Stelter CNN panel criticizes parents’ rights and CRT, saying that it’s all ‘actually race’

"It seems to be that there's obviously very real issues – we all know it; every parent knows it – involving schools in the era of the pandemic. Real issues about learning loss, real authentic issues involving school board[s] and curricula."

"But then, there's also this apocalyptic narrative that comes from right-wing media, including Fox, that is out of proportion, that is exaggerated."

"... Critical race theory is a real thing. It's taught in colleges; academics study it for a living. But now that phrase has come to mean something very different in our political ecosphere."

Natasha Alford, one of the panelists, commented:

"... When I was a local news reporter, some of the most intense stories were school board meetings. And they were about busing kids from the city into the suburbs. So, these are America's issues with race and identity, and this sort of moral outrage that just gets repackaged."

"Hold on, so you're saying when the top issue is called 'education,' the top issue is race," asked Stelter. Alford responded:

"It's actually race. And it is our jobs as journalists to provide that historical context, so that our readers just don't take that headline and say parents' rights."

This particular discussion comes right after a heavy loss for the Democratic party in the state of Virginia on Tuesday, in which the incoming governor and top officials are now Republican.

One of the big issues on the table in said election appears to have been the imposition of increasingly far-left agendas in the curricula of public school boards throughout the state, particularly the teaching of critical race theory (CRT). Parents are said to have felt scorned and ignored by public officials on this issue.