GoFundMe reportedly took down a page aiming to fight the implementation of critical race theory in public schools in one wealthy Virginia county.
Parents Against Critical Theory founder Scott Mineo said Sunday that his page was yanked, though GoFundMe didn’t give a reason, the The Virginia Star first reported.
“Because I’m anti-[critical race theory], that’s it,” he speculated, the news outlet reported, adding there was “no notification, no warning, nothing.”
Critical race theory examines the way race and racism influences politics, culture, and the law. According to Purdue University, critical race theory scholarship shows how racism continues to be persuasive and why it denies individuals their constitutional rights.
Mineo told The Virginia Star he obtained an email that was circulated among Loudoun County Public Schools parents asking them to report Mineo’s page to GoFundMe. He surmised his page was pulled for alleged false information.
“Almost everything that I post comes from the school system themselves. It’s their material,” he told the news outlet.
Before the site was taken down, it also described opposition from a Facebook group, Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County, which allegedly called for infiltrating and hacking the anti-critical race theory parent group, the Daily Wire reported.
“On March 12, 2021 a large Facebook group called ‘Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County’ [ARPLC] began a campaign to solicit felonious activities against dozens of Loudoun County parents. The group includes key administrators and teachers from Loudoun County Public Schools, Loudoun government officials including the Loudoun County Attorney, members of the Loudoun County School Board, and members of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors,” the GoFundMe page said, according to copies Mineo sent to the Virginia Star, that news outlet reported.
Mineo’s page had raised nearly $4,000, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Loudoun County Public Schools in June 2020 adopted a “Culturally Responsive Framework” that called for the school community to dismantle “white supremacy, systemic racism, and hateful language and actions based on race, religion, country of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, and/or ability,” the Free Beacon reported.
The framework asks teachers to audit and update the K-12 curriculum to include lessons on identity, power, and privilege — tenets of critical theory that Parents Against Critical Theory and others oppose.
Loudoun County has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on critical race theory-based diversity training in recent years, the Free Beacon reported, citing documents it had reviewed. According to the Free Beacon, the district paid The Equity Collaborative $314,000 for coaching and training sessions and paid $120,000 for a “Systemic Equity Assessment ” in 2019.
“[The district] pissed off a lot of people that were very supportive and this was a grave mistake on their part,” Mineo told the Free Beacon. “At the end of the day, it further underscores the level of deception they are engaged in. Otherwise, why shut them down?”
Source: Newmax
