DEI and the Blackface incident at Whitewater High School

Jack Bernard
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DEI and the Blackface incident at Whitewater High School

Jack Bernard
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Views 3326 | Comments 23

“Our Confederate dead, whom power could not corrupt, whom death could not terrify, whom defeat could not dishonor. It is not in mortals to command success. But they did more, deserved it.” –Confederate monument at the historic Coweta County Courthouse in Newnan

Most of you have probably heard about the “blackface” incident at a Whitewater High volleyball game. It has become a state wide scandal that has again hit the news (https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/11/17/fayette-county-public-schools-expected-make-changes-after-alleged-blackface-incident/?outputType=amp). 

School Superintendent Dr. Jon Patterson and Whitewater High School Principal Krystin Hall have been discussing the situation with the NAACP among others and strongly regret it occurred. They have communicated with students and their families regarding the event, stating that it “did not reflect the values of our school system”. We have an excellent school system, and I fully believe them.

My take of the event, as expressed in my September AJC column on the topic, is a bit different (https://www.ajc.com/education/2025/09/blackface-controversy-sadly-indicative-of-the-times-in-which-we-live/). I am not primarily blaming the schools. In my opinion, the very fact that this incident occurred shows how removed from reality some people in our county, state and nation are from US history and reality.

For example, a few years ago on a party line vote, a bill to prevent local governments from moving monuments – unless it’s to site of “similar prominence,” excluding museums – slipped through the Georgia Legislature. It was signed by Governor Kemp who stated- “This bill will make a lasting impact on countless Georgians.” I agree Governor, but not in the positive way you mean.

And it is not just in Georgia that a problem exists. Years ago, I wrote a column for the NC Fayetteville Observer regarding Fort Bragg (the largest military installation in America), advocating for a name change. That happened in 2023 when it was renamed Fort Liberty. Bragg was Confederate General who turned his back on his nation, the United States, to join the Confederacy.

The position of then President Trump, first term, was that he would never change the name. His contorted view, again summoning the demons of racism and white resentment, was that the name is a part of a- “Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom.”  So, Trump changed the name back to Ft. Bragg this year.

There is a very stubborn refusal by MAGA advocates to acknowledge that the Civil War was fought to preserve the slavery of black people by whites. The Newnan monument is a fine example of the glorious “lost cause” myth which reinvents history to incorrectly declare that the Civil War was fought over states’ rights, not the buying and selling of human beings (https://www.splcenter.org/resources/stories/waking-racism-new-documentary-tells-truth-about-confederacy-tracks-root-lost-cause-myth/).

Thus, some whites are unwilling to try to overcome the ills of the past through DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives, stating that they are unneeded. Similarly, with the current administration in Washington, they feel empowered to act in ways that are obviously racist, like donning blackface at a volleyball game. 

Yes, they were teenagers. But the parents must have known. And, even if they did not, they raised their kids to think such behavior was perfectly acceptable.

Megyn Kelly, the conservative pundit formerly of Fox News, recently stated that it was no big deal that teen girls were abused by Epstein because- “There’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?”(https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/megyn-kelly-questions-whether-child-213715510.html).  Back in 2018 during the first Trump reign, she also defended blackface as insignificant and understandable. 

Once we start excusing inexcusable acts due to our politics, where does it stop? Will we just continue to rewrite history and ignore basic morality?

Jack Bernard

23 responses to “DEI and the Blackface incident at Whitewater High School”

  1. Stranger Than Fiction Avatar
    Stranger Than Fiction

    I enjoyed reading the responses to Mr. Bernard’s column.

    I suppose that it is possible that young people today are unaware of the history of minstrel shows in our country. Since white snowflakes are no longer allowed to learn any history in school that might instill the least discomfort, I fear a whole generation of historical illiterates. This is a high price to pay just to score political points.

