Martin Rawls said a 2nd grade class erupted with joy when he announced their school would stay open. Except Rawls coaches at Marvell Academy, a private school rooted in segregation that was never in danger of closing.
Martin Rawls’ misleading Democrat Gazette op-ed is another example of the sloppy Sarah Sanders/Jacob Oliva LEARNS propaganda campaign.
Last week Sanders and her messaging team widely circulated Rawls’ opinion piece, which eventually landed in the The Western Journal, a fringe political website that pumps out right-wing political commentary.
Rawls’ op-ed is all about the merits of LEARNS and how the new law paved the way for the “transformation contract” between the Marvell-Elaine School District and the Friendship charter company.
According to Rawls, LEARNS saved Marvell-Elaine from closure and/or state takeover —hip hip hooray!
“As soon as the news broke, I was thrilled to announce to the second-grade class that their school was staying open… Happy tears were shed and hugs were received.”
Except, whoops, Rawls doesn’t teach at Marvell-Elaine School District. Far from it, in fact. He’s a coach at Marvell Academy, a private school with a rich history in the private school segregationist movement. Guess the lie by omission was intentional to mislead readers?
Also know as “segregation academies” or “white academies,” the private school movement was about white parents keeping their kids away from Black students.
Marvell Academy was the first “segregation academy” to open in the town of Marvell in 1966. The majority of their board of directors were members of the local Citizens Council — an association of white suprematists. Big yikes.
So a white dude from a town’s first “white academy” pens about a law that saves Black kids — where said white dude doesn’t even teach.
We wish they would tighten up the propaganda a bit because this is just downright sloppy.
