North Carolina progressive activist LaTarndra Strong founded Hate-Free Schools Coalition, “a grassroots alliance of community members and groups working toward racial equity in public schools and communities throughout the nation.”  Strong collaborated with Orange County School Board members to ban Confederate symbols, rename schools, and craft equity policies claiming “to dismantle educational oppression.”  A recent article in The Assembly reports that Strong remains a member of the district equity task force. 

Strong was arrested on September 5, 2023.  On March 18^th, she gave a bottle containing alcohol to her five-month-old foster child.  According to the police report, Strong:

…[left] the baby in the care of adults who were not physically or mentally capable of providing emergency care to the baby, when the baby became unresponsive and was not able to breathe and by failing to call 911 to get care for the baby which resulted in life saving emergency care to be delayed due to the baby having a high level of alcohol in its system from a bottle made by the defendant…

Now Strong has been charged with felony child abuse.  Released on a $10,000 bond, Strong’s next court date is October 20.  The infant’s current condition is unknown.

For the past several years, radical progressives in North Carolina placed Strong and her mission to eradicate any symbol she deemed racist on a pedestal.  Strong received a Newsmaker of the Year award from the Triangle Tribune for her “leadership in the fight against racist symbols.”   The UNC School of Education hosted Strong on a panel about political climate effects on public education.  The Chapel Hill news outlet, Chapelboro.com, named the activist a “Hometown Hero.”  Until her arrest, she had been president of the local NAACP chapter and a board member of the Orange County Partnership for Young Children, a Smart Start agency that collaborates with the state to advise on issues of childcare and education to pre-K children.

Progressive politicians also championed Strong.  NC state senator and founder of Education Equity Collaborative Greg Meyer tweeted support for Strong and her Hate-Free Schools Coalition, urging donations to her organization.  Hate-Free Schools sponsored racial equity training for high school students, who then received honors from Governor Roy Cooper.

Strong’s personal life was hardly a bastion of innocence before the felony child abuse charge.  The progressive activist’s history included multiple court appearances for driving without a license or insurance, a worthless check charge, and apparent rental disputes.  A local newsmagazine acknowledged these red flags, but endorsed her anyway when she ran for Orange County School Board in 2020. 

Strong was not elected; however, she acted as a shadow board member directly influencing education policy.  In November 2021, the Orange County School Board invited Strong to speak at a Community Engagement Committee Meeting.  She discussed the privilege afforded to white, male Christians.  Public records prove Strong actively advised the school board chair on land acknowledgements and racial violence resolutions despite board policy prohibiting influence by special interest groups.  An email I sent to the board of education requesting a comment on its current relationship with Strong has gone unanswered. 

Over a short period of time, Strong’s original mission to rid schools of Confederate flags escalated into a tyrannical march to equity.  Today painted murals of LGBTQ symbols and black power fists line the halls of Orange County high schools.  Giant BLM flags fly in the face of residents who attend school board meetings.  Hate-Free Schools targeted a school board candidate over a small Trump campaign donation, harassing him online until he dropped out of the race.  Strong’s colleague and former school board chair Hillary Mackenzie accused parents who disagreed with her opinions of “Fascism!” and publicly faulted fellow board members for “unconscious bias.” 

Those concerned about the direction of the American education system repeatedly ask how our society reached this point.  Quite simply, an equitable world as defined by modern-day leftism celebrates those who use “lived experiences” to coerce the population into programs of subjective reallocation and fairness: no questions allowed.  LaTarndra Strong’s story exemplifies progressive methodology and its consequences.

Victor Davis Hanson writes, “[Progressivism] is a cruel creed, a faith-based ideology that allows no apostasies.”  As such, progressive elites rely on bullies to promote their agenda.  While upholding LaTarndra Strong as a moral beacon, her community ignored the red flags in the activist’s past and her intimidation tactics, using her to advance policies of forced outcomes and universal liberation.  Ultimately the most innocent and vulnerable are trampled by this strategy.  In this case, it happened to be a five-month-old foster child.

Image: Orange County Sheriff's Office