Photo: Mallory McMorrow/Facebook; David Eggert/AP/Shutterstock
Theis' email contained no evidence of such practices in her state’s classrooms or of the accusations against McMorrow, who said in a speech on the floor of the Michigan Senate on Tuesday that she didn’t expect to see her name associated with the accusations.
“I sat on it a while, wondering why me,” McMorrow said. “And then I realized — because I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme.”
“You can’t claim that you’re targeting marginalized kids in the name of ‘parental rights’ if another parent is standing up to say no,” she continued. “You dehumanize and marginalize me. You say I’m one of them. You say: She’s a groomer, she supports pedophilia, she wants children to believe they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they’re white.”
Video of McMorrow’s speech has been viewed on Twitter more than 10 million times.
McMorrow also shared elements of her background, she said, so Theis and the other lawmakers present could know “who I really am.”
“My mom taught me at a very young age that Christianity and faith was about being part of a community, about recognizing our privilege and blessings and doing what we can to be of service to others, especially people who were marginalized, targeted and who had less, often unfairly.”
She also said she was taught that “service was far more important than performative nonsense” such as “writing ‘Christian’ in your Twitter bio and using that as a shield to target and marginalize already marginalized people.” (Theis’Twitter biobegins with the word “Christian.")
“So who am I?” McMorrow continued in her speech. “I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense.”
“No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery. But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. Each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us,” she continued. “We are not responsible for the past. We also cannot change the past. We can’t pretend that it didn’t happen or deny people their very right to exist.”
On Twitter, however, Theis pointed out that McMorrow used footage of her speech to raise money.
“Sen. McMorrow is not naïve about politics and fundraising. I know that because it took her mere minutes to turn her Senate floor speech into a plea for campaign donations,“she wrote. “While Sen. McMorrow is on MSNBC preaching to her choir, I’ll keep my focus on Michigan parents, who Democrats are seeking to undermine as the primary decision-makers in the education of their children.”
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As she closed her speech on Tuesday, McMorrow appeared to address Theis, who was reportedly in the state Senate but did not respond to her colleague.
source: people.com
