Lee’s Summit, MO – In a moment perhaps unprecedented in Lee’s Summit District history, a historic protest of over 700 students took to the school’s yard to peacefully demonstrate their opposition to the founding of white extremist group Turning Point USA.
As noted in our previous coverage, Turning Point USA is an extremist group with ties to white supremacists and whose Founder endorsed the Great Replacement Terrorist Ideology which motivated the killer who committed mass murder of Black people in Buffalo, New York this past weekend.
While outside, students rallied together, some ran around with pride flags, and others carried petitions to gather signatures. They led chants such as “we have a voice” and “BLM.”
The personal accounts from the students we spoke with are in direct contradiction to the “misinformation and lies” which students say are currently being spread by white supremacist sympathizer Pete Mundo, and purveyor of the white terrorist “Great Replacement” ideology, Charlie Kirk, specifically regarding an incident where a single student turned over a table causing it to break.
We spoke with one student at West, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety. They provided a detailed account which matched the testimony of the numerous other students we spoke with who described to The Defender how the mass protest and rally went.
Student:The protest began in the library, where many students attended the meeting. Passions were high, and there was shouting… One student, who has a mental illness known to the school, was angered and tore down some posters. A member of the LSWTPUSA group began to shove him and bait him into a fight. The student with the mental illness refused. This was the same student who later flipped a glass top table in his anger. Administration was quick to respond and escorted him away and he was faced with disciplinary action. I later spoke to this student and he expressed extreme regret and stated that he should have remained peaceful. He acted alone.
We then were crowded in a hallway and asked to head outside to avoid distraction and disruption of the school day. We did so immediately and peacefully. Outside, we rallied together. Some ran around with pride flags. People were carrying around petitions. There were groups of kids making fun of us, laughing and pointing. This did not discourage us. Another student stole a pride flag and tripped a girl for trying to get it back. It appears he was not given disciplinary action.
This is a developing story.
