by Katie Larsen
Rashad Turner, a former leader of St. Paul’s Black Lives Matter chapter, said he resigned from the organization because it does not help black communities.
In a video released by Take Charge Minnesota, Turner spoke out about his decision to leave the Black Lives Matter movement. Take Charge Minnesota is an initiative led by Kendall Qualls, a former Republican candidate for Congress.
According to Turner, Black Lives Matter does not address a root issue within black communities — family structures. Instead, the group has worked to further degrade the concept of the nuclear family and is not interested in promoting quality education for young African Americans, according to Turner.
The Minneapolis native attended Hamline University for his undergrad and then earned a master’s from St. Mary’s University. Wanting to support Minnesota’s black community, he helped launch St. Paul’s Black Lives Matter chapter in 2015. One year after its inception, Turner began seeing faults within the organization.
“After a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families, and they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis,” Turner says in the video.
“That was made clear when they publicly denounced charter schools alongside the teachers union. I was an insider in Black Lives Matter. And I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family. But it does create barriers to a better education for black children,” he continues.
Today, Turner works to provide black children with a better education and help them lead lives of success. He currently serves as the president and executive director of the Minnesota Parent Union.
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Katie Larsen is an intern with Alpha News.
Photo “Rashad Turner” by TakeCharge Minnesota.
