The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-08)

C4 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 8 , 2022

since by any Republican candi- date for governor. I was a young Black Republican in those days. I know the recent conduct by local Republican leaders and chair- men was not common back then, nor was it acceptable. The ques- tions I keep asking myself are: What has happened to the Re- publican Party. Where are Repub- lican statesmen in the mold of John Warner and John Hager? Youngkin and other Virginia Republicans swiftly condemned Dietrich’s racist rant and called on him to step down, which he did. Youngkin tweeted, “As gover- nor, I serve all Virginians. I won’t accept racism in our Common- wealth or our party. The abhor-

rent words of a Hampton Roads official are beyond unacceptable and have no place in Virginia.” The governor got it right. Now, he should remind people that the Republican Party of Virginia is a party of ideas, not division. The challenge for him is how to feed the Republican base, which is very far right and pro- Trump, and yet walk the talk of his actual core, the moderate from his campaign. The moderate Youngkin has to show up if his party is to come back to the center and restructure itself to focus on civic engagement and strong economic growth. The party should not push people of color away in fear, but instead

BY KATHY E. HOLLINGER

S

igns of spring are popping up around D.C. Warmer temperatures are draw- ing people outdoors, masks are com- ing off and neighborhood restaurants are seeing more foot traffic. Hopefully, these are early indicators that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic that has gripped us over the past two years might finally be easing. For D.C. restaurants, it has been a tough haul. Our food scene had flourished over the past decade, with exciting new independent restaurants popping up across all neighborhoods, making us a true national culinary destination. More than 90 percent of D.C.’s full-service restaurants are independently owned and operated. They are run by people who live and work here and are invested in their neighborhoods. They are used to the ups and downs of running a business, and their employees are equally dedicated and love what they do. The past two years were brutal. Many of our favorite local establishments have closed their doors for good, and many others are barely hanging on. Those that have been fortunate to keep their doors open are still digging out of a financial hole created by months of closures. They were excited to have more employees back to work as locals and visitors returned to dining indoors and enjoying being out and about. Now, just as D.C.’s restaurants are seeing some light and rebuilding, they could be facing more hardships. Initiative 82 on the November ballot seeks to eliminate the tip credit for tipped employees. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this is not new. In 2018, an outside, well-funded interest group got Initiative 77 on the D.C. ballot. If it had become law, Initiative 77 would have man- dated that employers eliminate the tip credit

for employees who earn tipped income, instead requiring that tipped workers be paid the full minimum wage by the restaurant, without regard to the amount of tips received by the tipped employee. The measure was confusing and misleading to voters, but it passed. Fortunately, tipped employees opposed the measure because they knew they would make significantly less if the tip credit were eliminated. They rallied together in great numbers in the Save Our Tips campaign to protest the unintended consequences of Initiative 77. The D.C. Council heard their concerns and repealed the regulation. Four years later, the same special interests are recycling this bad idea in Initiative 82 — at the most vulnerable time for our small businesses and their employees. Voters should listen to tipped workers again and reject this initiative outright. On the surface, boosting tipped employee wages to $15 per hour might sound reason- able. In reality, it means completely upend- ing a system that works well for tipped employees and will result in diminished earnings. With the current tip credit model, tipped employees average $26.54 per hour in D.C., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The current system guarantees that all tipped employees earn at least the minimum wage, but most earn significantly more. Tipped employees like the model of having a base wage with a greater earning potential, much as a salesperson enjoys a base salary plus an earned commission for their sales. Most tipped employees fear that a higher base wage will impact their earning potential and, in the end, they will end up earning less than they earn now. Understaffed restaurants are already an unfortunate reality as restaurants struggle to fill positions in the post-pandemic job