    Yet, these black-faced folks seem old enough to have escaped the new sanitized version of American history, so I’m still puzzled by their insensitivity. We live in a country in which most speech, including hate speech, is allowed, so no laws were broken. The face looking back at them in the mirror offers the only judgement that probably matters to them. If they somehow did not realize the implications of their actions, perhaps will offer a teaching moment for them.

    And Penny – Do you actually believe that if Ronald Bragg had been named Ronald Smith, the largest army base in the U.S. would now be Fort Smith? You are too smart to parrot the Defense Secretary’s farcical explanation. Many of your other points were reasonably argued.

  2. trailsbeforewhales Avatar
    trailsbeforewhales

    Brave of you Mr. Bernard for writing this column here. It’s sad that it requires bravery, but it does indeed. This publication was formerly a veritable roach motel of the kind of behavior you rightly condemn. To be clear, it didn’t start out that way. But in the Trump era, where many seemingly normal conservatives became radicalized in ways that would terrify Ronald Reagan, this publication followed suit and became a hotbed for like-minded right-wingers to congregate and feed on Steve Brown’s latest diatribe. Anyway, I think you’re on the money with this piece. Sadly, it’s unlikely to change any minds.

  3. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
    TheodoreDwightWeld

    I feel like I have to keep repeating myself. If you are against DEIA initiatives, you stand against our veterans communities and folks with disabilities. Working in both of these communities I can point to numerous initiatives that help these folks gain access to an equitable work place that you would call DEIA.

    Now, which of you anti-veterans folks are against DEIA?

  4. MyCatBill Avatar
    MyCatBill

    Folks like Ted D Weld, Jack Bernard and their progressive doppelgangers on these pages, who throw meaningless ‘racist’ accusations like confetti at a party toward everyone who isn’t as off-the-chains flaming liberal as they are, should take note of a 2018 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Yale and Princeton researchers on how conservatives and liberals speak to minorities.

    The researchers found no difference in how conservative / Republicans talked with minorities versus how they spoke to mostly white individuals or groups.

    Liberals / Democrats, however, talk down to minorities. “’White liberals self-present less competence to minorities than to other Whites; that is, they patronize minorities stereotyped as lower status and less competent,’ according to the study’s abstract.” “White liberals ‘patronize’ minorities by downplaying competence — conservatives don’t: Study”, apnews.com, 11/28/2018

    “The study flies in the face of a standard talking point of the political left, that white conservatives are racist, while raising questions about whether liberals are perpetuating racial stereotypes about blacks being less competent than whites.” (As above)

    “White liberals . . . seem to be relying on stereotypes (that) … still depict racial minorities as being less competent than whites,” said Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale School of Management and lead author of the study. “Study: White Liberals Rely On Old Stereotypes When Interacting With Black People”, Connecticut Public Radio ctpublic.org, 12/3/2018

    So before you go into your next keyboard tirade to make accusations about ‘racist’ conservatives, step back and look into the mirror. It may be you who can’t get past outward appearances when interacting with others that aren’t like you. Your incessant virtue signaling gives you away.

    1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
      TheodoreDwightWeld

      Your entire argument depends on one study, ripped out of context, exaggerated beyond its findings, and twisted to imply something it never concluded: that conservatives aren’t racist and liberals are.
 That’s not what the study said. 
That’s not what the study found.
 And that’s not how scientific evidence works.
      Let’s break down your inabilityt to understand science.
      Your argument commits to the classic “one study proves everything” fallacy

      You wave around a single study like it’s the Rosetta Stone of racial dynamics.
 But decades of research in social psychology, political science, and sociology show overwhelming evidence that:

      * Conservatives score consistently higher on measures of racial resentment,

      * Conservatives show higher support for explicitly discriminatory policies,

      * Conservatives are more likely to oppose civil rights,

      * Conservatives express stronger in-group bias,

      * Conservatives report more negative views toward Black Americans, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ people, etc.

      Cherry-picking one paper that studied a communication style pattern, NOT prejudice, does not magically erase thousands of peer-reviewed findings.

