Thread by @RadioFreeTom

This question is being asked by @cmclymer with a clear streak of bad faith, but I'm going to answer it. And some of my friends on the left aren't going to like the answer, because it involves words like "strategy" and "winning elections." /1

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1457552828189249546

"What should we do to educate people" presupposes that racism was a mystery until yesterday and so today's progressives must champion something no one ever thought of. This is presumptuous and suffers from the idea that no one has tackled this until you thought of it. /2

FWIW, I don't think decades of education about racism - including changes in the 1990s - have failed, but it is a hallmark of current progressivism to believe that all consciousness started last Tuesday and therefore everyone else is way, way behind and need "educating."/3

But the question of "how would I educate the public" is the wrong one because I disagree with it as a strategy. You are not going to win elections by "educating the public about racism." The public knows about racism and has, for the most part, chosen sides, good and bad. /4

In the meantime - right now - the American system of government is fighting for survival against an authoritarian movement at home. So I will turn the question back to Clymer and others. Why are you so determined to do things that help that movement? /5

The strategy for fighting an authoritarian movement is to build the biggest coalition you can assemble of people who agree with you as broadly as possible, not to insist that they must jump your intellectual hoops and pass your wickets before you accept their vote. /6

It's politics 101 *not to alienate people who are otherwise likely to be on your side*. Most Americans are not racists; it does you no good to insist that they're not anti-racist *enough* for your taste - while still wanting them in your coalition. /7

So, in the words of Sean Connery: What are you prepared to do? Are you going to keep insisting that you must "educate" the masses, or do you want to forestall an authoritarian takeover? Because honestly, the progressive left sucks at trying to do both at the same time. /8

You'll hate to hear it, but sweeping, elegaic discussions of racism are a luxury for when democracy is safe, not for when it's teetering on a cliff. This is triage. Build coalitions instead of holding seminars on CRT on cable TV. It's less fulfilling, but it's more effective. /9

I gladly admit that I roll my eyes every time someone "explains" CRT, because if you're explaining, you losing, and you're fighting the on the GOP's preferred terms. The goal is "stopping the next GOP government," not "educating about systemic racism." /10

I find the "I would rather talk about my issues and lose rather than change tracks for now and win" to be incomprehensible. If you think marginalized people will do better under unified GOP government, I don't know even know where to begin with that. /11

In the end, the constant insistence that "the public needs education" is offensive not to racists - who don't care - but to well-meaning people *who already agree with you* and rightly bristle at your constant purity testing. /12

Join hands with them and convince them of the mortal peril to our way of government. We get through this crisis, there will be plenty of time to build a more perfect union. Screw this up, and the story ends here. /13

So don't screw it up. /14x