When Melissa Riley looks at her 13-year-old son, she sees a talented
artist, a funny kid who likes playing pranks, and a gamer who spends a lot
of time playing Fortnite with friends.

She sees a young man who�s excited about playing football, and maybe
taking some architecture and engineering courses when he starts high
school next fall.

But that�s not what the teachers and leaders of her son�s Virginia middle
school see, she said. When they look at her son, she believes they see one
thing first and foremost: a black kid.

Growing up in the Charlottesville area, Riley said her son never really
saw himself as different from the other kids in school. Sure, his skin
tone was a little darker � his dad is black and Riley is white and Native
American � but Riley never thought it was appropriate to box him in with
stifling racial classifications.

�He looks Hawaiian,� she said of her son. �He�s beautiful.�

But she said her son�s views on race and his conception of his own complex
identity have been tossed in a blender and mixed up ever since the
Albemarle School District adopted an �anti-racism� policy, with an
explicit goal of eliminating �all forms of racism� from the local schools.

Riley said that a new anti-racist curriculum launched at Henley Middle
School last spring is itself racist, because it indoctrinates students and
teachers in a racial essentialist worldview that emphasizes racial
conflict and treats students differently based on their skin color.

She said the school has changed her son in ways she doesn�t approve of,
filling his head with racial-awareness lessons that emphasize oppression
and privilege. Her son now sees himself as different from his mostly white
classmates: as a young black man who will have more struggles in life
because of his race and because of the systemic racism that is endemic in
American life.

�He is changing,� Riley said of her son. �If things don�t go his way or
things seem unfair, he will now claim it�s racism. He never did that
before. He now identifies as a black man, because that�s how the school
told him he looks and who he is.�

A court fight

Riley and her son are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the
Albemarle County School Board in December by the Alliance Defending
Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit conservative legal firm. The ADF lawyers allege
the district�s anti-racism policy and curriculum violate the Virginia
Constitution�s equal-protection and free-speech clauses and violate
parental rights.

Their lawsuit was dismissed last month by a circuit-court judge who seemed
to find the district�s policy unobjectionable and declared that there is
�nothing inherently evil or wrong� about it.

The ADF lawyers have vowed to appeal the ruling. �Certainly, we were
disappointed with the result, no question about it,� said Ryan Bangert,
senior counsel with the ADF. �We�re hopeful that the court above on appeal
will see things differently, and we�re confident that it will.�

The Albemarle County School Board adopted its anti-racism programming in
2019 and implemented a pilot program at Henley Middle School last spring,
as students were returning to the classroom from COVID-19-related school
closures. That was when Riley learned about the program.

At its most mundane, the school offered a series of anti-bias lessons and
feel-good teachings about positivity and inclusivity. Last summer, for
example, Henley Middle School students painted murals in the school
hallways with messages such as, �We are equal,� �Happy mind, happy life,�
and that life is fragile, �like paper,� according to a local TV news
report.

But parents who dug deeper into the curriculum found reasons to be
concerned.

The curriculum taught middle-schoolers that racism is �the marginalization
and/or oppression of people of color based on a socially constructed
hierarchy that privileges white people.� Students were urged to be �anti-
racists,� and that by not making anti-racist choices, they were
unconsciously upholding �aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant
culture, and unequal institutions and society.�

Teachers were trained to identify �white privilege� and to understand that
the idea of meritocracy is a myth. They learned about �communication as a
racialized tool,� and were taught that �white talk� is verbal, impersonal,
intellectual and task-oriented, whereas �color commentary� is nonverbal,
personal, emotional and process-oriented � lessons that critics say
perpetuate gross racial stereotypes.

�Non-negotiables�

Some parents spoke up at meetings, complaining that the lessons were
rooted in critical race theory, and calling for a pause in the teachings.
But the school board and the superintendent dug in, penning an online
letter that emphasized �bringing the anti-racism policy to life for all.�

They denied that critical race theory was part of their curriculum but
acknowledged that the district offers a professional-development program
on culturally responsive teaching. The anti-racism programming was
important to correct racial disparities in student access to learning
opportunities, respond to reports of racial harassment and bullying,
eliminate the unequal demographic impact of policies and programs, and
improve longstanding opportunity and achievement gaps among students,
according to the letter.

�These are non-negotiables,� the board wrote. �We are firmly committed to
achieving these outcomes and to supporting the inclusive programs and
activities that make this possible. We welcome all points of view in how
best to strengthen our continuous growth model, and we reject all efforts
that would have us resist positive change in favor of the status quo.�

Riley said her experiences with her son�s schools through the years have
mostly been good. The academics in the local schools are strong, and
Riley, a single mom, has sacrificed to make sure her son had access to the
schools in the Crozet community.

For most of his school life, race hasn�t really been an issue for her son,
Riley said. A former elementary-school principal once tried to get her son
to join a mentoring organization for black male students, but she
declined, Riley said. �He was not happy with my decision,� she said of
that principal. �But this is my son, and I�m his parent.�

Riley said red flags went up when she first learned about the Albemarle
School District�s anti-racism policy and a pilot program at her son�s
school. She feared that a hyper-focused attention on race and racial
differences would result in her son being singled out in the mostly white
school. She said she talked to school leaders and told them she didn�t
think it was appropriate.

�They said, �Well, your son would be a great voice for all black students,
and we would love to have him speak for that community,� � Riley recalled.
�He [was] 12, and I did not think that was his responsibility. But also,
he has not had a different experience than any of these other children.�

Riley said she was told that if her son was uncomfortable during
discussions on race, he would be offered a safe space. �I told them, �No,
that is segregation,� � Riley said.

She said she was directed to talk to a physical-education coach to get his
perspective. She said the coach, who is black, told her that the anti-
racism policy and instruction were necessary because �parents are not
teaching their children what they need to know about race,� Riley wrote in
a memorandum to the court supporting the ADF lawsuit.

�He said parents aren�t parenting anymore, and they need to take over,�
she said. �I told him that I chose to be a parent, and that�s my job, and
I will not let them be the parent. They are there to teach my child
academics. And I will take care of everything else.�

�Parenting very hard�

Riley said she feels like her concerns have been ignored by school and
district leaders. She said she spends a lot of time talking with her son
about the racial conflict he�s now experiencing.

�He has not experienced racism here, until now, until they�ve implemented
this racist curriculum,� Riley said of her son. �I�m parenting very hard
right now.�

Speaking out on the issue has been difficult in the liberal community,
Riley said. �There are a lot of people that are mad that we are standing
up for our children,� she said. There are a lot of people who don�t feel
comfortable speaking out, she said, but she knows there are supporters for
her view, including even some teachers.

Riley said she was disappointed, but not discouraged, by the ruling by
Albemarle Circuit Judge Claude Worrell II last month dismissing the case
because he saw no proof that anyone had been harmed by the district�s
anti-racism policy.

According to a transcript of the hearing, Worrell appeared skeptical of
the ADF�s case from the beginning. He was hard on their lawyers and didn�t
seem to engage with their arguments. He seemed to find the district�s
anti-racism agenda unobjectionable.