Why This Chicago Progressive Had to Delete Her Account Following This Post
Here's Why Trump's Ukraine Strategy Is Better Than Biden's
JD Vance Didn't Hold Back on Bolton, Ukraine, and Crime in This Interview
Gavin’s Limpy Bluster
Arizona Charges 170 in Immigration Sweep
CNN Admits the Brutal Truth: Democrats Are Bleeding Voters
Trump Will Send Troops to Baltimore if It Needs Help
Chinese Scammer Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison
DeSantis Defends Removal of Rainbow LGBT Crosswalk
Boston Cops Defy Left-Wing Mayor Michelle Wu, Secretly Aid ICE in Arresting Criminal...
Vivek Ramaswamy Surges Ahead in Ohio Governor's Race
FBI's 'Summer Heat' Initiative Under Trump to Make the U.S. Safe Again
California’s Homeless Crisis: Two Decades of Empty Promises Under Newsom’s Watch
When Envy Becomes a Political Weapon
Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s Muscle Showdown Falls Flat as Social Media Roasts His Bench...
Tipsheet

Madness in Minnesota: CRT Protests Erupt at School Board Meeting

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File

In a manner that would make Loudoun County, Va. blush, the city of Rochester, Minn. has cemented itself as the latest battlefield in the war against teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) to children across America.

Advertisement

Rochester, which is located about 90 minutes southeast of Minneapolis and is home to 115,000 people, held its semimonthly school board meeting on Tuesday evening. Parents and other attendees poured into the meeting, which was otherwise going to address mundane summer business, carrying signs against a number of left-wing ideas, including CRT, mask mandates, and Black Lives Matter (BLM).

Several attendees decorated their vehicles with these signs. Pro-Trump organizer Brian Braaten displayed signs likening BLM (which her called “Burn Loot Murder”) to the Nazis. Another even decked out their SUV to look like a SWAT van, complete with the modified text of Matthew 5:9 on the right rear window. 

According to Post-Bulletin reporter Jordan Shearer, the meeting was quickly filled to standing-room only. Attendees began taking the podium during the meeting’s “public comment period” to directly voice their disapproval to the board members, but not before shouting the United States Pledge of Allegiance in unison.

Among the speakers were two women who railed against CRT and mask mandates, respectively.

Advertisement

But the evening’s most impactful speaker was a man whom Shearer identified as Wes Lund. In his impassioned speech to the board, Lund implied that there were “deep state characters” present at the meeting, and that supporters of CRT are racists who only intend to create divisions.

“Let me clarify, that on no uncertain terms, that those who oppose critical race theory and the organization called ‘Black Lives Matter’ are not racist,” Lund said to applause. "We do not see ourselves as being better than anyone else. We value all lives and the rights of every person, whether or not we have the same level of melanin in our skin.”

Before leaving the meeting, the attendees recited the Lord’s Prayer.

The meeting was also the first for the new superintendent of Rochester Public Schools, Kent Pekel. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pekel seemed to dismiss the CRT debate, saying that the curriculum is “not even something being taught or even discussed right now in Rochester Public Schools.”

Advertisement

Rochester Public Schools will convene again on July 27. It is unclear whether this meeting will be open to public attendance.

Despite the controversy, the attendees’ disruptions are generally indicative of Americans’ attitudes toward CRT. A June 16 poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov found that 58 percent of those familiar with CRT find the curriculum either “somewhat” or “very unfavorable.”

The origins of CRT date back to the 1970s, and its teachings were furthered by Harvard Law professor Derrick Bell in the early 1990s. Bell’s CRT lectures, which then-student Barack Obama sat in on, explored the concept of “white privilege” and asserted that all of America’s legal institutions inherently discriminate against minorities.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement