Connecticut school board worker says helping children of color hurts white kids
Mary Beeman said her statement "was poorly worded and shown out of context."
A Republican campaign manager for school board candidates in a Guilford, Connecticut is under fire for racist comments made during a conversation about critical race theory.
The UNC-Chapel Hill history department defines CRT as a “scholarly framework that describes how race, class, gender, and sexuality organize American life.”
During a recent UConn. virtual education forum on Zoom, GOP operative Mary Beeman said “helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids.”
Amid criticism over her controversial remarks, Beeman attempted to clarify her comments in a (now private) Facebook post, “The statement I made was poorly worded and shown out of context.”
Beeman added: “Guilford students who may have staunch Judeo-Christian values, or simply are conservative thinkers, have been bullied into submission by their teachers and fellow students with left-leaning ideologies.”
Former Guilford Chairman Bill Bloss has called on Beeman to step down, condemning her comments as “false, outrageous, negative (and) destructive.”
Bloss said, “exactly what context would that comment be positive in.”
The independent political party Protect Guilford Schools have called on candidates for the Republican Board of Education to immediately clarify if “they share Beeman’s views,” according to an email to Patch. The email reportedly states: “The PGS slate, made up of two Democrats and three Independents, is also calling on Beeman to end any affiliation with the Guilford Republican Town Committee.”
Democratic BOE incumbent Moira Rader said of Beeman’s comments, “There’s no room for interpretation.”
Rader added, “In her comment, Ms. Beeman seeks to lump kids into two groups, white and non-white. She has called on our public schools to abandon efforts towards diversity, equity and inclusion. Our Board has devoted much time and energy towards successfully prioritizing the social and emotional wellbeing of every student. Such racist outlooks would dismantle this important progress.”
Meanwhile, Beeman, like many Republican lawmakers across the country, aims to prevent school lessons on race and systemic racism in an effort to protect children from feeling bad about the color of their skin. According to the anti-CRT movement, if white kids know the truth about colonization and genocide committed by their ancestors, then they will hate being white.
Republican obsession over CRT is harming Black students the most, an op-ed previously published by TheGrio points highlights.
At the core of CRT is the white-washing of America’s racist history, which includes omissions from social studies/textbooks about the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., the Native Americans, and slavery, as well as the cultural significance of Frederick Douglass and how white supremacy has long been the heartbeat of American society.
At least 165 anti-critical race theory groups, “have weaponized the right’s opposition to critical race theory, turning it into a political rallying point,” NBC News writes.
Critical race theory has been portrayed as being an attack on our nation and attempts by those on the far political left to indoctrinate children. Texas Senator Ted Cruz called it “poison that is being poured into the minds of our kids” on a Fox News interview.
Many state legislatures have made it their mission to attack the historical truth about our nation.
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