Liberal race baiters, media in St. Louis use student’s suicidal ideation to fake race hatred

A noose hung by a student in crisis in a St. Louis-area high school restroom has been used by liberal race baiters to increase racial tension.

Critics of the dishonest tactic say it’s part of a cynical strategy to gin up fake racism to undermine the school board, which has stood against indoctrination in schools via Critical Race Theory (CRT) and LGBTQ ideology.

In addition to preventing CRT curriculum in schools in 2023, the board recently voted to prevent educators and district staff from talking to students about gender identity. The district also has begun removing books with “explicit descriptions of sexual conduct,” drugs and violence.

A black father found the noose hanging in the restroom near an athletic field where his son was practicing and immediately assumed it was a racially motivated act and reported it as such, said St. Louis Today (SLT).

An initial public report of the incident by the high school’s principal, sent in an email to parents, said it was being investigated as “a potential hate crime,” inflaming public opinion.

“The noose is a powerful symbol of hate and racially motivated violence; such a symbol has no business in our schools or facilities. We want you to know that this behavior will not be tolerated, and we are actively working to identify the individual or individuals responsible,” wrote Francis Howell Central High School principal Suzanne Leake.

She said law enforcement was working with the high school to investigate.

Four hours later, the principal sent another email to parents, this time saying that after an “extensive” investigation, law enforcement determined by questioning the individual responsible that it was not “a racially-motivated incident.”

SLT updated its original story to note that the father who found the noose, Mitchell Long, of St. Charles County, acknowledged the principal called him personally to let him know the noose was the result of a “a kid in crisis.”

“They are seeking out help for this student in crisis,” Long said he was told, reported SLT.  

But that update came in the 17^th paragraph of SLT’s story.   

In paragraph three, SLT allowed Long to dismiss the child’s crisis and still blame race on the incident.   

“Who are you to say it’s not a racial incident when a Black man walks into the bathroom and sees a noose?” Long told SLT.   

Other members of the community, some of them occupying leadership positions, also refused to acknowledge that they jumped the gun in classifying the discovery as a race-based demonstration.  

One school board member, who claims to be endorsed by 47 unions, quickly seized on the incident to further inflame racial tensions.  

“We are not powerless. We each can do something to create a more loving culture that address racism and discrimination in blatant and subtle forms,” Steven Blair, a self-described pastor who says he focuses on “recovery and mental health ministries” wrote on Facebook.  

Later, he updated his post and subtly edited the original version to lessen the impact of his initial reaction.  

“This could serve as a teaching moment with our kids that a noose is a racially loaded image with deep roots in Black History that causes harm,” Blair wrote in an update.  

He also added the words “intentional and unintentional” at the end of the last sentence of his original post blasting “discrimination in blatant and subtle forms.”  

In neither his original post, nor in his subsequent revisions and updates, does Pastor Blair express any concern about a child suffering from a mental health crisis, despite the fact that mental health problems have become an increasingly familiar feature of public-school education in America.   

The local chapter of the NAACP followed suit 30 minutes after Blair’s original post, saying in a statement on Facebook it was “deeply disappointed by the ongoing acts of violence and hate speech that black and brown children” in the school district must endure.  

The group mistakenly blamed the incident on “culture wars” by the current Francis Howell School Board (FHSB), which it accused of using “dog whistles” to “embolden racists.”  

Since the revelation that the incident was not racially motivated, the NAACP mimicked Blair by not updating its statement to admit it was wrong.  

One local group, Francis Howell Families, which has organized opposition to liberal ideology in the Francis Howell District, has called on Blair and principal Leake to “end all rumors and misinformation by immediate dissemination of a district wide email, press release, and social media post with a current and accurate account of the incident.”  

Missouri River Township GOP Committeeman Martin Bennet, from St. Louis County, said the false claims of a hate crime had nothing to do with the noose, but were a result of the school board pushing back against liberal ideology in schools.  

“This is probably a false flag by progressives and @stltoday seeking to discredit the Francis Howell Board that is valiantly trying to protect their community’s children from LGBTQ+ groomers. Similar false flag happened at Kirkwood High in 2021,” said Bennett via X.  

Christian Reese, 18, who is white, and Daniel Moore, 18, who is black, were arrested and charged with property damage for the incidents that occurred at three Kirkwood schools in 2021, reported the Webster-Kirkwood Times.  

Francis Howell Families has asked the community to email members of the FHSB to protest the misinformation shared by the principal and the media in the case.