Flashback 2019 Terry McAuliffe: ‘Diversity, Inclusion … Just as Important’ as Math, English

With education as a central issue in the tight gubernatorial race in Virginia, the words of former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) from 2019 have resurfaced as parents are battling against the teaching of the tenets of Critical Race Theory in their local school districts.

In 2019, McAuliffe was promoting his book Beyond Charlottesville: Taking a Stand Against White Nationalism. Appearing as a guest on C-SPAN’s Book TV, the Democrat asserted the concepts of “diversity” and “inclusion” must be taught in elementary school:

We’ve got to go back – K to 6. Early on, we’ve got to start teaching, talking about these issues much earlier than we’ve done it before. And we don’t do a good job in our education system talking about diversity, inclusion, openness and so forth. We don’t. We got our textbooks, but, you know, that has to be a big part of how do you fit into the social work of our nation and our fabric. How we deal with one another is to me as important as, you know, your math class or your English class and so forth.

A Republican Cygnal survey released Monday found McAuliffe and Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin are tied at 48.3 percent among likely voters in Virginia, Breitbart News reported.

Former President Barack Obama, who was in Virginia over the weekend campaigning for McAuliffe, dismissed the controversies that have been raised in Loudoun County Public Schools, where issues such as sexual assaults, transgender bathrooms, and Critical Race Theory have surfaced, as “fake outrage,” and “trumped-up culture wars,” as Breitbart News reported.

In September McAuliffe caused a firestorm on social media following his comment during a debate with Youngkin in which the Democrat asserted, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Youngkin rebuked McAuliffe for vetoing a bill that would have allowed parents to remove controversial books from their school libraries.

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” he said.

Youngkin countered, however, “I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.”