School-board meetings used to be dull affairs; the level of excitement for those attending one was akin to that of watching paint dry. But that was then, this is now. In a speech to supporters of Critical Race Theory (CRT) before a school-board meeting Thursday evening in Fairfax, Virginia, a Fairfax County NAACP vice president and PTA officer said that parents opposed to CRT should die. Her remarks were captured on video, so there is no denying or spinning what she said: “Let them die!”
Diversity, inclusion, and tolerance are claims of the Left, but it is more evident than ever that those claims are hollow. These comments were not made by some low-ranking individual in the fringes of the leftist establishment; they were made by Michelle Leete, who — besides being an NAACP vice president — was also vice president in charge of training for the Virginia PTA and vice president of communications for the Fairfax County PTA.
Addressing a group of CRT supporters outside Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia, on Thursday, Leete said, “So let’s meet and remain steadfast, steadfast, in speaking truth, tearing down double standards, and refuting double talk.” She then proceeded to spend the next couple of minutes engaging in a round of double talk and vitriol that would have been dizzying to someone who considers a speech by Joe Biden to be intelligible. She said, “Let’s not allow any double downing on lies. Let’s prepare our children for a world they deserve.”
This writer will assume that Leete meant to say “doubling down” just so that part makes any sense at all.
Next she said that CRT proponents should “deny” CRT critics — whom she described as “this off-key band of people” — before going into a litany of words beginning with the prefix “anti.” She never said what it was she wanted to deny them, appearing to get caught up in her own momentum. She described opponents of CRT as “anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning, anti-opportunities, anti-help-people, anti-diversity, anti-platform, anti-science, anti-change-agent, anti-social-justice, anti-health care, anti-worker, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-children, anti-healthcare, anti-worker, anti-environment, anti-admissions-policy-change, anti-inclusion, anti-live-and-let-live people.”
Wow. No wonder she got lost along the way and never said what it was those evil people should be denied. Well, that is not exactly accurate; she made it clear that they should be denied life. Because immediately following her litany of anti-this, anti-that, and anti-the-other, Leete said, “Let them die! Don’t let these uncomfortable people, don’t let these uncomfortable people deter us from our bold march forward.”
The CRT-happy crowd applauded when Leete said, “Let them die!”
Leet’s extremist call for violence was captured on video by school board member Asra Nomani, who then posted the video to Twitter. Nomani — an immigrant to the United States from India whose son just graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools — helps run a watchdog group called Parents Defending Education. She told Daily Wire, “I listened, stunned, as Michelle Leete, an executive of the NAACP and the PTA, put a target on the backs of parents just because they have a different point of view.” There’s that diversity, inclusion, and tolerance the Left is always hollering about. “Let them die” is the very essence of unity where the Left is concerned. Because once every opposing voice is dead, they can have the unity they really want.
Nomani also told Daily Wire, “What we heard tonight was hate speech, pure and simple. It was shocking that anyone would cheer and applaud a call to violence…. Ironically, her hateful, intolerant words are a perfect illustration of the divisive ideology of critical race theory in action. In the name of tolerance, it preaches intolerance and is a betrayal of all values of humanity and decency.”
Once Nomani’s video was posted and garnered quite a bit of attention, Leete was forced to resign from the Virginia PTA. In a Saturday tweet, Virginia PTA announced Leete’s resignation. In a statement, the PTA said, “While not speaking in her role within Virginia PTA, we do not condone the choice of words used during a public event on Thursday, July 15, 2021.” This decision followed the PTA’ announcement on Friday (the day after Leete’s call to violence) that her words “do not reflect the values” of the PTA and that Leete would be required to attend “sensitivity training” to learn about the “impact of the words we use.”
Apparently, Leete declined to attend the required training.
As for her role as vice president of communication for the Fairfax County PTA, the organization’s website now lists that office as “vacant.”
And while both PTA groups were quick to rid themselves of Leete, the Fairfax NAACP is standing by her, accusing the Right-wing media of a “false narrative” for taking her remarks out of context. She is still listed as “first vice president” of the chapter.
In a statement e-mailed to the Washington Post, Leete claimed that she meant death to the “ideals” when she said “people.” Oh — well then — that should clear that up. Because this writer — and anyone else who heard her say “people” — should simply ignore their own lying ears and accept this as a big misunderstanding. Right.
That excuse would be transparent in any world, but is especially so in the world where that excuse would never fly if the roles were reversed.
The reality is that the Left is populated (especially at the top) by too many people who cry “Diversity! Inclusion! Tolerance!” while practicing uniformity, exclusion, and intolerance. The video, showing Leete reading from prepared statements, clearly shows what it shows: She called for the deaths of those who disagree with her. And the NAACP is proud to stand by her and defend her.
That says pretty much everything that needs to be said about the NAACP and other race-baiting CRT proponents. Because if CRT were correct in its basic premise — that white people hold all the power and routinely act as oppressors — then Leete (as a black woman, and therefore part of the oppressed class) would have feared to make such remarks. In fact, she would never have had a platform to do so, because Democrat Jim Crow laws would have kept her from serving on a PTA board in the first place.
