Video has surfaced showing a Board of Education member shove a citizen during a heated debate in Gastonbury, Connecticut about whether the word “tomahawk” is racist. After being shoved, the man then punched the Board of Education member, leaving him laying on the floor.
The Board of Education member, Ray McFall, is seen squaring up to another man, identified as a citizen attending the meeting, in the video. While both of the men continue yelling at each other, at times only inches away, McFall appears to shove the citizen.
At this point the man “violently” punched McFall, as described by a local news anchor.
Apparently, the debate grew heated when parents questioned the district’s 2020 decision to replace a tomahawk logo used by the school over allegations of racism.
A petition had been created to restore the logo, with proponents saying their voices were not heard in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic allowing the Board of Education to restrict public comment.
According to The Gateway Pundit, the school mascot was also up for debate.
“The meeting was set to debate dropping the school’s new team name, ‘the Guardians,'” wrote Cassandra Fairbanks, “And bring back the previous name ‘the Tomahawks,’ which was deemed insensitive by some.”
Gastonbury police apparently told WFSB that the investigation is ongoing, but no charges have been filed.
School boards have become the subject of nationwide focus amid a renewed interest from parents in their children’s education that seems to have been sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic leading to virtual education.
Parents across the United States were shocked to learn that their students are learning a curriculum founded using the theoretical lens known as Critical Race Theory, which conservatives have called radically racist and divisive.
Many pundits have suggested that the ongoing national education debate is what secured statewide Republican victories in Virginia last month, and have warned that it may spell disaster for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