      You want to act like you believe in Science now?

      The study did not measure racism, prejudice, policy views, discrimination, or racial attitudes
      It measured something very narrow:
competence-downshifting in speech.
      That’s it.
 Not racism. 

      Not discriminatory beliefs. 

      Not support for oppressive systems.

      Not willingness to deny rights.
      
Not hate.

      Trying to use this paper to argue
      “See, liberals are the REAL racists!”
      Is an intellectual bait-and-switch.

      Conservative outlets heavily distorted the findings for propaganda. The AP News and Connecticut Public Radio summaries you quoted were widely misinterpreted, mainly by political commentators who didn’t read the full paper.

      The researchers themselves explicitly warned against exactly the kind of political misuse being attempted here. 
Cydney Dupree even clarified in interviews:

      * The study does not show conservatives are less biased.

      * The study does not show liberals are racist.

      * The study does not measure prejudice or hostility.

      * The study only reveals a linguistic pattern that may reflect over-accommodation, not racial animus.
      The authors were careful.
 The political commentators were not.

      The argument ignores the giant, glaring difference between:

      A. Linguistic over-accommodation rooted in awkwardness, and

      B. Explicit policies that harm real people

      Let’s compare:
      White liberals in the study:

      * Used slightly simpler words with Black conversation partners
(Roughly the same difference you’d see in someone adjusting to a non-native speaker).

      * This could reflect anxious overcorrecting, not negative beliefs.
      White conservatives in real-world behavior:

      * Support voter suppression measures targeted at minorities

      * Support bans on teaching accurate racial history

      * Support disproportionately punitive policing

      * Oppose anti-discrimination legislation

      * Oppose policies meant to reduce racial inequality

      * Support politicians who openly use racist rhetoric

      * Promote stereotypes about Black criminality, immigration, and “culture”

      One is an awkward conversational tic. The other is a political platform with measurable racial consequences. Trying to equate the two is morally unserious.

      The argument drips with projection
      The final paragraph accuses liberals of:

      * “virtue signaling”

      * “keyboard tirades”

      * “racist accusations like confetti”
      Yet the entire argument is built on:

      * a superficial reading of a single study,

      * cherry-picked quotes from politically motivated summaries,

      * a desire to declare oneself morally superior,

      * and a desperate attempt to prove “liberals bad, conservatives good” using weak evidence.

      This is the very definition of virtue signaling—except it’s aimed at reassuring white conservatives that racism is something other people do.
      The argument hinges on an incorrect assumption: “If liberal bias exists, conservative bias disappears”
      This is laughably false.
      Multiple things can be true at once:

      * White liberals may sometimes “over-correct” in how they speak

      * White conservatives may express more explicit racial prejudice

      * Systemic racism can exist regardless of individual speech patterns

      * People can be awkward and trying to be supportive

      The argument pretends the world is binary:
      “If liberals sometimes talk down, then conservatives aren’t racist!”
      That’s intellectually childish and wildly dishonest.

      The argument never engages with the substance of racism

      Racism is not defined by:

      * vocabulary choices

      * sentence complexity

      * anxious politeness
      Racism is defined by:

      * power

      * prejudice

      * systems

      * policy effects

      * outcomes

      * structural inequalities

      * voting behavior

      * support for discriminatory institutions

      This argument avoids all of that because it knows conservatives lose on every one of those metrics.
      So it latches onto a linguistic study like a life raft.

      This argument fails because it:

      * Cherry-picks one study

      * Misrepresents what the study measured

      * Ignores decades of research contradicting its conclusion

      * Confuses communication patterns with racial attitudes

      * Leaks projection and insecurity about conservative racial views

      * Pretends liberals are uniquely flawed while conservatives are uniquely virtuous
      It is:

      * intellectually shallow

      * politically motivated

      * methodologically sloppy

      * and scientifically illiterate

      If someone wants to have a real conversation about race, equity, and political behavior, it needs to be grounded in the full body of research, not cherry-picked talking points ripped from context.

