In Minnesota, the founder of a local BLM chapter released a video explaining how he resigned from the Black Lives Matter organization.
Rashard Turner, the founder of a Black Lives Matter chapter in St. Paul, Minnesota quit the organization after he “learned the ugly truth” while an insider in the far-left group.
In a video of published by TakeCharge, a black-led organization that rejects critical race theory and woke culture, Turner made the remarks saying in part:
I was born in Minneapolis in 1985. We called the north side home at that time, 18th and Queen. When I was two years old, my father was shot and killed. My mother wasn’t able to take care of me. So I was raised by my grandparents. They told me that if I was going to change my life for the better, education was the answer. So I worked hard in school, I got into Hamlin University and earned a college degree, first in my family. Then I went on to earn a master’s in education from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. I am living proof that no matter your start life, quality education is a pathway to success. I want the same success for our children in our communities. That’s why in 2015, I was a founder of Black Lives Matter in St. Paul. I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies, black lives do matter.
However, after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families, and they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis. That was made clear when they publicly denounced charter schools alongside the teachers union. I was an insider in Black Lives Matter. And I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family. But it does create barriers to a better education for black children. I resigned from Black Lives Matter after a year and a half. But I didn’t quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education.
About Take Charge
Concerns and sensitivities are still on edge from last year’s death of George Floyd, riots, and destruction in Minneapolis. TakeCharge is a new organization committed to countering the prevailing narrative in popular culture that America is structured to undermine the lives of black Americans. Kendall Qualls will lead TakeCharge with the objective to inspire and educate the black community and other minority groups in the Twin Cities to take charge of their own lives, the lives of the families and communities as citizens fully granted to them in the Constitution.
We acknowledge that racist people exist in the country, but explicitly reject the notion that the United States of America is a racist country. This is a subtle, but significant difference!
We also denounce the idea that the country is guilty of systemic racism, white privilege and abhor the concept of identity politics and the promotion of victimhood in minority communities.
TakeCharge will build a coalition of community champions, academic professionals, and business leaders to ignite a transformation within the Black community of the Twin Cities by embracing the core principles of America – not rejecting them. These principles are embedded in the belief of hard work, education, faith, family, and free enterprise in the personal pursuit of dreams that can be realized by anyone regardless of race or social standing.
