Michigan lawmaker: 'We will not let hate win'

A Michigan state senator's forceful response to a partisan 'grooming' attack has resurfaced on the web as she launches a run for the U.S. Senate next year. 

In the 2022 incident, Republican Sen. Lana Theis accused Democrat Mallory McMorrow of wanting to “groom” and “sexualize” kindergartners and teach “that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery.”

McMorrow's response (in the NBC story linked below) went viral:

“I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom” who wants “every kid to feel seen, heard and supported — not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white and Christian,” she said.

McMorrow later said of her remarks and the attack that prompted them: "Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen. I won't"

McMorrow announced last month that she will run for the open Senate seat in Michigan next year, a race that could help decide control of the Senate.

More from McMorrow's speech:

"So who am I? I am a straight white Christian, married suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense.

"No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery, but each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history, each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us. We are not responsible for the past.

"We also cannot change the past. We can't pretend that it didn't happen or deny people their very right to exist. 

"I am a straight white Christian married suburban mom. I want my daughter to know that she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. I want her to be curious, and empathetic, and kind. People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession.

"I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian. We cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to scapegoat and deflect from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people's lives. And I know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.

"So I want to be very clear right now. Call me whatever you want. I hope you brought in a few dollars. I hope it made you sleep good last night. I know who I am. I know what faith and service means and what it calls for in this moment.

"We will not let hate win."

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/michigan-lawmakers-forceful-speech-rebuts-grooming-attack-rcna25365

- John Strauss

Why support NPR? Let public radio CEO Katherine Maher explain

Taking support for NPR stations across the country would hurt communities most in need of reliable news and information, Katherine Maher says—even in a time when there are already so many sources of “news.”

“There's a very big difference between disseminating the news and gathering the news,” she says.

“And what we do is we do news gathering. It allows for people to then be able to come in and add their spin and their commentary on it. 

"So I have no problem with TikTok influencers or other people resharing that news. I think that's actually great. But we want them to have credible sources of news to begin with, to be able to base that work on.”

Maher, speaking on The Daily Show this week about the administration’s plan to defund public broadcasting, said the big misconception is that this money goes to NPR or PBS alone.

“The reality is that the vast majority of funds in public broadcasting go directly to local stations … and that really matters, especially when you get into rural parts of the country. So I was in Asheville, North Carolina, recently, (which suffered) as we all know, devastating damage in Hurricane Helene. They have enormous radio towers that broadcast across that topography, because it's the Appalachian Mountains.”

The same is true in Eastern Kentucky and the Rocky Mountains. NPR stations cover 99.7% of the country, “and that allows for Americans to have access to news, even in places where news deserts are growing, where disasters happen. That's what your federal funds go to. They go to your local station, they go to your local reporters.”

Twenty percent of Americans live in places where they have no local news coverage other than public radio, Maher said.

“What that means is that when we lose public funding, we are no longer going to be able to cover things like what matters in the statehouse. We're not going to be able to cover natural disasters. We're not going to be able to cover issues in local politics, issues of what's happening in your local sports team.”

Local news, and public radio in particular, benefits everyone because the service contributes to lower rates of polarization, higher rates of civic engagement, and higher rates of civic trust, she said.

“This is foundational infrastructure for our country, even when we disagree. This is the sort of thing that can start to peel some of those disagreements and bring us back together.”

NPR and its member stations have some of the best journalists in the business, reporting on topics of immediate concern nationally and in communities across the country.

“I think we need to be able to bring more voices onto our air and have folks in conversation about the policies that are being made in this country today. We need to be able to hear from policymakers from across the spectrum.”

Critics will accuse NPR of liberal bias, though the network makes a point of inviting guests from across the political spectrum.

“What I love about our mission and our mandate is that it's actually our responsibility to try to serve everyone,” Maher said. “No other commercial media organization has that same mandate. They can hyper-serve a particular audience, and that contributes to polarization. It's actually our job to bring folks together…”

“Another criticism that we see is that, you know, we're too ‘woke,’ she said.

“The reality is, this is a very diverse nation, and our mandate under the Public Broadcasting Act is to serve everyone, including the unserved and the underserved, and we can't pull away from that either. We have to be able to represent America in all of its diversity, even when that makes us sometimes uncomfortable.”

- John Strauss