Tuesday, April 30, 2013

OWS Protester Stands Strong with ERHS Black Panther Commemoration

Remember this dramatic video from the 2011 OWS protests?


Robert L. Stephens at OWS in DC in 2011


Heart-wrenching, isn't it? So, so sad, even though when one digs into Robert L. Stephens' story a little more deeply as The Blaze did, one would discover that Robert Stephens graduated from Carleton College (average cost: $42,942/year) in 2010 and now studies law at The George Washington University Law School (average cost: $70,449/year). 

And who could forget Glenn Beck's follow-up on this man's "story"? 

Glenn Beck outs Robert L. Stephens' lies


The Blaze was the first major news organization to dig into Robert L Stephen's dramatic fabrications:

There’s just one problem: Robert Stephens’ story is (surprise!) completely bogusHis father has a Ph.D. and two master’s degrees; his mother also has a master’s degree.
Phone inquiries into the county property records & taxpayer services office reveal that the Stephens family home is not and never has been in foreclosure, that property taxes had been paid in full this year and the remaining balance on their mortgage for the half-million dollar home is less than one year’s worth of tuition+fees at their son’s law school.

The nail in this empty protest’s coffin is a delightful phone conversation I just had with Robert’s mother, Marquita, where she admitted Chase Bank indeed was not “taking” their home from them. Instead, due to a recent “reduction in income,” they’ve decided to hold a “short sale.”    ~ Meredith Jessup
After that story broke and Robert L. Stephens was exposed for the big-time street actor that he is, one would think that he would go back to George Washington University and finish his education.  But, that apparently wasn't his plan.  A few weeks ago Robert L. Stephens decided to delve into the issues happening back in his hometown: good ol' Woodbury, Minnesota, where Robert had graduated from Woodbury High School back in 2006.  The Black Panther Announcement at East Ridge High School in Woodbury proved to big for Robert to not comment on: in a letter to the Woodbury Bulletin: I appreciate the students and teacher that decided to share the poem and explain the Panthers’ complex historical significance over East Ridge’s intercom. 

Later that week, Roberts' mother, Marquita also joined in her support of the Black Panther announcement at the March 21, 2013 school board meeting, where she read Robert's letter to the editor and then discussed how she supports the ERHS administration encouraging the reading, but also how the school district could do better with integrating all Americans' history into the curriculum (a point on which we may agree):
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It strikes me as somewhat ironic that Robert L. Stephens denigrates Woodbury High School with a few of his remarks in his letter to the editor, for example: In a high school climate where I experienced racial antagonism from both students and teachers... This rings hollow when one considers that the high school where he seems to have experienced terrible hardships is the same high school that prepared him well enough scholastically to be accepted into Carleton College - not exactly the easiest school in Minnesota to get into.  Robert also mentions being one of the few Black males in Woodbury High School’s class of 2006; as reported by The Minnesota Department of Education, in 2006, 20% of WHS's student population were minority students, and this year that number has increased to 25% (with WHS also ranking 16th in U.S. News & World Reports Top High Schools in Minnesota list, well ahead of the 36th ranked East Ridge High School).


At the last school board meeting on April 25, 2013, five community members stood up and spoke to the board about the Black Panther Announcement at East Ridge High School.  Three people were, once again, asking the board to investigate the matter, while two people, who happened to show up late and just "decide" to speak - with nothing prepared, (hmmmm Barb Brown, did you maybe make a couple of phone calls when you saw the topic on which Linda Stanton, Gary and Susan Richardson were addressing the school board that evening?) but who just wanted to show their support for the district's handling of the matter. One of the two supporters was again Marquita Stephens, who again voiced her support of the school district's handling of the East Ridge High School issue.  


As Meredith Jessup said so eloquently,   Only in America could a kid have been blessed with so much… and only in America could he still claim to be a victim. America’s capitalist society has apparently leveled a grave injustice against his family and Robert will not stand for it...  


Apparently, instead of moving away from the too conservative Woodbury, Ms. Stephens has set about opposing all those crazy conservatives instead.  (Watch for a future blog post on how, if she and others critical of the concerned parents would actually LISTEN to those parents, she and the others would actually find that they agree on more within this issue than they disagree...)


UPDATE: This story has been picked up by Meredith Jessup and The Blaze! 

Check out: INFAMOUS OWS ACTIVIST TAKES HIS PROTEST HOME


More information on this issue:



VIDEO: BECK RESPONDS TO LIBERAL PROTESTER’S FICTITIOUS SOB STORY

What If?
The Black Panthers were Unabashedly Marxist

Updated May 2, 2013 1:39pm



UPDATED 4:35pm, 4/30/2013 

1 comment:

  1. Woodburyvine must be going crazy with her emails to the District. How will they deflect blame this time? Will Barb Brown be able to control the damage? After reading your emails to the District, you might want to consider another form of communication like phone calls or morris code.

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