In a lecture following the protests and vandalism in the nation’s Capitol, Mount Carmel high school teacher Kevin Quirk called out Republicans and his class’s white privilege.
Quirk said the result would have been different had the action been undertaken by minorities.
“I just can't help but think that the response by police would have been different had those marchers been black. So, again, another example of white privilege and racism in our country. It is just absolutely sad. It is shameful,” Quirk said to students.
Quirk, a faculty member since 2019 and the school’s sophomore basketball coach, characterized Republicans as “crazy and “terrorists”.
“Some crazy Republicans have again tried to accuse Antifa of being responsible for this. There is no evidence of that. It is false, blatantly false. It was a right wing Republican terrorists who were attacking our nation's capital,” Quirk said.
Last year, Quirk made a politically charged post to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Facebook page regarding “conservative justices” on the U.S. Supreme Court
He put the blame for the attack squarely on Republicans.
“It is the result of the four years plus that the Republican Party has spent lying to their base and whipping them up into a frenzy. All of this reinforces the importance of this class and what we are doing here,” Quirk said. “Whatever your political affiliations, it is important that you have the ability to determine what is credible information and what is not.”
Despite his demand for “truth” in one part of the lecture Quirk incorrectly invoked Jacob Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, Wis.
“BLM walks down the streets peacefully protesting and the cops attack us, Jacob Blake get shot seven times in the back for opening his car door,” Quirk said.
The shooting of Blake was found to be justified by an independent arbitrator two days prior to the lecture.
AM 560 radio show host Dan Proft played and discussed the clip on his show this morning.
Quirk’s lecture is available on YouTube.
The school, located on Chicago’s Southside has only 600 students, 50 percent of which identify as white.
See the transcript of the lecture below:
...a trial by combat to determine who the president is going to be in which Don Junior said, and I quote, he said this to the Senate, to Congress, said, we're coming for you. And Mr. Trump rather directly told his people not to back down and to fight to the bitter end. After this this rally, these people proceeded on to the Capitol, invaded the Capitol, broke through security lines, attacked police officers and tried to interrupt the counting of the votes as if they thought they could stop it. So that is sedition is what went on there. Sedition and treason. It is anti-American. It is undemocratic, and it is an attack on all of us and our nation. Some people have tried to put forth the wild. Some crazy Republicans have again tried to accuse Antifa of being responsible for this. There is no evidence of that. It is false, blatantly false. It was a right wing Republican terrorists who were attacking our nation's capital. Now, if I'm an African-American, if I am a Latino and I'm sitting and I'm watching what happened there, I am thinking, what the hell? BLM walks down the streets peacefully protesting and the cops attack us, Jacob Blake gets shot seven times in the back for opening his car door. And yet these people attack the Capitol, break through lines, literally pepper spray police officers. And we have one who is shot, three others who apparently got heart attacks. I read a story. I need to look into that more. And the police had to use their kid gloves. And I think there's like 50 people arrested. I just can't help but think that the response by police would have been different had had those marchers been had those riders been black. So, again, another example of white privilege and racism in our country. It is just absolutely sad. It is shameful. And it is the result of the four years plus that the Republican Party has spent lying to their base and whipping them up into a frenzy. All of this reinforces the importance of this class and what we are doing here. Whatever your political affiliations, it is important that you have the ability to determine what is credible information and what is not. As we saw yesterday, Mr. Trump and his allies were able to spin and get the water bottle out of the way. The camera Mr. Trump and his allies were able to convince these people through lies to attack their own country. And none of the things that they've been saying are true they are completely lies. But the people who follow them believe them blindly and do not take the time to check whether or not the informaton is true. People who are entirely deceived and are now so deceived that they are attacking their own country. So these kinds of things cannot be accepted. And it is my job to, regardless of your party, help you at least become literate enough that you can determine what is true, what is not, OK. So that's what happened yesterday. And today we're trying to pick up the pieces.
Alerts Sign-up