By: Brian Sikma
After nationally syndicated columnist George Will wrote a column highlighting the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s promotion of anti-white privilege initiatives, PolitiFact Wisconsin went to work labeling Will’s piece “Mostly False.” In throwing out that rating, PolitiFact made an arbitrary editorial decision that focused more on the Department of Public Instruction’s defense and than the facts at hand.
News of DPI’s promotion of anti-white privilege activities, such as the idea of having students wear white wristbands to remind them of their racial privilege, was first revealed in a report by Education Action Group – EAG – a conservative group based in Michigan. EAG works to expose liberal bias in public education.
According to the original EAG report, DPI posted to its website a flyer prepared by an organization called Beyond Diversity Resource Center, and intended as a resource for educators and those working in public schools. The flyer was titled: “Addressing Racial Privilege: A Mental Model for White Anti-Racists” and it included such suggestions as having students “wear a white wristband” as a “reminder about your privilege.”
Not long after EAG’s report, conservative columnist George Will wrote about the situation in Wisconsin. “Wisconsin’s DPI, in collaboration with the Orwellian-named federal program VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America; the “volunteers” are paid), urged white students to wear white wristbands ‘as a reminder about your privilege, and as a personal commitment to explain why you wear the wristband.’” wrote Will.
It was Will’s specific statement that DPI “urged white students” to wear the wristbands that landed him the “Mostly False” rating.
PolitiFact insists that the reason Will is wrong is because DPI merely made the flyers and materials available to educators, and DPI never specifically told students what to do. But is it possible to promote something to educators and expect for that to not be potentially, either overtly or covertly, promoted to the students of those educators? In an unmistakable admission, DPI bureaucrats removed the flyer from their website once word of its existence got out.
After speaking with a spokesperson for DPI, PolitiFact reported:
Johnson said that in training, the VISTA workers were given a number of handouts, including the one that mentions the white wristbands, and the handouts were posted on a DPI web page.
But DPI has never made any communication with any school or district about white wristbands and DPI is not aware of any schools that have such a program, he said.
Oddly, any later concerns by DPI about the flyers never stopped them from posting the flyers and distributing them to educators in the first place.
Asked why they rated Will’s statement the way they did, PolitiFact Wisconsin insisted that they did not give Will a “False” rating, only a “Mostly False.” Greg Borowski, editor of PolitiFact Wisconsin, which is housed at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, pointed out that the definition of a “Mostly False” rating is “The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.”
Asked how Will’s statement, which was also true, didn’t at least merit a “Mostly True” rating, Borowski replied, “I’m not going to be drawn into your little game here.”
PolitiFact Wisconsin, as other PolitiFact outlets around the country, has successfully used its self-proclaimed status as an impartial fact-checker to offer opinions and editorial review of the news. The rating of Will’s column shows that the editorial angle, as opposed to strict news angle, is still quite strong at PolitiFact.