MSNBC's Joy Reid: 'Education' issue is 'code' for White parents who don't want race taught in schools

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MSNBC's Joy Reid: 'Education' is 'code' for white parents who don't like idea of teaching about race

MSNBC's Joy Reid frets over surveys showing education as a key issue for Virginia voters in the gubernatorial race.

MSNBC's Joy Reid called the issue of education a "code" for White parents who don't want their children to be taught about race during her coverage of the Virginia gubernatorial election Tuesday.

Citing exit polling, Reid noted that while the coronavirus factored low on the issues most important to Virginia voters this election, education ranked high. Reid used air quotes when saying the word education.

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She called it "code for White parents who don't like the idea about teaching about race."

Aimee Allison (L), founder and president of the She the People organization, kicks off the She the People Presidential Forum with political analyst Joy Reid in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott (REUTERS/Loren Elliott)

"Unfortunately, race is just the most palpable tool in the tool kit, used to be in the Democratic Party back in the day, when there were Dixiecrats," she continued. "And now of the Republican Party, it just is powerful."

Virginia voters told networks like CNN and MSNBC that the school issue was a main driving force for them to vote for Republican Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin sided with parents concerned about their school boards' progressive agendas, which included graphic reading material and the features of critical race theory.

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McAuliffe left nothing to the imagination when he told voters at his debate against Youngkin, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." That comment, one voter told MSNBC, "hurt" the Democrat's chances.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin, right, speaks to supporters as Lt. Gov. candidate Winsome Sears, left, listens during a rally in Fredericksburg, Va., Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. Youngkin will face Democrat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the November election. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Reid's colleague Nicolle Wallace declared Tuesday that CRT "isn't real" as she mourned its effect on voters.

"He worshipped at the altar of Donald Trump… he did not really put much distance between himself and Donald Trump on the big lie or the deadly insurrection," Wallace said of Youngkin. "So, I think that the real ominous thing, is that critical race theory, which isn’t real, turned the suburbs 15 points to the Trump-insurrection-endorsed Republican."

Voters wait for their ballots at George Marshall High School on election day in Falls Church, Virginia on November 2, 2021. - With the eyes of America watching, Virginians cast their ballots Tuesday as the state chooses its next governor in a margin-of-error skirmish seen as the first major test of President Joe Biden's political brand. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Several other CRT proponents have suggested the theory is not in schools. But the phrase "Critical Race Theory" appears on the state Department of Education website, and reports have revealed that the Virginia Department of Education recommended a book called, "We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom," in March 2020 that told teachers they "must embrace theories such as critical race theory."