by Ray Levy-Uyeda This story was originally published at Prism. Last week, voters in Virginia offered a sharp rebuke to the state’s Democratic administration by electing Republican Greg Youngkin for governor, a position held by Democrats since 2013. Post-election digests commented on one electoral faction that handed Youngkin the win: so-called “suburban moms.” “Suburban moms” are concerned about their children’s welfare and troubled by what they think is a push to incorporate a theoretical framework known as critical race theory into public school education, several news outlets breathlessly reported. The term “suburban mom” has caught on, morphing into a dogmatic catch-all for the kind of voters who are both unthreatening to systemic power and coveted for their votes: white women. Despite the concerns of white suburban mothers, critical race theory is not taught in elementary, middle, and high schools in Virginia or anywhere else in the U.S., and the current curriculum in Virginia is a far cry from deeply examining constructions of race and racialized experiences in America. Read more