On Ryan Walters, White Supremacy and its Beef With Education
So remember Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters? You might recall that yesterday Ryan announced that every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter to "promote free speech, open engagement, dialogue about [U.S.] American greatness, a dialogue around [U.S.] American values." Oklahoma is 50th in the nation in education, but sure! Why not?
Well, this morning, during a news interview with a local news affiliate, Ryan abruptly announced he's resigning as the Superintendent of Schools to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Who are they?
The Teacher Freedom Alliance is a conservative nonprofit that says it assists educators “in their mission to develop free, moral, and upright American citizens.” What it actually does is target teachers unions who are aiming for inclusivity and equity in education while amplifying the voices of the hateful, racist bigots that teach and handle school administration in some areas of the country.
During his resignation announcement, Ryan happily proclaimed “We’re going to destroy the teachers unions. We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools.”
Ryan then abruptly left the news studio, running from reporters as they tried to get some kind of timetable on when he made this decision, when he would be leaving his role as Superintendent, or if he felt destroying teachers unions across the country was a good idea. As you can see in the video, he had no additional comments at this time.
So, let's summarize: Ryan Walters sold out the Oklahoma educational system to Turning Point USA, giving a middle finger to thousands of children the state of Oklahoma are failing because learning doesn't matter when you can spend education funds to "combat woke", then bounced with no notice, lining his pockets by jumping to a hateful nonprofit where he can do the kind of damage he's done to students in Oklahoma on a national level.
Ryan is, for lack of a better term, a douche.
This situation saddens me. Children are hurt because of a ridiculous white supremacist bigot and a white supremacist nationalist agenda. Oklahomans voted for this man. He sold them on a vision of their state education system that decenters legitimate educational standards and amplifies their belief that their whiteness is in danger and needs to be protected at all costs. And the scariest thing?
Oklahoma ain't the only place in the United States with a Ryan.
(Somebody's) Lord help us all.