Virginia teachers’ union promoted Black Lives Matter propaganda

Despite Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order banning Critical Race Theory content in public schools, it appears that the Virginia Education Association (VEA) is circumventing or skirting Youngkin’s directive.

The editorial board at the Wall Street Journal said what we at Accuracy in Academia knew all along: teachers’ unions and education bureaucrats are all-in on the Black Lives Matter rhetoric.

Accuracy in Academia previously reported about the National Education Association (NEA) and how it promoted a week of “2023 National Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action” propaganda, as well as included examples of the divisive propaganda.

The VEA promoted a “toolkit” to push Black Lives Matter content, which the Journal said included content from the left-wing organization Southern Poverty Law Center. The Journal wrote:

“One encourages middle- and high-school students to consider the ‘trans-affirming’ BLM principle: ‘We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle cis-gender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.’”

But VEA said that it is following Youngkin’s executive order.

James Fedderman, the union president, said, “As is stated on the first page, the goal of the toolkit is to inspire an ongoing movement of critical reflection and honest conversation on issues of racial justice.” Fedderman added, “People, like Governor Youngkin, find this to be an objectional stance, but we are unapologetic in our support of this goal. As a union of public school educators, we seek nothing more than to present an accurate portrayal of America’s past, without which we will not make the progress we so desperately need to make as a nation.”

Youngkin disagreed with the VEA and a governor’s spokesperson said, “The VEA—the same union that kept schools shuttered and students at home during the pandemic—is now attempting to inject a politically-driven curriculum toolkit in an effort to teach kids to discriminate against one another based off their color, gender, race, or background.”

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