Will County Gazette

Castigating the form of instruction “as damaging to our kids,” parent and former Illinois State Senate candidate Michelle Lee is vowing to do everything she can to stop critical race theory from coming to the Homer Glen 33C school district.

“I am a concerned parent and I will continue to drive 30 minutes to an hour away to every single board meeting that I see to empower board members to do the right thing,” Lee said in a video posted to YouTube. “My daughter is mixed. You know what she said to me? 'Mommy, am I oppressing black people because I'm half white or am I being oppressed because I'm half black?' This is completely unacceptable.”

Lee opposes the system of critical race theory (CRT) that schools around the nation are pushing to include as part of their formal curriculum. The Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm, recently announced it is offering legal expertise and services to Hinsdale 86 students and parents who feel they are being overrun by CRT enactments.

“People in Hinsdale might be thinking that indoctrination is something happening elsewhere in the country,” Liberty Justice Center Communications and Outreach Director Kristen Williamson told the DuPage Policy Journal. “The truth is, it could be happening in your own backyard and that's what we want to bring awareness to.”

Lee added that she feels an obligation to make as many parents aware of the potential change as she can, given the depth of harm she believes it would cause.  

“I want to say this about CRT, it is damaging to our kids on every single level,” she told the board. “I'm going to guarantee you [that] you're going to get some parents that are going to run for office and that are going to change things. We do not want communism in America.”

Lee herself previously ran for the Illinois State Senate.

“I ran my election with no money,” she said in front of the board. “I accepted no campaign funds and I won 22,800 votes. Do you think that these people don't see me and that I'm willing to stand up for your kids? Do you think they're not going to vote for people like me and vote you out if you don't start standing up for our kids? America is done.

“We are not OK with this,” she continued. “We were asleep and we weren't paying attention to what was going on in our schools, but I can guarantee you we will not back down and I can guarantee you we're going to be at every single one of these board meetings”