Nex Benedict's death exploited by 'radical leftists,' school's chief says
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 9 months ago • 12 commentsBy: ysteinbuch (New York Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Oklahoma's public schools chief has blasted "radical leftists" for exploiting the death 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict — while stating that he does not believe anyone is really transgender or nonbinary.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters spoke out after many online continue to suggest the student's death is linked to a fight in a school bathroom a day earlier, despite police and school officials saying Benedict's death appears unrelated.
3Oklahoma's public schools chief Ryan Walters said in a new interview that the death 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict is being exploited by "some radical leftists." AP
"I think it's terrible that we've had some radical leftists who decided to run with a political agenda and try to weave a narrative that hasn't been true," Walters told told The New York Times.
"You've taken a tragedy, and you've had some folks try to exploit it for political gain."
Walters said the student's death did not change his views denying people can be nonbinary or transgender.
He does not permit students to use preferred names or pronouns that differ from those assigned at birth.
"There's not multiple genders. There's two. That's how God created us," the 38-year-old Republican told the outlet.
"You always treat individuals with dignity or respect, because they're made in God's image. But that doesn't change truth," Walters told The Times.
"I really see there's a civil war going on, where the left is really fighting for the soul of our country … They are undermining the very principles that made this country great, our Judeo-Christian values and our traditions in this country."
Benedict died a day after getting into a bathroom fight that might have been sparked by bullying about their gender identity, the student's grieving mother said.
A cause of death has not been established, though law enforcement officials said a preliminary report indicated it was not a result of injuries from the assault.
Benedict's family has launched an independent investigation into the teen's death.
3Oklahoma's public schools chief Ryan Walters said in a new interview that the death 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict is being exploited by "some radical leftists." DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
Walters has previously come under fire for his handling of gender issues, including the appointment of Chaya Raichik — best known as Libs of TikTok — to a state committee that considers the appropriateness of school library books despite her outspoken, critical views on LGBTQ issues.
Walters has also been accused of pressuring some educators to resign, including one who mounted a protest over the banning of some books, as well as a principal who performed in drag outside school.
"Ryan Walters has created a devastatingly hostile environment for trans, two-spirit and gender-nonconforming students," Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, which advocates for transgender and gay rights, told The Times.
That has been heightened since Benedict's death, McAfee said.
"I've seen more times than I can count folks share an image that Ryan Walters put out during his campaign of folks in a bathroom with language villainizing trans youth specifically," the executive director said.
Despite his actions, many of his former students admired him as an approachable teacher who welcomed debate.
"Walters would go out of his way to be apolitical," Shane Hood, 22, who took at least three history classes with Walters at McAlester High School, told The Times.
He said that when Walters was a teacher, he gave little indication of his political views - besides displaying large cutouts of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan.
"He was probably a schoolwide favorite," Hood said, adding that Walters' current views did not fit with the teacher he knew in high school.
3Nex Benedict AP
Meanwhile, vigils have been held in Oklahoma and across the US for Benedict.
"I've gone from heartbroken to angry," said a community organizer named Lorena, who urged religious leaders at a gathering Sunday evening in El Paso, Texas, to speak out against discrimination.
"My call to you is to stand up and make it clear that is what is being done should not be done in your god's name," she said. "Stand up and take back your religion from the conservative right."
The girls attacked Benedict for pouring water on them, the teen told police in a video released Friday.
Benedict's mom, Sue Benedict, said she wanted authorities to file charges, according to audio of the call to police.
The officer who responded can be heard in the hospital video explaining that Benedict started the altercation by throwing the water and the court would view it as a mutual fight.
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I think Walters is probably right. In the seeded article, Walters says...
Surely any reporter worth the description would ask the obvious question, "Why do you say the narrative isn't true?", yet we don't see the question or answer in this article.
From an AP article...
Frustratingly, the obvious question was apparently not asked, when this statement was made. Why does the department now say this? Instead, the article spends the rest of the time speaking about this as if it were an LGBTQ issue. It isn't. At least, not primarily.
I'm sure I could find more if I spent the time. What happened to Nex is no more or less egregious than any of these other children's deaths. No more or less egregious than children who died shot by a peer in a mass shooting. I would expect there are countless cases where children suffer serious injuries, possibly affecting them for life, in school fights that we never hear about because they didn't die. Nex's death is sad. I'm sorry that happened to her and even more sorry for the people she leaves behind, but I don't see her death as somehow more sad or pointless than any of the others.
Making this an LGTBQ issue obscures the true problem with violence in the schools. The violence. It can happen for any motive, not simply because of LGTBQ issues.
When I was a student, I can recall that sometimes there was a fight, though certainly not often, but I do not recall a student being killed during all those years. What has happened?
The department has since said Benedict’s death was not a result of injuries suffered in the fight, based on the preliminary results of the autopsy. AP News
Most likely there were deaths, due to accidents during the fight, if nothing else. We just didn't hear about it because we grew up in a time without computers, the internet or social media.
As for what is happening today would take a book to cover sufficiently.
Yes. I'm wondering if there was a pre-existing condition.
Is this the only student death that has occurred in schools this year so far? If a student death had happened back then in the city in which I grew up, even without internet or social news sites, the radio and newspaper stories would have informed the whole city. A rare situation like that would never have gone unnoticed, or considered "common" at the time.
How many times have I begged Scotty to beam me back to the early 1950s?
Seriously?
LMAO!!!! Speaking of exploiting a narrative...
Who is Jose Antonio Ibarra?
A murder suspect.
It's been in the news.
Maybe CNN and MSNBC didn't cover the story.