high-school staffer who spoke in support of Gayle-Brissett was more blunt: “Amherst is racist, the staff is racist, and there’s a target on the back of Black people in the district.” In the end, Gayle-Brissett decided not to take the job after all.
Behold: "Progress." I'll leave you with this thought: While it's truly enjoyable to witness circular firing squads like this, I do pity the adolescent kids trying to get through the choppy waters of middle school as relatively well-adjusted human beings, surrounded by these "adults."