      1. MyCatBill Avatar
        MyCatBill

        I hit a nerve, eh Ted? I cited a legitimate study, and only said to look in the mirror, do some introspection, consider the possibility that you may have your own race issues.

        Thou doth protest too much! It looks to me like a guilty conscience that knows his patronizing ways, covered by academic-speak bombast and progressive bluster.

        Of course, you’d try to discredit anything that doesn’t fit your narrative. But that’s what you do: personal attacks, hyperbole and virtue signaling. You’re so predictable, I laugh.

        The point is that liberals like you have their own problems dealing with race, and conservatives aren’t all racist rubes. You missed this, instead throwing a keyboard hissy fit.

        We can’t take seriously anyone who divides the world into ‘them bad, me always good’. And that would include you. Lighten up.

        1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
          TheodoreDwightWeld

          And it’s sad that I had to actually explain what the research was about. It’s clear as day you didn’t even read it but instead relied on a summary someone else fed you.

        2. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
          TheodoreDwightWeld

          It’s crazy that you cannot look at the actual policy and the actual voters and see that one party upholds white supremacy and white grievances, while the other is fighting for everyone to be treated equally under the law.

        3. MyCatBill Avatar
          MyCatBill

          Ted: you tried to discredit the research. The authors’ words, however, straight from the study itself, speak far better than whatever it was you were trying to say in your lengthy rant.

          “White liberals self-present less competence to minorities than to other Whites; that is, they patronize minorities stereotyped as lower status and less competent” – – a direct quote from the study’s abstract. Should I explain to you that the authors wrote the study’s abstract?

          Was it only one data point? Sure. But it should have been enough for you to take a step back and think before engaging your torrent of leftist drivel about ‘racist’ conservatives.

          As far as voters seeing the world as you do, “The following is from Gallup News Poll… . Of particular note:

          The Democratic Party’s wide lead over Republicans in Black Americans’ party preferences has shrunk by nearly 20 points over the past three years.

          Democrats’ leads among Hispanic adults and adults aged 18 to 29 have slid nearly as much, resulting in Democrats’ holding only a modest edge among both groups.

          Whereas Democrats were at parity with Republicans among men as recently as 2009, and among non-college-educated adults as recently as 2019, they are now in the red with both groups.” “(GALLUP) Democrats’ advantage at record lows among Blacks and Hispanics”, sharylattkisson.com, 2/10/2024

          And President Trump was elected by a majority in the Electoral College and the popular vote, with notable gains among minority voting groups.

          It appears your ‘white supremacist’, ‘racist’, ‘misogynist’, ‘transphobe’, etc., etc. narrative isn’t playing as well as it once did. But go ahead and tar everyone else, at least you look virtuous (laughing eye roll).

          1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
            TheodoreDwightWeld

            Just say it, you lack the intellect or ability to understand what I said, much less carrying on the democratic torch of egalitarianism.

          2. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
            TheodoreDwightWeld

            Would you like me to link research on education levels and intellect based on party affiliation?

          3. MyCatBill Avatar
            MyCatBill

            Oooooh. The old, ‘you lack the intellect to understand’ retort. That’s the academic’s equivalent to a 5 year-old saying, “you’re a booger!” on the playground.

            Hey, everyone! Ted is a HISTORY PHd!!! Please bow to his immense skills in debate, because after all, he’s educated and has intellect! (Another laughing eye-roll)

            Yeah, Ted. Go ahead and do that research for us. Display your intellect by showing that academics are educated and flaming liberal. Who knew?

            Anyone might have guessed that Ted’s a PHd from the flood of school yard name-calling and personal attacks, hyperbole and lefty virtue signaling that mark his presence on this site. But despite all that, he says he’s a torch-carrying egalitarian. Sure, Ted. Sure.

