Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke against mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and COVID-19 vaccines for children in a Loudoun County appearance alongside GOP candidates Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears on Wednesday night. A large, energetic crowd filled a conference room; the event was hosted by Fight for Schools and 1776 Action.

“You go to school, you don’t get to see people’s face, you don’t even know who they are. You don’t get to correlate what they’re saying with their facial expression. That’s such an important part of sociological development,” Carson, a world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, said.

“And then they’re being told that they may be harboring some horrible fatal disease that even though it may not affect them, they may give it to their grandmother and she may die. Well, grandmothers do get old and they do die, but now you’ve got this kid thinking they have something to do with it.

“And then if they’re white, they’re told that they’re oppressors and that their ancestors and all of their relatives are oppressors and just evil people, and then if they’re black, they are victims, they are oppressed no matter what they do. All of this while you’re trying to develop your self-image. And then if that’s not enough, you may not be a girl or boy.”

“You know, I really think it’s child abuse is what we’re doing to them. It’s child abuse,” he said.

In his comments, Youngkin criticized his opponent Terry McAuliffe for not speaking out against virtual learning earlier in the year.

“Terry Mcauliffe and his hand-picked successor Ralph Northam have gone to work against you. Let’s just remind ourselves: they’re not working for you. They work for the education unions. That’s who they work for. You know they work for them because they’ve given hundreds and hundreds of thousands and thousands of dollars to my opponent’s campaign so that he’ll do what they want,” Youngkin said.

Youngkin touted his Day One Game Plan and said he would expand education spending and create more charter schools in Virginia.

“I will preside over the largest education budget in the history of Virginia. We will raise teacher pay. We will invest in schools. And then we will turn around and demand that they perform,” he said. “On day one we’re going to start closing the gap on charter schools and choice in Virginia by launching 20 innovative charters schools on day one to give parents a choice so that a child’s destiny is not dictated by his or her zip code.”

“But it all starts with recognizing that our curriculum has gone haywire. It’s gone haywire. So on day one, we’re going to ban teaching Critical Race Theory in our schools,” Youngkin said, receiving loud cheers and applause.

Sears also said school choice was important, and called for accelerated math programs and advanced diplomas.

“The money must follow the child and not the school building,” Sears said. “In Florida, I asked the lieutenant governor, ‘How does it work? Why are the children succeeding?’ And I was told this: ‘Because they have a lottery system as you know, and you don’t take the cream of the crop. Everybody gets the ability to move if they want to move their child from certain schools into other schools.’ School choice works.”

“Here’s what I’m saying because our kids don’t get do-overs. We need to teach critical reading theory, critical math theory, critical science theory, critical technology theory, because that is what will help us to remain the superpower of the world,” Sears said.

A major theme from event organizers was encouraging parents to not only vote, but get involved in local activism and become candidates for school board.

“We now know that school board elections are important,” Sears said. “You thought, ‘Eh it’s just a school board, you know, what harm can they do?’ Oh yeah. We know that now, don’t we?”

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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ben Carson” by 1776 Action.Â