Michigan GOP gubernatorial hopeful Tudor Dixon slams woke school district’s 'Equity Challenge'

A leading Republican challenger to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is laying out a pro-economic, pro-parent agenda for next year's election while lacing into a Detroit area school district that declared that calling America a land of opportunity is an offensive "micro-aggression."

Tudor Dixon, a small businesswoman, mother of four and former TV host, said the "21 Day Equity Challenge" recently sponsored by the Farmington Public School District that promoted Black Lives Matters and dissed American economic opportunity was a "very calculated" form of liberal manipulation of students. 

“One of the things that we're running on in this state is bringing back the American dream.” Dixon told Just the News on Thursday. “So if you can't call America the land of opportunity, then you know, what is the future for America?”  

“If you can get to middle schoolers, and tell them, ‘You do not live in a nice country, your country is broken,’ then middle schoolers will go ‘well, we have to fix it.’ And that's how you bring the progressive agenda in.” Dixon explained during an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

She also slammed recent efforts by liberal prosecutors to release violent felons on low or no bail amounts as a misguided effort at criminal justice reform that only jeopardizes public safety.

“There is a difference between criminal justice reform and letting dangerous criminals right back on the streets.” Dixon said. “And I think that that's where Republicans need to come in and say, ‘Hey, we believe in redemption and helping people become stewards of the community when they come out. This is not what we do.’”

Asked how she would address Critical Race Theory or other ideological driven curriculum is elected governor, Dixon cited the need for parents to have transparency into what schools are teaching their children.

“When I was in manufacturing, I manufactured parts for other companies. So if I made a part for Caterpillar, they said to me, ‘I want to know every step of the process you're going to use to make this part.’ Why shouldn't a parent know every step of the process you're going to use to educate their child?” she asked. “That should be a natural transition; that a child goes into school, and the teachers are going to let you know how they're teaching them. We need transparency in our schools.”

Dixon also declared she opposes Critical Race Theory -- which espouses America is inherently racist with white oppressors and minority victims -- being spread through universities and the federal government either.

"It's obviously seeping into every part of a society where we're telling people that a certain race is a terrible race. And we fought so many years to make sure that we were all considered the same. I mean, that everybody should have the same opportunity. And now you're saying we should take opportunities away from certain children? That's unacceptable,” she said.

Dixon also took aim at what she called Whitmer’s suffocating regulations on businesses. “Michigan is one state in the nation that is, is almost solely built on small businesses,” she said.  “So what the governor does with over regulation really matters.”

“Our farmers tell me all the time, if we could move our land, we would not be in Michigan. Well guess what? Manufacturers, builders, those guys, they can leave. And they are. And we're not bringing people back. Because once they're gone, it's really hard to get new business here.”

To make progress, Dixon said, “we have to build our foundation up in education, build our workforce, and then bring business here. And those things all have to happen in that order or we can't be a prosperous state.”

The need to rebuild the education system has been a common theme amongst numerous GOP candidates who ran for office in 2021, including Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who stunned the political world in November by defeating Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a solidly blue state.