Residents of a Virginia school district that has fiercely debated how to address racism through education say they are being bullied by other parents for opposing critical race theory.
Speaking to Fox News, a group of parents with children enrolled in the Loudoun County Public Schools system said they were being attacked by proponents of critical race theory in the area on a Facebook group called “Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County.”
The group could not immediately be accessed by The Post.
“I had my own family criticize me openly, and asked me, you know, what’s wrong with me? You know, why didn’t I understand?” Jessica Mendez, who has two children in the school district, told the network.
While speaking to the network, Mendez’s neighbor walked by and hoisted up two middle fingers at her from behind her back, within full view of the camera.
“I thought that I had a good friend. I’m really hurt right now because I thought that we had a rapport, that I could be conservative, and she could be liberal, and we could still be friends. I guess I was wrong,” a shocked Mendez said after.
Patti Hidalgo Menders, a Loudoun County parent who also serves as president of the Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club, said parents had posted photos of her, identifying her and her children, and calling her “racist.”
“They put three pictures of me in there, and they called me a racist. They had my first and last name, the name of my husband, where my son goes to high school, what town I live in, and they called me disgusting,” she said.
“They tried to intimidate us by using social media, but I’ll be honest, I feel like it’s emboldened my passion for this more.”
For Fred Rege, an IT engineer who immigrated to the US from Kenya and has two daughters in the school system, not speaking out became impossible.
“I finally got to the point where I said, ‘My number one responsibility is my children.’ Even if it costs me certain things in society and canceling from this and canceling from that, you know, I’ll have my dignity. I’ll have my children’s, you know, integrity, and their self-belief, their belief in themselves intact. And that’s worth it.”
He added that dozens of parents agreed with him, but were afraid to speak out.
The school district told Fox when reached for comment that critical race theory was not part of its curriculum.
Critical race theory dictates that race is an underlying dynamic of all human interaction and views the human experience as a constant power struggle between the races, often with a focus on “white privilege.”
Current US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona helped implement a critical race theory curriculum for Connecticut students while operating the state’s school system.
Republicans have argued against including it in students’ curriculum, with many arguing it teaches children to view each other based on race.
President Donald Trump ardently defended his move to cease racial sensitivity training requirements during the first 2020 presidential debate against then-candidate Joe Biden in September.
“They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place, it’s a racist place, and they were teaching people to hate our country,” the 45th president said on the debate stage. “And I’m not going to allow that to happen.”