            “Common sense without education, is better than education without common sense”. Benjamin Franklin

            “A Phd without common sense is nonsense”. Sekoni Sullivan

          4. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
            TheodoreDwightWeld

            No one said anything about degree obtainment. My comment was geared towards intellect.

            I think you have me confused with someone else as far as the phd goes.

            I work closely with veterans and disabilities rights organizations.

  5. Jacketman Avatar
    Jacketman

    So is the TDS crowd blaming Trump for the blackface incident or the Civil War? Or both?

    It’s hard to keep track since TDS only allows blame for everything to go one way

    1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
      TheodoreDwightWeld

      No, just his white supremacist supporters. We have already established that he is a felon, a rapist, an insurrectionist, a racist, child sexual predator, a fascist, authoritarian, and lame duck president. Because of these things he has emboldened the most un-American and anti-democratic people to do things like wear black face.

      If you trace back in history to reconstruction, you can draw a straight line from white redemption to today’s Republican Party. The policies even line up. As Lincoln would say it’s the “same old serpent” We did not even have a true democracy until 1964 and since the passage of the civil rights act act, you folks have been doing everything bring it back to pre-1964. When I say everything, I mean electing a rapist and child sexual predator to destroy the very democracy those before us fought for.

  6. the_wing_t Avatar
    the_wing_t

    Great article Mr. Bernard……..had this incident happened in the 1950’s. Now for a dose of reality for you. This was not a blackface incident. This was a few kids with school spirit going above and beyond to support their school football team which – grab your pearls – has a majority of of black players on it. This same practice is repeated at schools and colleges across the country nearly every weekend in the fall, including right here at UGA….but we never hear a peep out of it. Why is that? Is that because maybe there’s a little more common sense over there, than is present on the local NAACP chapter? Anothter news flash – kids today are as a rule not racist. Spend any amount of time around any local education system and you see no issues. White kids today grew up IDOLIZING people of darker skin tones in sports (Jordan, Lebron, Steph Curry, Ozzie Albies & Acuna, Shaq, Herschel Walker, Hines Ward, etc), in music (Michael Jackson, Nelly, Usher, Beyonce, and thousands more), in film (Denzel, Halle Berry, Samuel Jackson, et al), even in politics with Obama. The openly racist era you long for and glamourize with your article died in the late 60s and 70s. Are there still some racist folks? Yes…..of all skin tones. Were these kids part of the problem? Not in the slightest. What IS the problem is people like you, Mr. Bernard, who are so desperate to virtue-signal how noble and just. you are, that you make up a narrative to fit your desire, instead of doing any sort of research or critical thinking and coming to a logical conclusion. And The Citizen is just as complicit in this journalistic malpractice. So – we all hope you sleep better at night for being a good little culture warrior and showing how virtuous you are, meanwhile you throw armfuls of wood on the long-cooled coals of the racist fire, hoping to stoke it up so you can be even more virtuous for pointing out a problem that wasn’t there in the first place. That makes you part of the problem, not part of the solution.

    1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
      TheodoreDwightWeld

      Says the Groyper

      1. the_wing_t Avatar
        the_wing_t

        TDW – make a logical argument and counterpoint or go back to your basement, your pithy attempts at insults don’t make a dent and don’t deserve a response.

        1. drdrakeramoray Avatar
          drdrakeramoray

          SSS is the poster them for “pithy”

  7. drdrakeramoray Avatar
    drdrakeramoray

    Yes I think Jack may have been the 4th wheel at the latest lesbian Love Story at Drake Field. Way too good, albeit a long way from Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neil. I just hope at Wokestreet Boyz, Side Stepping Strawman and Stranger Than Osoff, can give this post the dignity it deserves.

  8. My.02 Avatar
    My.02

    Here we go again. (Insert teenager-quality eyeroll). Jack Bernard, representing the eternally-aggrieved, throws a bunch of unrelated grumbles and biases together, adds in some falsehoods, and makes it into a “story”.

