316
submitted 8 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

An Oklahoma high school student was beaten by peers and subsequently died earlier this month.

Now, many online are saying that their death is emblematic of transphobic rhetoric promulgated by the state’s Secretary of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, who oversees the state’s Department of Education.

Chaya Raichik, who runs the controversial @LibsOfTikTok X account, is also being blamed.

Raichik was appointed to the State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee in January by Walters.

On Feb. 7, Nex Benedict was beaten by three older, female peers at Owasso High School, where Benedict was a sophomore. A teacher broke up the altercation, but school authorities did not call an ambulance for Benedict. They did, however, go to the hospital that day and were later released.

Benedict died after a second trip to the hospital the next day. They were non-binary.

Many are positing that Benedict’s death was the result of a hate crime motivated, they say in part, by the anti-trans rhetoric Walters peddled as the head of the state’s top official in charge of education.

all 37 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 61 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I assume Raichik has already posted her congratulations to the murderers. And I also assume the if she did, Twitter wouldn't do shit about it. Who knows, maybe even Elon would respond with "this is true" like he did with the guy who said that Jews are oppressing white people.

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 55 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

And wherever there was a ‘deserving’ Party member and no other place could be found for him, he would be dumped into education. The Nazi ‘educators’ were illiterate, from Rust, the Minister of Education, on down. They did not know what they wanted or where to find it. Putting ignorant ‘reliables,’ from politics or business, over the educators was also part of the Nazi way of humiliating education and bringing it into popular contempt.

-They Thought They Were Free- The Germans, 1933 -45

I know I don't have to tell you, but it's not a coincidence; it's a plan.

The GOP is a fascist party.

[-] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 48 points 8 months ago

Because of course this happened in Oklahoma...

It's the only place I've ever been to that had two story single wide trailers... In tornado alley. That's the level of sophistication we're talking about here.

How can you expect ignorant hayseeds to comprehend the nuances of something like identity? The Native Americans they slaughtered while holding a Bible had two-spirit people, but that fact, no matter how well you prove it, will not stop them from hating and killing anyone that doesn't wave their Bible, twist it into a cudgel, and use it to beat people down.

[-] SaintWacko@midwest.social 25 points 8 months ago

As an Oklahoman... It's even worse than you think. Walters is just straight up, cartoonishly evil. Every action he takes has absolutely nothing to do with the needs of the schools or the children, and instead is just designed to upset the LiBeRaLs as much as possible. We had an amazing superintendent, and Walters and his ilk forced her out after making her life and job miserable, and, as you may be able to tell, I'm still not over it. I wouldn't cross the street to piss on him if he were on fire.

[-] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 15 points 8 months ago

I was in Lawton for boot camp in 2001 and that brief amount of time was entirely too long.

I lived in Florida for a good portion of my life and if you can believe it, they're worse. Just terrible people that think they can be assholes without consequence. Seems like the South is just full of people who will look you in the eye to tell you what great "Christians" they are while simultaneously being the worst people they can be. And they're loud as fuck about it.

I'm gay and I can't even be "out" because I would lose my job and likely my apartment and maybe worse. I don't know of a State within traveling distance that isn't full of homophobes that are just itching to kill the LGBTQ, especially my trans brothers and sisters.

All I can do is point out the hypocrisy and that isn't even worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe one day "live and let live" will mean something again, but it won't come from the American South.

[-] Maeve@kbin.social 4 points 8 months ago

It’s not even the whole Bible, kjv 1611, Ethiopian, Qumran. Egypt, Sumerian but sure, one god, love blah blah.

[-] don@lemm.ee 23 points 8 months ago

Bet money the three murderers won’t face appropriate punishment.

[-] Maeve@kbin.social 14 points 8 months ago

Take a good look at this individual. Do they look like they could take ten minutes of what they do or invite on others? That’s what a bully is, even (maybe especially) they can fight. What a wimp.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

What happened was quite disgusting. Glad it is being called out now.

A teenager died for this.

[-] Mathprogrammer1@sh.itjust.works 11 points 8 months ago

Reading this, I thought this would have happened in some small town in the middle of nowhere. This attack happened in Owasso. That's only twenty minutes from me. How could this have happened so close?

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

~~There's a typo in the title btw - ties => "dies". Not that that is the most important thing, but in case it helps make the post easier for people to read and digest.~~

[-] sizzler@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Don't think that is a typo. He has ties to the libs of tiktok account.

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 5 points 8 months ago

Oh... that's what I get for reading it while half asleep. Thank you for explaining, I appreciate you!:-)

[-] SaintWacko@midwest.social 2 points 8 months ago

It's not a typo. Walters did not die, unfortunately

this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
316 points (98.2% liked)

politics

19138 readers
4179 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS