In a surprising move the leader of Black Lives Matter St. Paul is leaving the activist organization.
Rashad Turner, who led Black Lives Matter St Paul for nearly two years, says he is leaving his position after the national Black Lives Matter organization joined forces with the NAACP to call for a moratorium on charter schools. Turner, who has been an educator for more than seven years, says he cannot stand by their decision, saying, “It was sort of bittersweet to leave that, but I’m a person of integrity and that call for a moratorium on charter schools I think is just wrong, and misleading to a lot of people, so I had to step away from it.”
The NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives claim charter schools exacerbate segregation. In a statement, the Movement for Black Lives say school privatization “strips Black people of the right to self-determine the kind of education their children receive.”
Turner says public schools not only have a bad record of staff assaulting black students, but offer less options for black families, stating, “I think that this moratorium really takes away the student voice, it takes away the parent voice, because we’re seeing families in increasing numbers want to attend charter schools.”
Black Lives Matter St Paul says they, “understand” Rashad’s decision and “fully support him going forward.”
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