    When a couple of folks dressing up to root for a school team is twisted into the “blackface incident”, it says more about the snowflake reactions of our times than anything. Jack has to dig it up to discredit others who were not involved in order to virtue signal how he is connected to US history and ‘reality’.

    As far as the Georgia monuments bill, it makes sense if you recall the hysteria of the time, when progressives were tearing down all sorts of statues and other historical sites. No thoughtful debate, just a mob and ropes. You also need to hear from Stranger Than Fiction, who loves to remind us of the dangers of forgetting history, even history that isn’t our nation’s finest moment.

    Proving that some folks can get wrapped around an axle without even knowing what they are talking about, Mr Bernard laments the re-naming of Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg, “again summoning the demons of racism and white resentment” (hyperbole much, Jack?).

    He leaves out the most important fact: “Fort Liberty’s name (was) changed back to Fort Bragg – in honor of a World War II hero, not the Confederate general who had been its namesake.” ‘Fort Liberty now Fort Bragg. What’s the history behind the name and Hegseth’s decision?’ USAToday.com, 2/11/25

    Either Mr Bernard did not know a basic fact upon which he was building his ‘racist’ narrative, or he is purposely misleading us to create another grievance for his list. Just as he falsely clings to the narrative that the ‘blackface incident’ was a racist offense.

    And Mr Bernard also leaves out the essential fact that our nation went to war to stop slavery, with hundreds of thousands of men maimed and dead fighting to end it. That is also our history, Jack.

    Even worse, Mr Bernard totally twists the words and intent of Megyn Kelly to create controversy to fit his narrative and to shame Ms Kelly. She never said it was “no big deal that teen girls were abused by Epstein”. NEVER. In fact, she acknowledged Epstein’s abuse of young girls and called it ‘disgusting’.

    Kelly’s topic was whether or not Epstein was a pedophile by definition, since Epstein preferred young girls who could pass as an adult, not 5 year olds. Bernard knows this, since he concealed the whole title of the story he cites: “Megyn Kelly Questions Whether Child Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein Counts as a Pedophile: ‘He Liked the Very Young Teen Type’”.

    So again, Mr Bernard is either ignorant with no reading comprehension skills, and / or Jack is deliberately creating a false story to fit his left-wing ideology. Either way, he thinks we are sheep to be bamboozled into believing his nonsense.

    It’s sad, but this seems to be the way of many on the far-left, certainly our politicians, mainstream media and now Jack Bernard. If you can’t win on the facts and logic, bury us in half-truths and name-calling of those who disagree with you.

    Last, you are going to defend DEI, Mr Bernard? DEI has been thoroughly discredited as a system of identity-based preferences and word-policing whose only success was enriching consultants. It’s dead and buried, as your backward-looking grievances and made-up version of facts should be.

    Basic morality is seeing the value and humanity in every individual, not lumping everyone with this or that characteristic together to decide how you will treat them. Try it. It works.

    1. TheodoreDwightWeld Avatar
      TheodoreDwightWeld

      “ Basic morality is seeing the value and humanity in every individual, not lumping everyone with this or that characteristic together to decide how you will treat them.”

      Do you feel this way about Trans folks?

      1. My.02 Avatar
        My.02

        Absolutely. Trans folks are people too.

        What I don’t like is the choices trans people have made that deny their biology, and to then insist that I pretend along with them and use THEIR pronouns. I dislike the public hyper-sexuality and grooming of kids by the trans community.

        I oppose men in girls’ and women’s spaces and sports. Trans people chose that path in life. There are consequences to decisions. We have no obligation to put women’s comfort and safety at risk to make trans folks feel better about themselves.

        There is no reason trans people should get preferences and extra ‘rights’. No less than anyone else, but certainly not more. ‘Trans rights’ don’t exist as something separate from our Constitutional rights.

        I realize this is a hard concept for some to grasp, but we I believe I must try to be a good neighbor to all others, even those whose behaviors we find abhorrent. It is a difficult task, and I don’t always succeed, but it is the direction I chose for my life.

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