'Anti-racist' group bullies once-friendly neighbors fighting CRT: 'They put pictures of me in there'

Virginia parents who don’t support teaching critical race theory in Loudoun County Public Schools are facing backlash from the “anti-racist” crowd.

Jessica Mendez, the mother of two attending students, explained that even her own family was getting on her about not blindly supporting the ideology.

“I had my own family criticize me openly, and asked me you know, what’s wrong with me? You know, why didn’t I understand?” Mendez said, clearly emotional about the situation, in an interview aired as part of Fox News‘s investigation on the impact of critical race theory on Loudoun County Public Schools.

During the interview, viewers can see one of Mendez’s neighbors walk by in the background, gesturing and presumably flipping the bird to her and the camera.

WATCH:

“I thought that I had a good friend in my neighbors,” Mendez admitted after the incident. “I’m really hurt right now because I thought that we had a rapport, that I could be conservative and I could be a Republican and she could be liberal and she could be a Democrat and we could still be friends. And we could still talk to each other and we could still be friends despite our political differences. I honestly believed that that was the case and I guess I was wrong. And I don’t like being wrong over and over and over again. I feel so betrayed right now and so sad for people who can’t move past that and judge me for my character and who I am as a person.

Patti Hidalgo Menders, Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club president and fellow parent, described the “Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County” Facebook group and the harassment carried out within it.

“They put three pictures of me in there, and they called me a racist,” she claimed. “They had my first and last name, the name of my husband, where my son goes to high school, what town I live in, and they called me disgusting.”

But this harassment isn’t about to stop her from standing up for what she believes in. In fact, she says it has made her stronger.

“They tried to intimidate us by using social media, but I’ll be honest, I feel like it’s emboldened my passion for this more,” she said.

Fred Rege, a parent of two who emigrated from Kenya in his teenage years, says he doesn’t care if some angry mob tries to cancel him, because all he wants to do is take care of his daughters.

“I finally got to the point where I said, ‘my number one responsibility is my children,’” says Rege. “Even if it costs me certain things in society and canceling from this and canceling from that, you know, I’ll have my dignity. I’ll have my children’s, you know, integrity, and their self-belief, their belief in themselves intact. And that’s worth it.”

This is just another example of Virginians being punished for going against liberal ideology. Earlier this month Tanner Cross, a gym teacher for Leesburg Elementary in northern Virginia, was suspended after refusing to “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa.” This, he claims, is child abuse and falls contrary to his religion. It took two days for the school to suspend him for this, but Cross isn’t going down without a fight.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter to the school on behalf of Cross accusing them of retaliating against the gym coach and thus violating his First Amendment rights.

“Immediately suspending an employee and launching an investigation for engaging in First Amendment-protected expression, creates an atmosphere of fear and is intended to send a message to Mr. Cross and other teachers that they must toe the line or face the consequences…,” the statement reads. “The First Amendment does not countenance such retaliation. We demand that you immediately (1) rescind the suspension, (2) reinstate Mr. Cross so that he can return to class on Tuesday, June 1, (3) remove the suspension letter from his file, and (4) refrain from any future retaliation against protected speech.”

Virginia gym teacher fights suspension over refusal to ‘lie’ to children using ‘abusive’ preferred pronouns https://t.co/hQXOmJaWbj pic.twitter.com/nyPnJgSPoi

— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) June 1, 2021

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