[guest post by Dana]

Rep. Liz Cheney is under fire in Wyoming where Republicans remain unhappy that their elected official with a solid conservative voting record, fulfilled her Constitutional duty which compelled her to vote for the impeachment of then-President Trump:

Republicans in two Wyoming counties have voted to rescind recognition of Rep. Liz Cheney as a member of their party.

The Republican parties for Park and Carbon counties both unanimously voted in support of the move, which is symbolic and representative of the far right’s continued frustration with the congresswoman following her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump.

“You will no longer be recognized as the official Republican Congressional Representative by the Park County Republican Party,” Martin Kimmet, the chairman of the Park County Republicans, wrote in a letter Thursday to Cheney.

Park County acted first with the letter. Carbon County Republicans voted Saturday, taking it a step further by unanimously backing a formal resolution.

“Park County set up the ball, Carbon County spiked it,” Joey Correnti, chairman of the Carbon County Republican Party, told the Star-Tribune. “And now other counties, I say by the end of the week you’ll have at least three or four other counties that are having meetings that will pass a similar resolution.”

Apparently, five other counties have requested copies of Carbon County’s resolution, indicating that they will likely follow suit.

And of course, Trump remains firmly planted in Wyoming County Republican Party minds despite Carbon County chairman Correnti’s weaselly trying to claim otherwise:

But the votes in Park and Carbon counties, Correnti explained, were about more than Cheney’s voting record.

“This has very little to do with Donald Trump, except for he was her focus when she started to ignore the voices of the Wyoming Republicans or the Wyoming voters in mass,” he said.

Both the Park and Carbon letters to Cheney ended almost identically.

“In short, and in the immortal words of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump…”You’re Fired!””

State GOP censures elected official for adhering to the oath that she took to the Constitution? Check!

County GOP publicly excoriates same elected official despite her consistently conservative voting record? Check!

State GOP remains loyal to impeached President who attempted to overturn a legitimate election by pushing the Big Lie and instead turns on elected official who did not attempt to overturn a presidential election and push the Big Lie? Check!

Wyoming, this just isn’t a good look for you.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

I hope this story gets a lot of attention because it’s an important story that I don’t think should be shied away from, or worse, ignored:

An Atlanta mom filed a federal complaint against her daughter’s Atlanta elementary school after she learned that the school was separating students on the basis of race.

In the discrimination complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, parent Kila Posey claims the principal at Mary Lin Elementary School, a K-5 school in the Atlanta Public Schools system, put a segregation policy in place because she thought it was best for all students…

Posey found out last year that the elementary school would be putting Black students in two different classrooms with two different teachers and white students into six classrooms with six different teachers.

Per her attorney Sharese Shields:

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 says that you cannot treat one group of people differently based upon race, and that is what is going on at Mary Lin.

What makes it all the more startling is that the principal, Sharyn Briscoe, who allegedly made the decision to separate students by race, is herself a Black woman:

Posey protested the policy when it was allegedly put into place by Principal Sharyn Briscoe last year. “First, it was just disbelief that I was having this conversation in 2020 with a person that looks just like me — a Black woman,” Posey said. “It’s segregating classrooms. You cannot segregate classrooms. You can’t do it.”

Interestingly, it appears that the principal made the decision to segregate classrooms without notifying parents. If she had, there can be no doubt that it would be more than just one parent complaining:

Posey, who is vice president of operations for the parent teacher association, according to the school website, first learned of the separation after she contacted Briscoe to request that her daughter be placed in a specific classroom with a certain teacher. Briscoe replied by saying that would not work because the teacher’s classroom wasn’t for Black students, Posey claims.

“She said that’s not one of the Black classes, and I immediately said, ‘What does that mean?’ I was confused. I asked for more clarification. I was like, ‘We have those in the school?’ And she proceeded to say, ‘Yes. I have decided that I’m going to place all of the Black students in two classes,’” Posey said.

Posey pushed for her daughter not to be placed in a segregated classroom. “I explained to her she shouldn’t be isolated or punished because I’m unwilling to go along with your illegal and unethical practice,” Posey said.

In a recorded phone call between Posey and an assistant principal, the administrator confirmed that it was the principal’s idea to separate the students.

“I just wish we had more Black kids, and then some of them are in a class because of the services that they need,” the administrator said.

Atlanta Public Schools released a statement about the incident. Clearly they want people to move on from the story:

Atlanta public schools does not condone the assigning of students to classrooms based on race. The district conducted a review of the allegations. Appropriate actions were taken to address the issue and the matter was closed.

While the district may not condone assigning students to classrooms based on race, it happened. So exactly what appropriate actions were taken? How are they guarding against something like this happening again in the Atlanta school district? Why aren’t district officials going out of their way to reassure parents that this was a one-off? But what I find most significant about the district’s statement is that the district did not defend the principal nor did the district refute Posey’s claims. And I think she is absolutely correct in this:

My community, had they known about this, would probably be extremely upset. Not just the Black parents but also white parents.

As they should be. Posey wants to see the principal, and district administrators fired for allowing classroom segregation to take place in her child’s school. And why shouldn’t they be? This was a monumentally bad decision. Every parent of any color should be offended by the principal’s decision to segregate classrooms and to keep it from them. What an immoral and disheartening message to send children, and what a slap in the face to parents. If the school is willing to make such a monumentally bad decision without parental notification, what other decisions might they be making about which parents are unaware?

–Dana