RED LIES: Students “Segregated” for Lack of COVID Vaccine

Have you heard about the students at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis who were segregated from their classmates because they lacked the covid vaccine? No?

That’s because it didn’t happen! But don’t you worry, conspiracy theorists like Micah Beckwith won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. Micah Beckwith is a “pastor” running on the Republican ticket to be Indiana’s next Lt. Governor. Not only is he woefully to be a pastor, is is even ore unqualified to be a public servant.

In the last week of August, Beckwith shared a post from Hoosiers for Medical Liberty that falsely claimed parents’ rights were violated when students were “segregated” from their classmates because they didn’t have the covid vaccine.

(Let’s just appreciate for a moment that these people actually know the word “segregated.” It’s unfortunate they can’t apply the word to any situation outside of their own fabricated persecution, but at least it’s in their vocabulary.)

True to form, Beckwith did no investigation, no fact-checking, and because it’s Facebook, he just clicked “post” and relinquished any responsibility for what came next.

Further information from Franklin Central parents indicates this issue was likely related to a meningitis vaccine for which some students lacked proof or lacked proper exemption paperwork. Parents were notified via email and phone weeks in advance of their students’ status.

When parents of Franklin Central students hopped into Beckwith’s comments to share what actually happened and urge Beckwith to correct the narrative, Beckwith doubled-down accusing parents of being “cool with medical segregation based on vaccination status.”

This situation is a perfect example of why people like Beckwith, Mike Braun, Todd Rokita, Jim Banks, Donald Trump, among others, are unfit for public office. They lack the critical thinking skills and humility to take in new information and act accordingly. They see spreading misinformation and disinformation as their duty, their highest calling to create confusion and stoke fear in the people they seek to represent.

Despite what it says on the ballot, this November, Americans are not choosing between Republicans and Democrats, they are choosing between rational people and conspiratorial, Christian-nationalists who should return to their positions on the fringes on our society.

-C