market. Service is already hurting, and guests are feeling that. If Initiative 82 becomes law, it will result in skyrocketing cost hikes across the board for restaurants, which will inevitably result in higher menu prices, service charges, a smaller waitstaff and the remaining workers earning less. All of this affects the experience of our employees and our diners. But don’t just take my word for it. As neighbors in our community who support and frequent our restaurants, I urge you next time you’re in your favorite establish- ment to ask your server, bartender or owner what they think of Initiative 82. Most likely, you’ll find that most servers, bartenders and other tipped employees don’t see themselves as minimum-wage earners. Their earnings cover their living expenses. Many have bought new cars, bought homes and put themselves or their children through col- lege. Ask them whether they’d rather earn a higher base wage and less in tips. You’re likely to get a resounding “no!” If the idea is to vote for something that helps workers, then spend time and ask the workers who live and work in D.C. what they want. The special interests behind Initiative 82 view D.C. as a high-profile laboratory for economic experiments. It was a harmful proposition in 2018, and it’s a devastating one in 2022. The best way D.C. voters can support their local servers and bartenders is to continue enjoying dining and drinking in our neighborhood establishments. That’s what will keep our doors open, our restaurant families happily employed and D.C.’s restaurant community vibrant.

The writer is the president and chief executive of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

D .C.’s restaurants can’t a≠ord

another financial setback

BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST A table is set up outside a dining tent at Sababa on Jan. 29, 2021, in D.C.

Local Opinions

WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCALOPINIONS. [email protected]

BY SOPHIA A. NELSON

W

ith his January inau- guration, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin broke a nearly decade-long drought of Republi- cans in statewide office. He pre- sented himself to Virginia voters as a successful Generation X businessman who is devoted to his family and his faith as a Christian and who is moderate in his politics. That resonated with Vir- ginians, obviously. Now, he needs to summon his party back to its better angels, as he displayed recently when he graciously fel- lowshipped with a group of Vir- ginia Muslim leaders in Henrico. Yet echoes of the non-Young- kin wing of the Republican Party still exist. A Republican member of the electoral board in Hamp- ton called Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and others racist names in a Facebook post. The official, David Dietrich, brazenly said: “We are being forced into a corner by these enemies of the People.” He continued: “If it is civil war they want, they will get it in spades. Perhaps the best way to pull us back from the brink is a good public lynching.” If that weren’t horrible enough, Loudoun County Repub-

lican chairman Scott Pio chimed in. After a celebration at the White House for Supreme Court Justice-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson, he attacked the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, one of the nation’s oldest Greek-lettered or- ganizations for Black women. The rants by these two local Republican leaders, both White men, tell a story of a party that has lost its way, with party mem- bers who see the world through one lens and who shun the input and stories of others who don’t look like they do or experience the world as they do. It’s every- where: from censorship to voting suppression and attacks on critical race theory. Virginia Republicans have fall- en a long way since the days of Gov. George Allen in the 1990s. Allen made a sincere effort to recruit Black voters and speak to their unique issues in the commonwealth. He was a huge sup- porter of historically Black colleges and universities. In 2005, when he was a U.S. senator, he co-sponsored with then-Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) a resolu- tion apologizing for the history of lynching. Allen was elected to Virginia’s governor’s mansion in 1993 with 17 percent of the Black vote. That record has not been matched

embrace that we are living at a unique time in our history when we must engage in discussions around true diversity, equality and opportunity for all Vir- ginians. And by “all” I mean not just so-called marginalized groups but also Christians and other people of faith. They face discrimination and unfair treat- ment, too. That should be unacceptable to us all. This is not an easy task in our current political climate. Sadly, it seems that some modern Repub- licans are interested in offering only what these two sorely mis- guided and mean-spirited party leaders posted: misinformation, disinformation and division. Consider the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Re- publican Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) were just angry. Ranting. Unserious in their questioning of the supremely qualified Jackson. It’s as if they are always looking for something to be mad about. I say this with sincerity and regret. I once called myself a Republi- can, and my heart hurt watching the hearings. I never thought I would live to see the party of Lincoln as it is now: lacking in diversity and disconnected from the issues important to the de-

scendants of the enslaved who got equal protection and voting rights from the Grand Old Party. As governor, Youngkin passed his first 100 days in office with more than 700 bills signed into law (many of them bipartisan). Yes, he got off to a bit of a rocky start with lawsuits over school mask mandates and fights over critical race theory, education hotlines and parental rights, but the waters have calmed and he has settled into his role as leader of the commonwealth. He’s cheering on our basketball teams, visiting with business leaders and working on the safety of and funding for our historically Black colleges and universities. If he chooses to do so, Young- kin could lead the Republican Party of Virginia permanently out of its self-imposed wilder- ness. The question remains whether he will and whether the local leaders will follow him or continue down the scurrilous path we recently witnessed.

Sophia A. Nelson, a scholar in residence at Christopher Newport University and former House Republican Congressional Committee counsel, is the author of “ePluribus One: Reclaiming Our Founders’ Vision for a United America.”

Virginia Republicans can’t get out of their own way

ROBB HILL FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Virginia Gov. G lenn Youngkin (R) in Alexandria on Feb. 3.

BY CAROL PARK

I

s it legal to penalize top- performing Asian American students to help students of other ethnicities? Legal or not, it is happening all around the country. In February, a federal judge sided with the Pacific Legal Foundation and ruled that Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County adopted a test-free admission process to discriminate against Asian American students. Just a short distance away in Maryland, Asian American students have also been suffering discrimination in Montgomery Coun- ty Public Schools since 2018. To make more room for Black and Hispanic students, the Mont- gomery County Board of Education manipulated the admissions process of its four highly coveted magnet middle schools to guarantee that fewer Asian American students would be offered admission. The new admissions process in- cludes peer grouping and local norming, meaning applicants are at a disadvantage if they live in a low-poverty area with many high- performing students.

Because Asian American students are clustered in 25 of MCPS’s low-poverty schools, the new process forces those students to com- pete against each other instead of competing against every MCPS stu- dent — with the purpose of altering the racial composition of magnet schools to include fewer Asian Americans and more students of other ethnic groups. The school board’s admissions changes achieved their intended result. The number of Asian Ameri- can students enrolled at all four magnet schools dropped from 2017 to 2021: from 58.9 percent to 24.3 percent at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School; from 64 percent to 44.4 percent at R oberto W. Clemente Middle School; from 39.3 percent to 35.4 percent at Takoma Park Mid- dle School; and from 26.4 percent to 23.9 percent at Eastern Middle School. More than a dozen Asian Ameri- can students who scored between the 95th and 99th percentiles on the entrance exams (CogAT) and received top scores on state assess- ment tests were rejected. To combat this overt racial discrimination, the Association for Education Fairness, represented by

the Pacific Legal Foundation, filed a lawsuit against MCPS on behalf of the Asian American students. The board adopted a racial bal- ancing scheme that systemically excludes high-performing Asian American students. It was designed to cover up the government’s sys- tematic failure at improving public education for low-income Black and Hispanic s tudents. From a legal perspective, a policy with discriminatory intent is un- constitutional even if it uses non - racial or seemingly race-neutral factors to achieve a racial result: It violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Also, from a social science perspective, a policy that pits one racial minority against other mi- norities is unacceptable. Here is the cold and sad truth: Asian American students are being used as scapegoats for the serious and growing achievement gap problem that MCPS has avoided dealing with: The county is failing at educating many of its Black and Hispanic students. For example, only 34.4 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively, of Black and Hispanic students between third and fifth grades passed state math exams in 2019. Mean- while, the rates were 79.8 percent and 71.8 percent for Asian Ameri- can and White students, respectively, despite that many Asian Ameri- can students also come from families with modest means. Though MCPS claims that lack of diversity at schools is the problem, there is little to no academic evi- dence that increasing racial diversity, especially in middle schools, helps students perform better in reading or math. Nor is it a good idea to enroll Black and Hispanic students into magnet schools where they might not s ucceed. The focus should be instead on strengthening the educational quality of all local MCPS schools so that students of all colors can succeed. Or even better, how about increasing the magnet school options so that more children can be admit- ted? Maryland is known for rank- ing near the bottom in the nation for its school choice, but Montgom- ery County can be a leader in driving change for the better. In any case, the solution is not to water down the admissions stan- dards for the district’s highest- performing schools and hard- working students, threatening these schools’ quality and r eputation. We all know that the ambitious children of Montgomery County deserve better. The Montgomery County school board must address its achievement gap problem without victimizing high-performing Asian American students.

The writer is a strategic research analyst at the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that defends Americans’ liberties when threatened by government overreach and abuse.

Asian students are victims

of M ontgomery County

schools’ achievement gap

The focus should be

instead on strengthening

the educational quality

of all local MCPS schools

so that students of all

colors can succeed.

The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-08)

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