NAS President Peter Wood defines the origins of the new racial lexicon.

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CounterCurrent: Keeping the Republic from Neo-Racist Chaos
NAS President Peter Wood defines the origins of the new racial lexicon.

CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: New Racism; Reading Time: ~2 minutes
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** Featured Article - Keeping the Republic by Peter Wood ([link removed])
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While America’s culture wars touch a broad range of issues, it’s hard to argue that any single topic has been more important in shaping the last decade than race. For more and more Americans, the fundamental nature of our national character hinges on this crucial issue. Is the United States a basically good nation, one with many stains on its history? Or is it a basically evil nation, made possible by and continuing to thrive on systems of racial oppression? Your answer to these questions now puts you in one of two camps—whether you like it or not—the chasm between which seems to widen by the hour. As much as we prefer, there is now very little room for “it depends” or “a little bit of both.” Extremism reigns supreme.

If you’re close to my age, you may have perceived this shift in the cultural narrative as coinciding with the advent of the Black Lives Matter hashtag and organization. I was in high school at the time and, in retrospect, witnessed a marked change. Suddenly, if you express an iota of support for the police, for the rule of law, or for “having all the facts,” you don’t think black lives matter! (A brilliant onomastic choice, if you ask me.) But in reality, the shift began long before BLM hit the scene, and it was born in our colleges and universities.

Thanks to the academy, America has a new racial lexicon. We all know the terms, if only because we are inundated with them in every corner of the internet and media: white privilege ([link removed]) , systemic racism ([link removed]) , implicit bias ([link removed]) , white fragility ([link removed]) , antiracism ([link removed]) , critical race theory ([link removed]) , and so on. These concepts, which are cornerstones of what
some call neo-racism ([link removed]) , have catalyzed much of the rot we see in higher education and the nation as a whole, so many of us instinctively assume that they are for some reason or another wrong.

Yet, we know from experience that words gradually lose their meaning when misused. So we must ask: do we really know precisely what all these terms mean? Do we use them correctly in our speech and writing, or do we just pick one out of the bag to describe “that new racism thing”? Do we know the precise effects and consequences of these concepts in the real world? These are extremely important questions, if we are indeed convinced that neo-racism is an enemy. After all, how are we supposed to fight that which we do not understand?

In this week’s featured article ([link removed]) , National Association of Scholars President Peter W. Wood links four of the most important neo-racist critiques of America—the 1619 Project, Black Lives Matter, antiracism, and Critical Race Theory—providing definitions and refutations of each, and showing how they have all worked together to create the deep racial division that we now witness in America. And the stakes are high. As Dr. Wood writes,

Now is the time to wake up before we do even graver damage—not only to ourselves individually but to our country as a whole. It is a bitter irony of our moment that those who want to drive us into this new hysteria often call it being “woke.” There is no awakening in woke. It is the sleep of reason that produces monsters, and it poses a profound peril to our republic.


I hope this does not come across as hyperbolic fear-mongering—that is not at all our intention. We sincerely believe that neo-racism will severely damage the social fabric of America. It’s a threat that, as Dr. Wood puts it, is “not of the sort that would bring a second Civil War, but of the sort that would impoverish the soul of a civilization.” And we can thank higher education for it—if we are to change the narrative, it ought to begin here.

Until next week.

David Acevedo
Communications & Research Associate
National Association of Scholars
Read More ([link removed])
For more on neo-racism and American education:
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May 13, 2021


** Reminder: Submit Comments Opposing Biden's "Proposed Priorities" for Civics Education ([link removed])
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NAS

A reminder for NAS members to submit public comments opposing the Biden Administration's “Proposed Priorities” for federal civics grants. Comments are due this Wednesday, May 19.

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May 04, 2021


** U.S. Senators Take a Stand Against Revisionist History and Partisan Civics Education ([link removed])
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NAS

Last week, Mitch McConnell and 38 Republican senators wrote Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to express "grave concern" with the Education Department's effort to destroy real civics education and replace it with anti-American propaganda.

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May 04, 2021


** Idaho Rejects Critical Race Theory ([link removed])
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Teresa Manning

Last week, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law HB 377, making Idaho the first state in the nation to outlaw the controversial pedagogy called Critical Race Theory.

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November 28, 2019


** Social Justice Education in America ([link removed])
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David Randall

A comprehensive examination of the inner workings of social justice advocates at more than 60 universities and how they have insinuated themselves into the university system to propagandize students.


** About the NAS
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The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.

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