Sonnie Johnson: This is why Republicans can't fight for education locally
Schools throughout the country face closure amid rising omicron cases
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Podcast host Sonnie Johnson criticized Democrats and Republicans regarding public school systems on Tuesday’s "Fox News Primetime."
Host Lawrence Jones introduced her after discussing the recent school closures throughout the country due to COVID-19 concerns despite parent objection. Johnson said this is a natural reaction from government overreach.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A "closed" sign in front of a public elementary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (iStock)
"If you don’t send your kid to some form of school, mostly public schools, there are laws against you that can be used to punish you, truancy laws," Johnson said. "So they make it so that you have no choice, by forcing you to send your children to these institutions. If you can afford other options, you are forced to send your kids, and you become accustomed to it. It becomes regulated toward you. And now what we’re seeing is how much power government has when they provide you with everything to take everything away."
She also lamented the damage caused toward kids on the lower end of the socio-economic scale who cannot afford to be taken out of public schools.
"So now that they have taken especially the kids who are at the lower socio-economic scale and said, ‘We’re going to give you school, and now we’re going to take it away.’ You’re going to see how much ability government has to interfere with our lives," Johnson said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Washington Post published an opinion piece condemning parent’s right.
While Johnson appreciated that the closures "exposed a lot of what wrong has been done in the public school systems," she said Republicans have done little to affect change.
"The reason you don’t have Republicans fighting back is because they can’t," Johnson added. "The majority of these regulations and rules that are coming through are on the local level. There are no Republicans at the local level with the power or the capacity to actually fight back against these policies. So there is nothing that the Republicans can do. There is no solution for Republicans as long as their strategy for these areas is to run with their tails tucked between their legs."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Students get onto buses at East End Community School at the end of the school day in Portland, Maine. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
She added: "They put it on Black America, like Black Americans hate conservative policies. We don’t ever get offered them."
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Johnson offered a final warning for Republicans.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If you’re going to want to benefit from the candy jar of government, you’re going to have to send your kids to government schools that are going to be run by Karens who have women’s studies degrees who put off raising their own children for a chance to raise yours," she said. "That is what we are looking at. And we need to be taking it seriously. And if Republicans will not decide that the local level is where the real fight is, there is nothing that they can offer to Black America or America’s children."