*The Tennessee parents that went viral last week for swarming and threatening their school board members in the parking lot over mask mandates, were set straight by a fellow parent this week.
The Williamson County Board of Education, just before the start of school last week, approved a temporary mask requirement for elementary school students, staff and visitors until Sept. 21. The ruling sent groups who oppose the mask requirement into a rabid frenzy. Videos shared on social media showed people wearing masks being heckled and confronted as they left the special session.
Justin Kanew, the father of a 5-year-old mask-wearing student, addressed the Williamson County school board Monday about his own child’s reaction to seeing other classmates without masks. But he started off by setting the record straight on another source of parental outrage in the country – critical race theory.
“First of all, critical race theory is not in our schools and it never was,” he began, reading from his iPhone. “And the people here to complain about it did not know what it was six months ago and never heard of it. That’s why they’re going after diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) instead, and trying to pretend they’re the same thing. They aren’t. And frankly, there aren’t many communities around the globe that need DEI more than this one that we live in.”
Kanew, of College Grove, Tennessee, went on to address the parents who were trying to fight school board members in the parking lot last week over mandating masks to protect students, teachers, faculty and staff from the spread of COVID.
“She went to school and was one of just a few kids in her class wearing a mask, which made her ask why she had to. My answer was because we want to take care of other people,” Kanew said. “She’s 5 years old but she understood that concept, and it’s disappointing that more adults around here can’t seem to grasp it.”
Kanew said he hadn’t planned to speak at Monday’s meeting, which he attended to cover for his website, TN Holler, but decided to do so when he saw so many people speaking out against masks in schools.
Watch below:
????WATCH: “CRT is not in our schools, you didn’t know what it was 6 months ago… my 5yo gets that we mask up for others, wish more adults grasped that… if you only like democracy when it goes your way, you don’t like democracy”
Holler’s @Kanew at last night’s WILCO board meeting pic.twitter.com/ACkn5HCWlL
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) August 17, 2021
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