On Monday, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) said a “diversity and inclusion merit badge,” in support of the Black Lives Matter racist group, will now be required to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. Those who have championed the slow march of the hard left through American cultural institutions crowed over their victory.
“I think this is a big deal to the extent that all these traditional, Christian-oriented organizations are trying to get their houses in order with regard to systematic racism,” Alvin Tillery Jr., a political science professor at Northwestern University told the press. “This is an organization that is super-embattled and they’ve had to adopt more progressive stances because nobody wants to have anything to do with them.” While taking the obligatory progressive college professor shot at Christianity, Tillery does have a very good public relations point.
The vital rules of crisis management are to change the subject and find a villain. Thus these changes come soon after the BSA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stopping hundreds of lawsuits the now-leftist group faced after decades of sexual abuse claims within the 110-year-old organization. The BSA is trying to change the subject from its criminal negligence in allowing sexual predators into its ranks, allowing them to prey on young boys, and they have found their villain: White people.
In the BSA letter to scouts and their families, the organization said it will also require diversity and inclusion training for all BSA employees starting on July 1, and will mandate a review of property names, events, and insignia “to build on and enhance the organization’s nearly 30-year ban on [the] use of the Confederate flag.” Thus the BSA will purge itself of any symbols that reference America’s past, traditional American cultural values, and other references that do not meet the radical PC mindset.
The BSA told its members and supporters, “The Boy Scouts of America stands with black families and the black community because we believe that Black Lives Matter. This is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue and one we all have a duty to address.” Given Black Lives Matter is a specifically political group advocating a specifically political agenda, not only is their statement disingenuous but it marks a blatant foray into partisan politics unknown to the group in its existence of over a century.
The BSA letter concluded, “As our country reckons with racial injustice, we all must consider our role and our failures and commit to meaningful action. There is no place for racism – not in Scouting and not in our communities. Racism will not be tolerated.” Also, American history and the patriotic values the BSA has stood for since the early 20th century, ideals such as God and country, will apparently not be tolerated as well.
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