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FIRST ON FOX: A top NAACP official in Cleveland, Ohio was captured on video explaining how her organization will be giving “justice” awards to school board members in the state who openly defy the Trump administration’s federal push to ban DEI in schools.
“We have some school board members all over the country, but especially in Ohio, we have school board members who understand what their job is and that’s to put students first and so some school board members in Ohio have defied that, what I call, an immoral suggestion from the president, to sign anti-DEI, anti Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion directives,” Meryl Johnson, NAACP Cleveland education committee chair, said during a Teach Truth Day of Action briefing earlier this month in Zoom footage obtained by Ohio.News.
“And so at our Teach Truth Day of Action, we’re calling it a finding joy teach-in, we are going to be giving what we call Guardian of Justice Awards to school board members who stood up and said no, we’re not signing that. Who believe that their students are the most important thing and that they are going to look out for their students because that’s their job.”
Several school districts in Ohio have joined districts across the country in signing a statement to the federal government stating that they are not complying with “illegal DEI practices,” Fox News Digital previously reported, likely assuring they are not at risk of losing federal funding as part of Trump’s executive orders prohibiting DEI. Other districts have not and are being praised by the NAACP for that action.
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The NAACP will host, along with the Zinn Education Project, its Teach Truth Day of Action on June 7 and as part of its promotion of the event, has advertised the award given to “Ohio school board members who refused to sign the anti-DEI pledge.”
“So, I’m wearing the pin now,” Johnson said on the Zoom call. “I hope you can see it, it’s the Guardian of Justice award. We’re going to be giving awards to school board members along with a certificate. So long we have three districts that are going to be showing up, including Cincinnati, Shaker Heights school district, and the Cleveland Heights, University Heights district. They are going to come to our event on June 7, and we’re going to hold onto the awards and as we continue to hear from more school board members we will mail them their Guardian of Justice Awards and certificates.”
“We want to encourage people, don’t be intimidated, don’t be afraid, okay? We have a democracy to protect and it’s our job to do that.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the NAACP and Zinn Education Project for comment.
“As a mother, an attorney, and Ohioan, I am appalled by this disturbing new video showing Meryl Johnson, a representative of the NAACP Cleveland, openly encouraging school board members to defy a binding executive order aimed at eliminating divisive DEI mandates from our classrooms,” attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital.
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“This is not just reckless—it’s a direct attack on our children’s future.”
The Trump Department of Education has warned state education departments in all 50 states that they must remove diversity, equity and inclusion policies or risk losing federal funding if not in compliance with Trump’s previous executive orders.
In January, Trump issued the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” executive order, which prohibits K-12 schools from teaching materials considered anti-American or promoting “gender ideology” and critical race theory. The order mandates that law enforcement investigate educational institutions suspected of promoting such content and criminally prosecute educators who assist in the social transition of minors.
“Defying federal law puts critical funding—like Title I for disadvantaged students and IDEA for children with disabilities—at serious risk,” Cooke told Fox News Digital. “That money isn’t political, it’s essential. It keeps the lights on in struggling schools, pays for reading intervention, and supports the very students DEI ideologues claim to protect. Pulling that rug out just to virtue signal is sheer negligence in my book.”
“This isn’t about equity—it’s about control. And playing politics with children’s education is a guaranteed path to generational failure. It’s time to hold every defiant district accountable: strip their funding, notify parents, and demand a return to academics—not activism—in our schools.”
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