Episode 10 of this series was a flashback, looking at how the idea of “safe spaces” played a role in generating the chaos that eventually took over the campus. Episode 11 is a flash-forward. It begins and ends with an “Equity Task Force” created by Gov. Jay Inslee which seems to be doing its best to lead the entire state of Washington down the same path Evergreen State followed two years ago.

Just three weeks ago, President George Bridges told the Equity Task Force, “We at Evergreen are beginning to understand how our own policies and practices work to the disadvantage of some of our students…” Bridges notes that a similar Equity Council was created at Evergreen to get everyone on board with the “equity mindset.” The fact that Bridges doesn’t seem to feel any sense of shame about the result of his efforts at Evergreen suggests he hasn’t learned anything from the experience.

The center of this episode looks back at the series of protests which preceded the campus takeover at the end of the school year. Particular attention is given to a protest that took place at the swearing-in of Chief Stacy Brown as the school’s new Chief of Police. Students took over the meeting and screamed obscenities at Brown and her young daughter. Eventually, the event was canceled and students were left to shout anti-police slogans in an empty room. “The students pretty much ran the show,” Deputy Dave Pearsall told the Washington State Senate’s Law and Justice Committee.

When President Bridges was questioned about this by the Committee, he claimed that if it had been up to him he would have “imposed a more severe sanction” on the two students who led that protest. But those were the same two students who had led all of the other campus protests up to that point, including the ones at which Bridges stood leaning against the wall, doing nothing. So the idea that he was eager to get tough with out-of-control protesters doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny at all.

Jumping back to the present day, filmmaker Benjamin Boyce lets you see the Washington state Equity Task Force seemingly following the same path as Evergreen, starting with an effort to redefine racism so that it is explicitly focused on white supremacy. Boyce concludes, “They want to make racism linked directly to whiteness. What does this say about a government that is implementing a racial categorization and then, probably, giving power to agencies to openly discriminate based on race? Where does that head?”

The answer is to the kind of meltdown we saw at Evergreen State College. If you prime people with the idea they are victims of another racial group’s racial domination, at least a small group of people will react by claiming they are living in a state of constant dread, one which justifies their endless demands for social control needed to create a safe space. Unfortunately, Democrats in Washington state seems to think Evergreen was a successful pilot program rather than a disaster to be avoided at all costs. Here’s Episode 11: