A former Virginia state legislator, who was one of the speakers at Tuesday night’s Loudoun County school board meeting, blasted the group for its “bigotry” and its “depravity” in a fiery speech that eventually forced authorities to bring the meeting to an abrupt close.
Monday night’s incident stemmed from the Loudoun County school board’s decision to “a court order to reinstate teacher Tanner Cross, who was suspended after speaking out publicly against the proposal,” per Fox News. The parents “argued that fighting the judge is a waste of taxpayers’ money and doomed to fail. Another woman urged several board members, facing a recall effort, to resign and save taxpayers even more money. Others blasted a district official who allegedly made threatening Internet searches on a district smartphone.”
Things began to escalate when one member of the school board attacked Christians in the room, directly, sneering that “hate” was “dripping from the followers of Jesus in this room.”
Former Virginia state senator Dick Black then stepped up to the podium to address the board’s treatment of Cross directly, shredding the board’s decision to target Cross and, allegedly, parents with children in Loudoun County schools who are vocally opposed to the board mandating that Critical Race Theory be taught to Loudoun County students.
WATCH:
The Loudoun County School Board got wrecked so hard by former Virginia State senator @SenRichardBlack that they had to shut down their public hearing.
“You’re teaching children to hate others because of their skin color… I’m disgusted by your bigotry.” #CRTisRACIST pic.twitter.com/sgdiqW4WqJ
— For America (@ForAmerica) June 22, 2021
“I’m retired Senator Dick Black of Ashburn, Virginia,” Black began.
“You retaliated against Tanner Cross by yanking him from teaching for addressing a public hearing of this board. The judge ordered you to reinstate Mr. Cross, because if his comments were not protected speech, then free speech does not exist at all. It’s absurd and immoral for teachers to call boys ‘girls’ and girls ‘boys,'” he continued. “You’re making teachers lie to students. And even kids know that it’s wrong.”
“This board has a dark history of suppressing free speech. They caught you red-handed with an enemies list to punish opponents of Critical Race Theory,” he said. “You’re teaching children to hate others because of their skin color. And you’re forcing them to lie about other kids’ gender. I am disgusted by your bigotry and your depravity.”
At the end of Cross’s comments, the room “erupted in cheers,” according to an earlier Daily Wire report on the incident, and the Loudoun school board abruptly cut off public comment.
“The LCPS shut down the public input after the audience erupted in applause at the end of my speech,” Black added later on Twitter, per The Daily Wire. “Hundreds of parents continued to rally for hours to send the message that these CRT policies are racist. Parents and teachers, stand up for your children now.”
Eventually, the group of parents began to sing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” at which point law enforcement stepped in to end the meeting, declaring the gathering an “unlawful assembly” and threatening parents who remained with being arrested for trespassing. At least two parents were reportedly taken into custody.