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North Carolina community stunned after viral video shows teacher blurting out N-word in class
December 02, 2021
According to WLOS, the McDowell County, North Carolina school system is investigating after a viral video of a teacher saying the N-word in class shocked students and community members.
"In the video the teacher is appearing to explain who can use the N-word. The teacher is seen in the video standing next to a student, a person of color. 'I’m a white man, so I can’t say n*****,' the teacher is heard saying in the video," reported Caitlyn Penter. "Students are heard in the video expressing shock by what they heard. 'Did you get him saying it,' one student is heard saying in the video. 'When I saw it, I was like oh my God,' said Paula Swepson, executive director for West Marion Community Forum Inc."
According to the report, the teacher, who has been identified as Jack Jensen, has been placed on leave pending investigation.
“I immediately thought of my child who will be entering the school system in just a few short years,” said Emily Roberts, a member of the forum. "I literally felt sick to my stomach."
RELATED: Racist rant roils Texas school as district faces pressure from right-wing group
This comes after a number of other well-publicized incidents involving racially offensive remarks by teachers.
In August, a teacher in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana was investigated after she wrote on Facebook that a certain part of town was "n*****ville" after dark. And in October, a theater arts teacher at a school near Houston, Texas resigned after a rant demanding there be a "white history month" and complaining that he doesn't get to use the N-word when his students of color can.
Watch the original report here.
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William Atwell, a professor at the evangelical Liberty University, has been arrested on suspicion of sexual battery and abduction, ABC13 reports.
Atwell was released from a Lynchburg jail after posting $3,000 bond.
In a statement, a school spokesperson said that it "takes nothing more seriously than claims that a faculty member has had inappropriate sexual contact with one of our students, something for which there is zero tolerance."
"We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness, care, and concern," the statement continued. "With the student’s consent, the university turned the matter over to the appropriate legal authorities and the faculty member in question was arrested. The faculty member has also been suspended by the university pending the outcome of this matter. To protect the integrity of investigation and the privacy of the student, we will limit further comment.”
READ MORE: Liberty University could lose tax-exempt status after shocking recording went viral: columnist
As ABC13 points out, Atwell's case comes as Liberty faces multiple lawsuits alleging that the university punished students who reported sexual assault, including one where 12 anonymous women, most of whom are former Liberty University employees or students, claim Liberty “enabled on-campus rapes” and suppressed complaints of sexual assault and rape.
Last month, Liberty University filed a restraining order to bar a former employee from revealing information related to his claim that he was fired for speaking out on the school's failure to properly address sexual assault allegations.
Read more at ABC13.
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'I see a war coming,' says militia leader with Colorado GOP ties
December 02, 2021
A prominent Colorado Republican activist on Tuesday urged fellow conservatives to reject political violence and extremism, even as he claimed that the country is under threat from communist tyranny and on a path towards “civil war.”
John Tiegen, a Marine veteran from Colorado Springs and founder of the United American Defense Force, made the comments on a “Giving Tuesday” livestream hosted by FEC United, the fringe activist group with which the UADF is affiliated.
Speaking to an audience of fellow conservatives, Tiegen acknowledged the support for extremist violence that exists among some on the right, and warned of the dangers of such views.
“We need to get rid of the extremist ideology, we really do,” Tiegen said. “For UADF, a lot of people want to go to civil war, they want to have conflict. You don’t want it.”
But Tiegen, who urged conservatives to set aside their “minor differences” and unite to oppose government overreach in schools and the economy, also predicted that violence will erupt if conservatives aren’t victorious.
“I see a war coming, if we don’t stand together,” Tiegen said. “And trust me, you don’t want to see it. A lot of veterans — I’ve seen it — there are some veterans that pray for it here in the U.S., which is stupid.”
The UADF, founded by Tiegen in the wake of nationwide 2020 protests over police violence, bills itself as a “humanitarian aid organization” with a “parallel mission” of armed defense. Tiegen regularly posted images of group members training and posing with firearms before his social media accounts were eventually suspended late last year.
Tiegen and the UADF organized the October 2020 “Patriot Muster” rally in downtown Denver, which turned deadly when a man was fatally shot by a security guard employed by a local news station.
FEC United was founded by far-right conspiracy theorist Joe Oltmann, a former digital marketing executive from Douglas County who has been instrumental in pushing debunked claims relating to Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems and the integrity of the 2020 election. Oltmann is a defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Dominion employee.
Kristi Burton Brown, currently the chair of the Colorado Republican Party, served as FEC United’s president as recently as November 2020, according to testimony from Oltmann. Burton Brown was elected state GOP chair in March 2021.
The group has spread a wide variety of false and misleading information relating to the election, the COVID-19 pandemic, “critical race theory” in schools and more.
On Tuesday’s livestream, Tiegen and other right-wing activists celebrated the victories won last month by Republican candidates in local school board elections in Colorado and beyond, and delivered stark warnings about the threat posed by communism, which FEC United’s Stephanie Wheeler said was backed in the U.S. by “foreign entities” with “deep pockets.”
Tiegen urged conservatives who oppose measures like pandemic-related public health restrictions to “be a force to be reckoned with.”
“We are being forced into communism, forced into a tyrannical dictatorship,” he said. “It’s just going to get worse. … There has to be a line, there has to be a limit. I’ve already reached it. I’m not going no more.”
“This is a last stand that we’re kind of doing,” Tiegen added. “We have to — we took a lot back here in Colorado on the education side, so that’s a good start. But … you have to stand together if you truly want to fight back.”
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.
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