In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, the founding member of a Black Lives Matter organization in Minnesota announced he was quitting the group after realizing the true aims of BLM's leaders did not line up with the needs of his hometown's black community.
"I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies—black lives do matter," explained Rashad Turner in the video announcing his decision to step away from BLM after helping create the chapter in St. Paul, Minnesota.
"However, after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding Black families. And they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis. That was made clear when they publicly denounced charter schools alongside the teacher's union."
"I was an insider in Black Lives Matter and I learned the ugly truth... after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families," says Rashad Turner in a video explaining why he's quitting the St. Paul, Minnesota BLM chapter he founded in 2015. pic.twitter.com/FmTvxNwUe1
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) June 1, 2021
"I was an insider in Black Lives Matter and I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family, but it does create barriers to a better education for black children. I resigned from Black Lives Matter after a year and a half, but I didn't quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education" says the now-president and executive director of Minnesota Parent Union, an organization created to help parents send their children to better schools.
Turner also explains why he decided to set up a Black Lives Matter chapter in St. Paul, based on what he describes as a desire to create pathways to success for young people in his community:
"When I was two years old, my father was shot and killed. My mother wasn't able to take care of me, so I was raised by my grandparents. They told me that if I was going to change my life for the better, education was the answer. So I worked hard in school, I got into Hamline University, and earned a college degree—the first in my family. Then I went on to earn a master's in education from St. Mary's University of Minnesota.
I am living proof that no matter your start in life, quality education is a pathway to success. I want the same success for our children in our communities. That's why, in 2015, I was a founder of Black Lives Matter in St. Paul."
The Black Lives Matter organization admitted its anti-family aims before quietly deleting language on its website that declared its desire to "disrupt" the western nuclear family because of the harm caused by "patriarchal" fathers, so it's not a surprise BLM activists are realizing the police-defunding, family-opposing mission of the larger organization is antithetical to safe and strong communities.
As BLM national co-founder Patrisse Cullors steps down amid controversy surrounding her recent real estate shopping spree, watch for more community leaders to wake up to the "ugly truth" Rashad Turner described and choose to pursue other means to better their neighborhoods.