Who is Brad Taylor? Boy, 15, slams woke school for making White students feel 'guilty'
A high school student recently made headlines after he gave a fiery speech to his former school board after critical race theory made it to their curriculum. The boy has since decided to leave the school district due to what he calls "wasn’t a healthy environment for any student to be in". Identified as Brad Taylor, the student's speech is now going viral after it was posted on a YouTube channel called Daily Caller on June 19. It had at least 500,000 views as of June 23 morning.
In his speech, Taylor slams the "leftist agenda in class", accusing the schools under the Minnesota Independent School District 196 of "becoming a place where promoting activism is actually more important than promoting education”. Taylor also criticized his school's recent commemoration of George Floyd's murder, and called out board members who have no kin left in the school district in an attempt for a sick burn. But his problem seemed to be mostly with the way their principal encouraged students of all colors and races except Whites. Taylor accused the principal of making White students feel left out, or as if they have done something "wrong" and he told the media how teachers from his former school have offered him support for the speech.
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Who is Brad Taylor?
The 15-year-old was a student of Rosemount High School in Rosemount, Minnesota, until he decided to leave the corresponding school district over critical race theory. Taylor garnered massive fame online after his June 14 speech at a community meeting attended by 200 parents and students, where the boy detailed the first day of his freshman year at Rosemount High School. In his speech, Taylor recounted how their "principal came out and gave us a heartfelt speech about equality and standing together”.
According to Taylor, the principal listed various races, while “expressing how much they matter and how important they are. But never once did he mention an identity that reflects me or half the kids that were in the class.” He then targeted the board members, saying: "I know you haven’t been to school in a while and I know most of you don’t have any kids left in the school district."
'I don't need you to tell me that I matter'
Taylor continued: “You must admit how uncomfortable it will be to be characterized just by your skin color on the first day of school and be thought that you were wrong just because of your skin color. I’ll never forget the look one of my friends gave me from across the room as we were sitting there listening to this blatant bias being expressed in the so-called equity statement by the leader of our school.
He further clarified: "To be clear, I don’t need you to tell me that I matter, but hearing the condolences given to other races and leaving just one race out, inevitably you’ll start to feel like you’ve done something wrong. In our principal’s attempt to unify us, he instead created unwarranted boundaries and barriers between his students, pitting us against each other based on characteristics that we can’t control.”
'Pushing a damaging political ideology'
Taylor also told the board it wasn't just other peers and students who told him they felt pressured into conforming with the school's viewpoint. Even teachers apparently approached him to let him know they agreed with his views but couldn't express them freely as they feared retaliation. “There is clearly only one way to think in this district,” Taylor said, asking board members to “look at yourselves in the mirror tonight and ask, are you really standing up for the equality of all people, or are you just pushing a damaging political ideology on our students?”
Taylor revealed he's going to be attending a Christian school online, adding that sacrifices for that would include not walking on the stage on graduation. But he seems to have no issues as he proudly revealed, “I will be able to learn an environment that is not intent on punishing me daily for my skin color and political views.” Taylor says even if the Rosemont school's board members want to label his speech as “malarkey or Fox News talking points”, he urged them to rethink that and promised to become someone big in life. “It’s a shame that you’re not going to be able to say that I was an alumni of RHS in District 196,” he said, ending his speech.
'Guilty for just existing'
After the video of his speech went viral, speaking to the conservative Minnesota outlet Alpha News, Taylor said: "The problem is these school districts are acting like some of us are guilty for just existing, and somehow inadvertently responsible for any injustice (and) from what I saw, it made all the kids who have been in RHS feel uncomfortable and tense." They however "are afraid to say or do the wrong thing," Taylor told them.
Taylor also complained about the 43-second "silent reflection" the school had asked students to maintain on the anniversary of George Floyd's death, after the Black man was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. Teachers told students they could “just do homework” during the time, but according to Taylor, students felt pressured they could be called "racist" if they just questioned the "proclamation" at all. The boy told the outlet that he and his mother Tiffany have been getting “lots of messages from other [District] 196 parents who are also concerned about their kids” and asking for guidance. “If just one person stands up, then other people will feel more empowered to do the same,” Taylor said.