Ross: Who are the real ‘groomers’ we should be afraid of?

If you’ve been following the Florida textbook wars, you know there are allegations that some textbooks are full of things no child should see. And, you’ve heard that anybody who supports these textbooks probably wants to groom and sexualize kindergarteners, and even hold eight-year-olds responsible for slavery.

But who exactly are these groomers?

Well, a Republican member of the Michigan state Senate decided to name one of them in a campaign e-mail, and it turned out to be a Democratic colleague – State Senator Mallory McMorrow.

When Senator McMorrow saw her name in that e-mail, she decided to come forward and reveal herself in a video that has now been viewed over 3 million times:

Who am I? I am a straight white, Christian, married suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery, 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.

On the allegation of sexualizing kindergarteners, same thing.

I am a straight, white, Christian, married suburban mom. I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, empathetic and kind. People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment, or that health care costs are too high, or that teachers are leaving the profession.

I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian. And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.

So there’s your “groomer.”

And if she’s a groomer, then you know what could really be going on here? It could be that the real groomers are the people trying to groom U.S. into thinking there are groomers. Just something to consider as you’re being groomed.

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