When Rudy Giuliani blamed the deaths of unarmed black men on teachers unions last week, he relied on the same logic that Rod Paige, former secretary of education, employed a decade ago when he labeled the National Education Association a “terrorist organization.” These arguments may seem laughable to many on the Left, but they emerge from ideological assumptions openly articulated by neoliberal education reformers.

Giuliani argues the real problem communities of color face is not police militarization or brutality, but rather poverty and “black-on-black” crime, which requires a greater police presence, and results in the disproportionate arrests of blacks. The solution to poverty — and therefore crime? Education.

“Maybe all these left-wing politicians who want to blame police, maybe there’s some blame here that has to go to the teachers union, for refusing to have schools where teachers are paid for performance, for fighting charter schools, for fighting vouchers so that we can drastically and dramatically improve education,” says Giuliani.