Wake school board member accuses President Trump of trying ‘to destroy democracy’
A Wake County school board member’s speech accusing President Donald Trump of trying “to destroy democracy” has gone viral on social media.
School board member Lynn Edmonds urged Trump opponents on Tuesday to “fight back,” including protesting and giving money to groups fighting his executive orders. Her remarks come after fellow Wake board member Sam Hershey apologized Tuesday for saying “mediocre white men” during a speech defending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“To all those looking for ways to fight back, I’ll just ask you to keep standing with us, stand up for the marginalized children and stand up for kindness and truth and justice,” Edmonds said at the end of Tuesday’s board meeting. “The goal with all of these executive orders is to destroy democracy.
“The speed and reckless approach is a strategy meant to exhaust us and make us feel hopeless. So let’s do the opposite of that. Let’s show up here, show up in the streets, show up in the courts.”
Libs of Tiktok posts ‘woke’ speech
Just like with Hershey’s comments, Libs of Tiktok posted a video of Edmonds’ speech on X, formerly called Twitter, The post went viral, drawing more than 395,000 views and 3,100 reposts in its first 12 hours.
“Woke @WCPSS board member Lynn Edmonds went on a rant against Trump at a board meeting after a parent called out the district’s DEI policies,” Libs of TikTok said in the post. “She claimed ‘the goal with all these executive orders is to destroy democracy’ because Trump is defunding DEI and radical gender ideology from schools. These are the people in charge of your kids’ education.”
Libs of TikTok is a popular conservative social media account that has been labeled as extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Threat to withhold federal funding over DEI
Edmonds, 53, was first elected to the school board in 2022. She was reelected in November with 68% of the vote.
She represents District 5, which includes parts of west Raleigh running to Holly Springs. Edmonds is the outreach director for Public Schools First NC and wore a shirt Tuesday saying Protect Public Education.
The nine-member board is officially non-partisan. But Edmonds is one of the seven Democrats on the board.
During public comments at Tuesday’s board meeting, a speaker pointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Feb. 28 deadline for schools to remove DEI programming or risk loss of federal funding.
“Are you able to put your personal radical woke political agenda aside in order to retain federal funding for special-needs students and lunch programs for lower-income students?” said Joseph Hudson, who was wearing a shirt saying Moms for Liberty Dad. “Or will you fail those students to continue your radical woke ideology?”
Edmonds said it was “rich” of Hudson to say it was the board and not the Trump administration that was putting vulnerable students at risk with the funding threat.
“So who exactly is so threatened by the pillars and value of DEI, are so threatened by pronouns that they would deny special-needs students with the funding they need and deny children school meals?” Edmonds said. “Own it. Own that short-shortsightedness and own that cruelty.”
Edmonds also suggested that people donate to Lambda Legal, Democracy Forward, the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign because they’re opposing the Trump executive orders.
“Our kids and our schools are worth all we’ve got to give in this moment,” Edmonds said.
Wake schools in national spotlight
Wake has found itself under the spotlight due to comments by board members.
Hershey received national attention for a Feb. 4 speech saying “mediocre white men” have been hired for 250 years solely due to their skin color and that critics say “DEI hire” in place of using a racial slur against Black people.
On Friday night, Trump adviser Elon Musk weighed in, saying in a post on X that Hershey “is in for a rude awakening.”
On Tuesday, Hershey offered an apology to people who felt demeaned by his remarks.
“I could have made the same points two week ago by being more nuanced and without coming across as being demeaning to anyone,” Hershey said, telling speakers he was “sorry” if they felt demeaned by his “mediocre white men” comments.
After Edmonds’ speech, some board critics urged Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to come to Wake.
“@elonmusk DOGE needs to visit Wake County Public Schools to audit the federal funding they receive and how it is being used,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, tweeted Wednesday on X.
