Parents fuming over controversial commencement speech
June 21, 2021 | Virginia
Fairfax County School Board At-large Member Abrar Omeish has been making headlines for her June 7 commencement speech at Justice High School, and not in a good way.
In the past few days the speech was covered by The Daily Mail, FOXNews, Apple News and the Washington Examiner just to name a few.
Omeish campaigned for Bernie Sanders and her father [Esam] was a “leader and board member of the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center” said a member of Justice’s student council in his introduction.
Omeish’s keynote address started off innocuously by congratulating the graduates, before it quickly turned controversial with racial and class-based nuances. Omeish suggested that Justice High School is sitting on land stolen from Manahoac people. According to the Stafford County Museum’s website, the Manahoac were a small group Siouan-speaking Indians who occupied an area above the Rappahannock fall-line to the Blue Ridge Mountains…
(Excerpts from Fairfax County Times)
