O’Hair and her son William challenged the Baltimore Public Schools’ practice of morning prayer, leading ultimately to the 1963 Supreme Court decision in Abingdon School District vs. Schempp that outlawed school-sponsored prayer nationwide.
The breakdown of moral values in public schools began with the removal of classroom prayer, Amanchukwu, a pastor-turned-school-activist, said on Washington Watch Monday.
“We’ve gone from prayer [in school] to kids coming to school now saying that they are an animal, so they get to bring a litter box to school to be a cat,” Amanchukwu told show host Jody Hice.
O’Hair’s argument was with a simple prayer that began: “Almighty God. We acknowledge our dependence upon thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country.”
That loss is the reason for the snowball effect prevalent in public education today, Amanchukwu said.
“We’ve gone from prayer to porn," he argued, "from prayer to transgenderism being pushed upon kids, from prayer to Critical Race Theory, where whites are being told that because of their pigmentation, they are racist, and blacks are being told they’re proverbial victims.”
Amanchukwu has witnessed those problems up close after standing before defiant school boards all across the country. Often invited by irate parents, he uses the public speaking time to shame school board members for replacing Christian morals with "tolerance" and "diversity."
The damage being done can be reversed, he says, but only if parents stand up for the truth and confront local school district leaders.
Amanchukwu is working to encourage and equip parents to do just that with free resources available at IKnowGod.US.
In addition, his film “22 Words” was released last week and explores the loss of decency in American education. It’s available at 22wordsfilm.com.
“I am arming parents around the country, developing them, teaching them how to write speeches, being able to contend for the honor of their child. It’s up to the Church in this hour to speak up,” he said.
Woke pastors are part of the problem
Sadly, the Church has failed, according to Amanchukwu. “To me, pastors have become woke. Too many pastors are more beholden to the donkey [i.e., the Democratic Party] than they are the cross. They have failed to defend the sacred honor of our children. Our children are on loan to the parents by God -- not to the government school system,” he said.
Amanchukwu has spoken against Critical Race Theory, Gender Theory and Queer Theory in 15 different states.
“There are three take-aways that I have. No. 1, perverts are perverting the hearts and minds of our children. No. 2, parents are unaware, and sadly, No. 3, the Christian church, in particular pastors, have failed to do their jobs,” he said.
It’s not a message local officials are eager to receive.
Last week, Amanchukwu was arrested, handcuffed and escorted away from a meeting of the Wake County, North Carolina, school board, the local district for his hometown of Wake Forest, a Raleigh suburb.
The arrest came after Amanchukwu refused to leave the podium and sought to continue speaking past his allotted three minutes.
He attended the board meeting in support of a local high school student, Lorena Benson, but also because the board had failed to fully implement the requirements of HB 49, the North Carolina Parental Bill of Rights, passed by the state legislature in February 2023.
“Lorena Benson came to the Wake County School Board meeting about two weeks ago and talked about a situation that took place in class where she was forced to read from a short story that was rather pornographic and incestuous. Then they had to discuss that in class,” Amanchukwu told the board.
In his remaining time, Amanchukwu addressed the Bill of Rights and told board members he would not step away until each one of them was arrested “for not standing up for truth and guarding the freedoms of the students in that district.”
Justice for some not all
Not one school board member stood up for Benson, who is now enrolled in another school district, Amanchukwu said.
“We want justice for the trans students who have a mental illness, but we give no justice to children across the board. You want to know why you all don’t give justice to everyone? Because you lie about diversity, equity and inclusion. DEI is the ultimate black face. You say it’s about negroes and black people, but it’s really about pushing a trans agenda. And guess what? Since you like to break laws, since you won’t give Lorena Benson justice, when this clock hits three minutes, I’m not going anywhere,” he told board members.
School board chair Chris Heagarty told The Raleigh News and Observer that the board has violated no laws. He called Amanchukwu’s appearance a “publicity stunt.”
Amanchukwu says his documentary “will expose you to what has happened in the past and what we can do right now in the present.”
