In a school-wide email, a Virginia high school student was attacked for choosing “racist” Candace Owens as a “Black Trailblazer” for her Black History Month presentation.
Julia Saville was a junior at St. Margaret’s High School in Tappahannock, Virginia. St. Margaret’s is a small school with approximately 107 students in the 8-12th grades. Saville is a chapter leader for Turning Point USA and joined her school’s Black Student Union to diversify her understanding of cultural issues, particularly in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I know that they have a different perspective on things,” Saville told The Daily Wire. “I just wanted to get their perspective and [understand] their experiences on campus.”
The Black Student Union assigned its members to present on “black trailblazers” that have contributed to the black community in honor of Black History Month. The presentations were sent out to the school in honor of black accomplishments. For her part, Saville chose Candace Owens.
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, Saville was scheduled to present on her chosen black trailblazer. When she awoke that morning, she received an email from a classmate condemning Saville for choosing Owens as a “black trailblazer.” The email was sent out to all staff and students at the school.
“I’d like to address some falsified information here… Candace Owens is not someone we should be recognizing today especially during Black History Month when she has done absolutely nothing for the black community … [Owens] was called a racist because she was,” the email read. “Candace Owens openly tried to degrade the struggles of the black community by telling the general public that America is not a racist country and that everyone who believes that it is is trying to divide America.”
The classmate proceeded to reprimand Saville by calling her “disrespectful” for this action.
“I feel as though not only was it disrespectful that you added her to the list of trailblazers, it’s offensive that you sat down, thought about it, researched her, and thought it was okay to do this.”
The email contained a “receipt” which allegedly proves that Owens has not contributed to the black community. The “receipt” was a tweet from Owens in which she said she is not ashamed to support former President Donald Trump.
“Just a quick tweet to remind all of you leftists that I have zero shame about having supported [Donald Trump] for the last four years and I stand unapologetically with every patriot in this country,” Owens tweeted. “Your smears have and will continue to inspire me. I will never be silenced.”
Saville believes that this was an internal club issue that could have been dealt with in other ways; instead, it was blasted to the entire school. She feels she has been labeled a racist for merely sharing the story of a prominent, black woman.
As part of the project, Saville had also chosen three other black Americans to present on including neurosurgeon and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Harriet Tubman. The Black Student Union took no issue with the other choices.
According to Saville, she had a friendly relationship with the student who suggested her choice of focus for the presentation. “We’ve had conversations, nothing political or argumentative,” Saville said. “I wouldn’t say we were friends, but there was no bad blood between us.”
A copy of the presentation obtained by The Daily Wire shows that Saville’s presentation focused on Owen’s faith journey — an appropriate subject for discussion at an Episcopal school — and navigating racist threats and struggles with an eating disorder.
“When Candace was a senior in high school she received three racist death threats that impacted her life forever,” the report reads. “She says she overcame this through prayer and finding God.”
The Saville family told The Daily Wire that no one at the school reached out to them following the incident. Bob Saville, Julia’s father, told The Daily Wire that he spoke with the head of the school in hopes that the school would clarify that his daughter was not a racist.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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