The Message

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

included the notion that America was “fundamentally racist,” the idea that any race bore “responsibility for actions committed in the past,” or any other “divisive concept” that should provoke “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.” It’s true that the order was revoked after its author lost the next election, but by that time it had spawned a suite of state-level variants—laws, policies, directives, and resolutions—all erected to excise “divisive concepts” from any training or education. The flag of parental rights was raised. In Tennessee, teachers were fired. School boards in Virginia were besieged. And in North Carolina, Nikole’s tenure offer from the state’s flagship university—where she herself was an alum—was scotched at the behest of the Board of Trustees.

Insane