‘CONSERVATIVE THINKERS’

GOP Operative Says It Hurts White Kids When ‘Kids of Color Feel They Belong’

Mary Beeman, the campaign manager for Republican school board candidates in Guilford, Connecticut, made the eyebrow-raising comment at a virtual education forum.

A Republican campaign manager for school board candidates in a Connecticut town has sparked controversy by telling participants of a virtual education forum that “helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids.” Mary Beeman put forth that bizarre argument during a virtual education forum where the right-wing boogeyman known as “critical race theory” was discussed, according to local news outlet WFSB. She later sought to clarify her statement, which she admitted was “poorly worded,” and claimed it had been shown “out of context.” In trying to mop up the mess, Beeman said she’d been referring to “students who may have staunch Judeo-Christian values, or simply are conservative thinkers,” and are now being “bullied into submission by their teachers and fellow students with left-leaning ideologies.” Bill Bloss, the Guilford school board chairman, made clear he wasn’t buying Beeman’s excuses for the racist remark, questioning “exactly what context would that comment be positive in.” He has called on Beeman to step down, blasting her remark as “false, outrageous, negative (and) destructive.”