Rantz: Seattle-area teacher recorded during vulgar, anti-police Kyle Rittenhouse rant
Nov 29, 2021, 6:13 PM | Updated: Nov 30, 2021, 11:35 am
Bothell High School.
A teacher in the Northshore School District was recorded during a vulgar and one-sided rant about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
Just before the not-guilty verdicts were reached, a Bothell High School science teacher stopped an assignment on magnets to discuss the Rittenhouse case. He used the case to explain how cops are racist. He then told a student: “Put your hand down, it’s my turn.”
The district is now investigating the conduct.
MyNorthwest’s editorial policy does not name teachers unless they are charged with a crime.
Rittenhouse shows racism, teacher claims
The teacher spent a portion of his Nov. 18 sophomore science class ranting about the Rittenhouse case.
In August 2020, then-17-year-old Rittenhouse went to nearby Kenosha, Wisconsin, where his father lived. He showed up armed and with medical supplies to help protect the community from violence and rioting spurned by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man armed with a knife. While being attacked, Rittenhouse used his firearm in self-defense and was cleared by a jury of all charges.
The teacher was getting upset about the details of the trial.
Sensing the teacher was speaking inappropriately, a student used a cell phone to record the speech on video. The student’s father shared it with the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
“You can argue back and forth about what happened. … Did he feel like he was really in danger, and what the hell was he doing there in the first place? Where were his parents? That’s what I want to know,” the teacher says on the video. “So, that’s arguable. That’s what the trial is about. Was he acting in self-defense when he shot those people? That’s for the jury to figure out. That’s not for me to figure out.”
But what the teacher did, in fact, figure out was that Rittenhouse benefited from being white, thanks to cops he implies are racist.
“For me, what’s the most appalling thing about this is he ran toward the police with his hands up, with his weapon right here, and the police did this — they waived him through. Seriously!” the teacher said, starting to raise his voice. “If he was Black, would he have been waived through? No god-d— way.”
‘Put your hand down’
The teacher wasn’t done offering his take to a captive audience of students.
“That’s what this is about. It wasn’t about, … it’s about people seeing people differently,” he asserted, implying the cops were racist.
Off-camera, a student raises a hand to respond to claims made by the teacher. But that student wasn’t allowed to speak. He was scolded instead.
“Put your hand down, it’s my turn, OK?” the teacher responds.
He goes on to explain this as “an example of racism.”
“That’s an example of racism being used as a weapon — not weaponizing racism. OK? Racism exists. White guys like me don’t see it because it’s not part of my experience,” he explained.
He then apologized for the conversation going sideways before returning to the lesson plan on magnets.
The district investigates
A spokesperson for the Northshore School District told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that the district is still investigating exactly what happened.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions on whether or not the district encourages these kinds of lesson plans in the classroom, or if it’s appropriate for teachers to offer analysis of political or legal matters in front of students. The teacher did not respond to a request for comment.
The parent who sent the video to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH says his son has complained about this teacher bringing a progressive worldview into the classroom in the past. He said teachers implement “equity and inclusion” lessons beyond their subject expertise throughout the week.
“My son didn’t even mention Kyle Rittenhouse, nor did any other students. The teacher raised it entirely on his own as an example of racism,” the parent explained.
This is clearly inappropriate
The teacher may be certain the Rittenhouse case is an example of racism, but it’s a position informed by bias — not anything uncovered at trial. And his apparent disgust for cops doesn’t mean it’s based in reality.
As the officer involved testified in court, Rittenhouse wasn’t waived through. He was pepper-sprayed as he was told to leave the area during what officers were told was an active shooter emergency. He and his partner didn’t know Rittenhouse was surrendering to them. The appearance of a gun was commonplace at that time and Rittenhouse wasn’t acting the way a surrendering suspect would act.
Moreover, it’s a bizarre claim for the teacher to make given there were few arrests of anyone — including Black rioters — at that time in Kenosha, or elsewhere. Riots and violent demonstrations went mostly undisrupted by police departments instructed not to intervene.
Rantz: District tells staff to defend critical race theory, but deny they teach it
Teachers show no sign of ceasing the indoctrination
This teacher comes off as an activist who is all-consumed by his own wokeness; a white guy desperate to be seen as a savior to people of color. It gives his life meaning he doesn’t appear to be getting from teaching physics. But ultimately: Who in the world cares what a physics teacher thinks about the Rittenhouse trial? He thinks his students care so he won’t deprive them of his hot take.
It’s not merely narcissistic behavior. He’s also a threat to those students.
The teacher believes in white privilege, thus it must be true. There’s no room for nuance or another explanation. Is that the kind of thinking a parent would want in front of their kids? A teacher who chooses to indoctrinate and tell students how to think rather than giving them the tools to think for themselves?
There’s no sign that level of overt indoctrination will end. The student deserves praise for documenting this kind of egregious overstepping of boundaries.
Democrats continue to maintain that critical race theory isn’t being utilized in schools, that teachers are sticking purely to facts, and that there’s no left-wing bias on our school campuses. But it’s videos like this that show the world what’s really going on. And without the video evidence, left-wing gaslighting would continue.
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