‘It’s been very quiet and suppressed and discreet behind the scenes. And now they’ve been wide open with all of it,’ said a Loudoun mom.<\/b>
\nVirginia\u2019s Loudoun County Public Schools has emerged as a national representation of the critical race theory (CRT) clash between parents and administrators. A local school board recall effort is gaining traction. But aside from figures like Ian Prior at Fight for Schools or thinkers at The Heritage Foundation that sponsor events, what do normal Loudouners think? I ventured out to Loudoun County to walk the streets of Leesburg and Ashburn and see who would talk to me about CRT. Most turned me down, understandably cautious about staking a political claim in media. The owner of one clothing store instructed me to leave after I uttered the phrase \u201ccritical race theory,\u201d questioning why anyone should care. A Taiwanese coffee store owner expressed a worry that his bipartisan customers would repudiate him. A woman who said she is a former public school teacher whispered to me in a Giant Food Store through a mask that she probably shouldn\u2019t talk, while her daughter nudged her to keep walking. Here are five Loudouners who agreed to talk to me using their names, and here\u2019s what they had to say about CRT. Suzanne Byers is a physical therapist at an outpatient clinic. She has kids in middle school and has lived in Loudoun off and on for the last 20 years. Byers first became aware of CRT in Loudoun when her daughter came home from school, got in the car, and asked if her mother was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. \u201cI was like \u2018Wait, what.\u2019 She was at a lesson in history,\u201d Byers told me. \u201cI asked her what she learned. She couldn\u2019t really tell me, and then I kind of joked, \u2018Well, you know Democrats started the KKK, right?\u2019 She was like \u2018No.’\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of social justice they focus on in seventh grade,\u201d she continued. \u201cThere was an email that went out from her history teacher that said \u2018We\u2019re going to be talking about a lot of sensitive subjects.’\u201d Byers says she\u2019s attended recent school board meetings and spoken, but \u201cI don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m being heard.\u201d Like other parents I\u2019ve spoken to, she expressed frustration with the format and would prefer a town hall that is more conducive to free expression. The last straw for Byers was when her daughter was told by her history teacher that 14 years old is a reasonable age to peacefully protest and be excused from school. Her public school was trying to turn her seventh-grader into a leftist activist without her knowledge. \u201cI think it\u2019s been in the schools [before], \u201cshe said. \u201cBut it\u2019s been very quiet and suppressed and discreet behind the scenes. And now they\u2019ve been wide open with all of it.\u201d Gunar Hawes,30, says he has lived in Loudoun for his entire life. He builds custom log homes. As we spoke, he smoked a cigarette, with his other hand snug in his jeans pocket. Hawes is a libertarian. He noted he cannot speak on behalf of all Loudouners on CRT, but said he and his friends all oppose what is going on in the public school system. \u201cI believe it is a very racist agenda,\u201d he said about CRT, \u201cproposed by a very Marxist kind of view\u2026 I\u2019m a very nice person. I don\u2019t have any problems with anybody of any different color. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a subject that needs to be taught in schools.\u201d Hawes said he believes in equality of opportunity but not equality of outcome, which critical race theorists often call \u201cequity.\u201d He told me has been outspoken on social media about what is going on in Loudoun County Public Schools, but has not participated in in-person activism like some of his peers. When I asked if he wants to see CRT banned, he said no. \u201c[We need] a free-market solution,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it wants to be spoken about, those people should have the right to go into those classes if they would like \u2014 but I do not believe it should be forced on children. They honestly don\u2019t know what in the world it is.\u201d Hawes supports the school board recall effort. An immigrant from Kenya, Fred Rege says he moved to America when he was four. His parents didn\u2019t have much money when they came to the United States. Now, he\u2019s a living and breathing testament to the American Dream. Rege works as an IT engineer and has two daughters in middle school. He first noticed CRT during remote learning and recalled reading a slide on \u201cequity.\u201d \u201cThey are teaching them things about the way America is and the way America treats race that I don\u2019t necessarily agree with,\u201d Rege said. \u201cAnd so for a little over a year, I just said, \u2018Okay, I am going to just count on that they\u2019re teaching this in schools,\u2019 and then \u2014 at the dinner table \u2014 give my kids my version and everything.\u201d \u201cBut then, as this thing started picking up steam, and I started to see more and more about it in the news, I just started thinking about how there are other children in this county who don\u2019t have parents like myself that will counter the message,\u201d he also said. \u201cSo I decided to get involved.\u201d He recently signed a petition to recall Denise Corbo, the at-large member on the school board. He has been trying to get neighbors to sign petitions, with some people cursing him out. Rege has also gone to fundraisers and been attending school board meetings. While he has joined the fight against CRT, many of his friends simply do not understand it all, he says. \u201cMost people don\u2019t know what it is,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd most people believe and think that the teachers and the education system have our kids\u2019 best interests at heart.\u201d Rege voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Because he also considers himself more libertarian-leaning, he also said CRT should not be banned. \u201cI actually believe a free-market of ideas is the best choice and the best opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we would be successful in banning.\u201d Bart Ecker works in health care, and he left it at that. He studied English language and literature at Susquehanna University and graduated in 1992. He\u2019s a resident of Sterling. Ecker has lived in Loudoun for 12 years and has four kids in the school\u2019s system: twins who are 12, and a 13- and- 16-year-old. He is a former Republican who did not align with Trump in 2016. He told me he has been trying to understand critical race theory and what it really means. When asked about equity, he described why he favors equality. \u201cI lean more toward equality of opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then I see and talk to some people who are non-white, and they talk about their own personal experiences. I\u2019ve heard from colleagues who are non-white talk about kind of their experiences growing up in neighborhoods and what they faced.\u201d Ecker noted that he does not believe America is systemically racist but seeks to understand how his minority colleagues think about race. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s a fair assessment. And I\u2019ve been fortunate. With my experience and work experience, I\u2019ve traveled all over Africa and Europe frequently. I think people need to learn about identity, but at its core, the data you read shows America is falling behind. Companies I work with are struggling to find qualified people for engineering and science positions,\u201d he reflected. Joseph Mineo,18, showed up at the bar wearing a Trump \u201c45\u201d hat and an \u201cEnjoy Capitalism\u201d shirt. He ordered a Coke and showed me his \u201cwhite privilege car.\u201d His father Scott \u2014 the founder of Parents Against Critical Race Theory \u2014 got copies for the family as a Christmas present. Mineo is headed to Liberty University next year, having just graduated from Stone Bridge High School. He attended Academies of Loudoun, which specializes in pre-professional programs like criminal justice. He recently attended a Zoom class where he learned about \u201cmarginalization,\u201d and how he can improve so-called \u201cequity\u201d in school. He has been going to school board meetings with his father lately, too: \u201cIt\u2019s getting more and more crowded, with people showing up and supporting [the cause].\u201d When asked if his friends are anti-CRT, he said it depends. His favorite outlet is The Daily Wire, where he recently put in an internship application. \u201cWell, they either have no idea what it is, or they think it\u2019s completely crazy,\u201d Mineo said. \u201cFor the most part, they have. There\u2019s not really many who support it. Those that are kind of on the school\u2019s side \u2014 us versus them \u2014 are just saying \u2018Oh, [CRT] is not here at all.\u201d Unlike Hawes and Rege, the student thinks CRT should be banned.<\/p>\n