How Public Schools Became Ground Zero for America’s Culture Wars

17 snips

Apr 30, 2025

In a gripping discussion, investigative journalist Mike Hixenbaugh tackles the heated culture wars infiltrating public schools. The conversation kicks off with Hixenbaugh's shocking personal experience when a protest turned his front yard into a battleground over race and politics. He examines how schools embody broader societal tensions, especially around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Hixenbaugh also explores the fierce opposition at school board meetings, shedding light on the emotional toll on educators and highlighting the role of misinformation in shaping public perceptions.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Personal Racial Terror in Suburbs

Mike Hixenbaugh's wife placed a Black Lives Matter sign in their yard in 2020, triggering racist retaliation that damaged their lawn repeatedly.
This personal attack revealed how national racial tensions are deeply felt in diverse suburban communities like theirs.

INSIGHT

Southlake as a Microcosm

Southlake, Texas reflects nationwide suburban racial tension rooted in decades of exclusionary policies.
Conflicts over diversity programs reveal deep, unresolved historical racial resentments rather than new trends.

INSIGHT

Schools Foreshadow Culture Wars

Conservative backlash in schools serves as a preview for national culture wars.
Issues over race and inclusion in schools became central to conservative political strategies around 2020-21.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Mike Hixenbaugh first knew things had changed when someone on a four-wheeler started ripping up his lawn after his wife placed a Black Lives Matter sign outside their home on the suburban outskirts of Houston.

Hixenbaugh is an award-winning investigative reporter for NBC News. He’s covered wrongdoing within the child welfare system, safety lapses inside hospitals, and deadly failures in the US Navy. But when his front yard was torn apart in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests, he saw a story about race and politics collide at his own front door. So like any investigative journalist, he started investigating, and his reporting about the growing divides in his neighborhood soon led him to the public schools.

As more than a dozen states sue the Trump administration over its policies aimed at ending public schools’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, More To The Story host Al Letson talks with Hixenbaugh about how America’s public schools have become “a microcosm” for the country’s political and cultural fights—“a way of zooming in deep into one community to try to tell the story of America.”

Listen: The Culture War Goes to College (Reveal)

Read: At the Heritage Foundation, the Anti-DEI Crusade Is Part of a Bigger War (Mother Jones)

Read: They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms, by Mike Hixenbaugh

Note: If you buy a book using our Bookshop link, a small share of the proceeds supports our journalism.

Listen: Southlake/Grapevine podcasts (NBC News)

Donate today at Revealnews.org/more
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly
Follow us on Instagram @revealnews

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices