In an interview with The Georgia Star News, a Gwinnett County resident arrested at a Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) spoke out against the measures taken by the school district against parents who wish to protest the district’s mask mandates and teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
“At our school board meetings, we have 30 School Resource Officers (SROs) plus about 15 or so additional staff members, metal detectors, bag searches, video cameras and wands,” Brenda P. Stewart told The Star News. “It is a blatant attempt to violate the First Amendment rights of parents. Fear is being used to silence us. It is fundamentally wrong. We currently have about 75 to 100 visitors at school board meetings, so basically one staff member for every two or three citizens. It is insane.”
Stewart was arrested in November, alongside another woman, after passing through metal detectors to enter a school board meeting. She says that police stopped her for having a pair of scissors in her purse. When she reached for the scissors, she said an SRO “went nuts” and slammed her against a wall. Both women were handcuffed for more than an hour, and later booked into jail.
Police say Stewart posed a threat to the officer by reaching for the scissors, and that they held the women in handcuffs for a long period of time because it was more comfortable than putting them in the back of a squad car while the officers attended to their duties at the meeting.
“They are militarizing our SROs against parents. In my opinion, this is done to silence the voices of the parents,” Stewart said. “No one wants to go through what I went through. Being put in jail is enough to deter even the most staunch opponents of CRT and mask mandates to go away.”
Stewart has harsh criticism for GCPS Superintendent Dr. Calvin Watts, too.
She sent The Star News a series of emails containing questions about CRT policies and the security apparatus at the school board meetings. She says all of her emails have gone unreturned.
“As we have stated, time and time again, CRT is not included in Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS) curriculum or in the state’s curriculum standards which are included in the AKS,” Watts said in a Wednesday announcement. “CRT is not taught in Gwinnett schools.”
Stewart says that is nonsense.
“The term CRT is in a tug of war of names – but the reality is that it has basic principles/tenets. Put simply, it is to view all systems – basically everything – through a racial lens,” she told The Star News. “Equity means equal outcomes, versus equality – which is giving everyone the same opportunities. CRT, in the broad sense, is used to create division amongst races. Oppressor versus victim.”
“CRT is a Marxist ideology that proposes viewing all systems through a racial lens. I disagree with teaching CRT, even through the core principles because it creates a hostile and divisive environment,” she continued. “CRT is not about healing, moving forward, nor teaching accurate history. It’s about staying in the past. It’s turning races against one another. I know absolutely no one who is against teaching about slavery, oppression, racism, red-lining, etc.”
Watts did not return a comment request.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dr. Calvin Watts” by Kent School District. Background Photo “Gwinnett County School Board Meeting” by Gwinnett County Public Schools.
