Opponents of school choice frequently claim that those who support vouchers and similar programs are racist. As one example, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weigarten recently compared advocates of “parents’ rights” to the segregationists of the 1950s. Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Gates Davis has called private schools “segregation academies.” Both evade the fact that poll after poll finds that black parents overwhelmingly support school choice.
A poll in early 2023 found that 79 percent of black parents support school vouchers. A more recent poll found that more than 60 percent of black parents in four states support vouchers. A survey in 2021 found that 81 percent of black parents supported education vouchers, while 71 percent of white parents supported vouchers. Interestingly, one survey in 2023 found support for school choice among Hispanic voters is also higher than white voters. The union bosses don’t want to address these findings because doing so would make clear the falsehood of their argument.
It is common for Leftists to play the race card when the facts aren’t on their side. In doing so, they ascribe motivations to the target of their claims and fail to consider any alternative motivation. In this instance, they refuse to consider the possibility that supporters of school choice actually care about the education children are receiving. They refuse to consider the possibility that school choice might be beneficial to black children.
Playing the race card is merely an attempt to hijack the discussion. The fundamental issue in the school choice debate is the freedom to produce and trade as one deems best. Defenders of government schools don’t want to confront this issue. Nor do they want to give parents and students the freedom to choose. And so, they use claims of racism as a distraction.
Supporters of school choice want parents and students to have the freedom to choose. They support the freedom of all parents—white, black, and brown—to choose the school that is best for their child. There is nothing racist about defending the freedom to choose.