Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has recently started an initiative to expand the conservative advocacy group, Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) Club America into Nebraska High Schools, mandating that all will have a chapter of TPUSA. We believe that this approach is unnecessary, and no political party should be pushed towards students by the state themselves.
TPUSA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk, aims to push and teach conservative American ideology to high school students. The main issues we have with the movement are its association with religion, as religion and government institutions should be separate, and the discrimination and hate speech that surrounds them.
While Pillen’s plans for the initiative are vague, we can predict the outcome when it comes to what we have seen from the rest of TPUSA’s work.
The separation of church and state is a concept developed upon the first amendment’s establishment clause. The idea being that the government should not sponsor any religion.
TPUSA, being associated with Christian conservative movements brings up the possibility they would introduce arguments assisted by religion, rather than politics, logic or precedent.
Kirk himself was a Christian, and on the TPUSA website, he is associated with verses from the bible, and his book, “Stop, in the Name of God” is advertised on that same website.
Another major concern with the push for this advocacy group is the rise of and support of discrimination, racism and hate speech.
Crystal Clanton, a leader in the TPUSA organization has been alleged to have texted another TPUSA employee, “I hate black people. Like f*** them all … I hate blacks. End of story.”
TPUSA’s association with racism is ever reaching, from Kirk’s twitter posts implicating a “Islamic takeover of America” and advocating for hate speech as protected by the first amendment.
The organization is also associated with misogyny, homophobia and transphobia.
“Every ill we are fighting right now in society has been brought forth by women,” Former TPUSA director Candace Owens said.
It should be noted that any group of students and sponsors can start a Club America chapter at their school. Neither Benson nor OPS discriminate on what types of political or religious clubs can be started.
All a new club needs are to fill out a form for a new club proposal, containing the club’s goals, meeting times, staff sponsor and 10 interested members. The lack of chapters only implies disinterest, and the issue with the initiative is that the state is starting it, rather than the students.
Overall, Club America’s governor sponsored expansion into Nebraska schools seems both foundationally flawed and actively harmful to our student body.
15.2% of K-12 students in the Omaha Public School system were not born in the United States. 85% of our school’s enrollment are minority students. The protection and safety of our students should be our utmost priority, and Turning Point USA’s discriminatory associations can dangerously affect our school.
We do not just have to sit by and watch the fallout of this initiative. Any student against the mandating of Club America chapters in OPS can and should look up their governor or local politicians’ public contacts and encourage them to stand against the policy.
