A woman broke down in tears during a Thursday school board meeting in Royal Oak, Michigan, where multiple left-wing speakers demanded that a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter be shut down.
Officials at Royal Oak High School approved the chapter on Oct. 21, according to Fox News, prompting protests from left-wing students and groups, including a walkout. During the meeting, the woman claimed that the conservative-leaning student group would promote “radicalization” of students.
“I’m a lifelong Royal Oak resident, a supporter of the Royal Oak community, as well as an advocate for young people. I too came to speak about the inclusion of Turning Point USA as a chapter being established in Royal Oak High School,” the woman, identified as Kim Johnson claimed. “I would like to first acknowledge and thank the board. I know this has been difficult. I’m deeply saddened and outraged by the current failure of democracy in our country and the correlating rise and acceptance of bigotry and hatred. I feel an obligation to speak about the way it is now impacting our own public high school.”
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“The current plan to observe and allow groups like Turning Point USA is one that in my opinion will allow a path of radicalization for some of our youngest students on all parts all parts of the extremist spectrum,” Johnson continued. “Extremist groups like Turning Point USA don’t typically keep their opinions to the confines of four walls in a meeting.”
TPUSA has received over 100,000 inquiries about starting chapters since the Sept. 10 assassination of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, expressed support for left-wing rhetoric and was reportedly dating a trans person.
“I worry about violence. I worry about safety. I worry about the students, the staff, the administrators. I worry that extremist groups provide a safe haven for the most vulnerable and troubled among us,” Johnson claimed. “This can be a dangerous path. History shows us that. I worry students that will be affected by rhetoric.”
“By providing a space and a charter to exist in our high school, are we not signaling to our LGBTQ plus community, people of color, people with neurodivergencies, and those struggling with mental illness that they are not safe at school anymore?” Johnson continued before breaking into tears. “How can we keep sending such a mixed signal to students and staff? Royal Oak Schools have long championed that they are ‘No place for hate’ buildings. I think everyone in this room, parents, students, staff and community members have the opportunity to stand up and walk the walk right now in this moment, when our young people need us the most.”
A junior attending Royal Oak High School outlined the harassment the chapter has received since it started during remarks to the school board.
“Students, including me, looked on the Instagram page in interest of joining this. We went to the post and saw hundreds of hateful comments including banning the first account,” Braxton Romano told the board. “Through this information, other people created a protest against us, which is 100% allowed. That is not the issue. Even during the protest, I was receiving bullying texts and posted about for not only following the account, but defamation was being used against me, including pages targeting our very own superintendent and staff.”
“Tuesday at 11:09 p.m., me and the creator of the club were added to a group chat on Snapchat, and they were threatening the creator of the club,” Romano continued.
TPUSA chapters at colleges and high schools have faced violent responses to events. At a Tuesday event at the University of California at Berkeley, one attendee was beaten by left-wing protesters from Antifa.
The Dartmouth College chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) was hosting journalist Andy Ngo and Gabriel Nadales, a former member of the left-wing group, to discuss Antifa at a January 2022 event before the college canceled it due to concerns about security. Left-wing students forced the cancellation of a TPUSA chapter’s meeting in a Missouri high school in May 2022 after overturning a glass table and repeatedly disrupting the event.
A TPUSA spokesperson confirmed the chapter was formed after Kirk’s assassination and that it was aware of the bullying.
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