A School Board member tries to clean up racist remarks after calling a Black Conservative “Token” during a meeting

Last Wednesday, I was writing about a Florida school board representative who used racist language to describe black conservative mothers involved in the parental rights advocacy group Moms for Liberty. After some backlash, she’s trying to correct her comments. But her response doesn’t quite add up.

The issue began with a YouTube video of a meeting among people working for the Beaches Activists Movement. This progressive grassroots group is based in Atlantic Beach. This virtual meeting was organized to protest Moms for Liberty’s opposition of far-leftist ideologies being promoted in schools. This is part of the ongoing national debate about educators exposing students to progressive views on gender, race and sexuality.

Andersen is running for Duval County re-election. She brought up the video of Quisha King who was a conservative black education activist and had worked with Moms for Liberty back then. Tia Bess was also mentioned by Andersen, who is also a volunteer with the organization and a mother of a child with special needs. Andersen stated,

“We know these people are on a speed dial with legislators in order to get legislation passed in the videos and in the photos that Dan shared. She’s a very high-ranking member of Moms for Liberty. Quisha King is April Carney’s opponent. Tia Bess is her counterpart. They often parade her out to show that everyone else is harming children with special needs.

Progressives often use the term “token” to describe black conservatives who disagree with their ideologies. This implies that people of color who support conservative causes will only be used by whites to tokenize them. They see black conservatives as useful tools that are incapable of thinking for themselves.

After being criticised for her comments, Beaches Activists pulled the video off its YouTube channel. It had been downloaded

King responded by recording her own video in which she took issue with Andersen’s remarks and claimed that they were racist.

“Elizabeth. I’m sorry to say that you think Black people cannot think for themselves, have the ability to decide what they believe, or think critically on their terms,” King stated in the video. We need to hear something from white people

“It allowed me to know why you are for critical race theory,” King said, “because the little children should grow up and become racist like you .”

The video was viewed over 55,000 times on Twitter.

During a conversation with Florida Politics, Andersen refers to the racism accusation as a “willful misinterpretation” and part of a “desperate, last minute smear campaign” to deflect from the “radical and extreme politics” of April Carney, who is challenging her for her seat.

Andersen tried to clarify her comments, stating that she was talking about how children with special needs are used as political pawns.

” The movement to overthrow our School Boards, inject political politics into school board decisions and create a political agenda has a history of exploiting children with special needs. She stated that this was her clear point.

But, Andersen’s rejoinder is problematic. In the video, she clearly says, “they will sort of parade her (emphasis added) out as a token person.”

This seems to suggest that she was referring to Bess’ child being exploited. But there is one problem. Bess’ child is not a boy. It was Bess, and not her child that she clearly meant.

Even if Andersen was right, the idea of a tiny child being referred to as “tokens” doesn’t make it any better.

In response to the allegations of racism, Andersen appeared to deflect by bringing up the riot at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021:

“This is nothing but a desperate last-minute smear campaign designed to distract from my opponent’s extreme and radical politics, which are out of place on the Duval school board. My years of child advocacy and community action speaks for itself — the real question is my opponent’s dishonesty over her whereabouts on January 6 and what that says about her decision-making.”

It is hard to believe Andersen at this stage. She chose not to apologize or say she was wrong, but instead she offered a weak excuse for her comments. This is the norm for those on the left that practice the kind of racism they hate. This begs the question: Would Duval County allow someone like this to decide about their children’s education?

Note: Quisha King is in a relationship with this author.