‘Stop the Steal’ organizer urges Ohio legislators to protect students from feelings of 'white guilt'

A woman who helped organize a "Stop the Steal" bus trip ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection told Ohio lawmakers they must ban teachers from any lessons that might cause feelings of "white guilt."

Tea Party activist and Ohio Board of Education member Kirsten Hill testified in support of House Bill 327, which would prohibit teachers from introducing so-called "critical race theory" in the classroom, saying that lessons on historic racism and racial inequality were "divisive" and might make white students feel bad, reported Ohio Capitol Journal.

"I foresee that if students are treated differently in Ohio schools based on their membership in a historically 'privileged' or 'oppressed' racial group, we're going to create problems, not solve problems," Hill told the House State and Local Government Committee.

Hill, who insists she merely walked, prayed and waved her American flag in Washington, D.C., as Donald Trump supporters rioted inside the U.S. Capitol, was among five board members who voted against a resolution adopted last July to "condemn racism and to advance equity and opportunity for Black students, indigenous students and students of color."

Dr. Jenny Shafer Kilgore, another board member who voted against the resolution, told legislators that students should be taught "an accurate account of history in order to avoid destructive actions of the past and pursue a positive future."

"Educators are compelled to slight time allocated to teaching academics in order to instruct on values such as social justice, altruism, environmental awareness, just to name a few, historically learned at home, in church and community, now delegated to the classroom," Kilgore told the committee.

The bill and its proponents say historical topics such as the Constitution and Civil War should be presented in a neutral fashion to avoid assigning blame for past injustice or addressing present-day inequality.

"[Schools should] correctly chronicle the foundation of the United States, its history as a colony and examine in great detail the scourge of slavery and the efforts to eradicate it," said Lisa Woods, a board member from 2017 to 2020. "What is good for my children is clearly good for all the school children of Ohio. We need to teach them truths, to teach them proven concepts and to utilize practical learning measurements to ensure that they achieve the required academic levels necessary to earn their high school diploma."

Woods also testified that Ohio, unlike some other states, had ever been "part of a system of racism."

"It would have to be a system of racism, which I do not believe we have in Ohio," Woods told legislators.