On Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) stated that Republicans used MS-13 as an attack line in the 2017 race, and Critical Race Theory in schools “is now the new MS-13.” McAuliffe also accused his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin of getting parents “fired up about issues that don’t exist.”
Host Al Sharpton asked, “Conservative Republicans, specifically those who identify as part of former President Trump’s base, have been using overblown fears of Critical Race Theory being taught in schools as a way to energize voter turnout and be a rallying cry to flip blue states red. Republican Glenn Youngkin, your opponent, has been using this tactic to strike fear into parents in your state, when it’s not true that it’s being done. Seizing on this concern with what has been dubbed as parent rallies, framing his campaign as a way to [champion] the rights of parents to have a say in the schools to educate their children, but it has nothing to do with that. I mean, what do you make of this, Gov. McAuliffe?”
McAuliffe responded, “Yeah, so, first of all, parents are very involved. I’m a parent of five children, Dorothy and I, we are very involved. You have school boards and you elect school boards. And they make the decisions on curriculum and things like that. The goal is, no matter the color of one’s skin or who they pray to, everybody deserves a world-class education. But he — and you’re right, and, I’d like to know who all these funding groups are, Rev., who is putting the money behind this. This is — we dealt with MS-13, former candidate when we ran for governor in ’17. They used MS-13. This is now the new MS-13. It didn’t work before. It’s not going to work now, but it just really bothers me because it’s…literally a racist dog whistle. And you’ve got parents — he’s got them fired up about issues that don’t exist.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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