"Civil Disobedience": Pastor Challenges Wake School Board over "Traumatized" Student Given "Pornographic" Assignment

Pastor John K. Amanchukwu, Sr. has become known as the "book banning pastor" for his activism against explicit and pro-LGBTQ material in schools across the nation

On Tuesday, local pastor and nationwide activist John Amanchukwu was removed from the bi-weekly Wake County Board of Education public meeting and escorted out of the building in handcuffs after engaging in "peaceful civil disobedience" in support of a Wake County student who left her public school over "pornographic incestual sexual content" content her class was assigned to read and discuss.

After using his time in the meeting's public comment period to lambast the school board for failing to follow the law by allowing "damaging" sexually explicit and pro-LGBTQ books to remain in the schools, Amanchukwu refused to vacate the podium: "Since you like to break laws, since you won't give Lorena Benson justice, when this clock hits three minutes, I'm not going anywhere."

"Arrest every last one of those people are keeping pornographic books and the gender confusion books in the school system", said Amanchukwu to the Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy who came to remove him.

Amanchukwu was pushed out of the meeting room by the deputy amid the applause of supporters in the audience and was handcuffed in the hallway; according to Wake County Sheriff’s Office he "agreed to leave" after being led out to the parking lot, and was uncuffed and released.

"Justice for Lorena Benson"

10th grader drops out of Wake County school over assignment containing "pornographic, incestual, sexual content" (No. 90 — Sep. 21, 2024)

Lorena Benson, the 15-year-old student in question, had addressed the school board at its meeting two weeks prior in regards to a "disturbing" assignment she had received in her Honors English class: "I have decided to leave Athens Drive High School because I should not have to deal with pornographic incestual sexual content taught to me in my classes".

"In my Healthful Living honors class, I am being taught about brain functions and development," said Benson. "I was taught that the teenage brains, like mine, are not fully developed yet and that we must be careful about what we engage during these years."

Benson quoted a section of the short story "Tomorrow Is Too Far" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which included a graphic description of sexual intercourse between two cousins who are approximately 6-8 years old, according to the context of the story.

Adichie, a Nigerian postcolonial feminist author, did not respond to a request for comment. The district spokesperson told the News & Observer that the incident was being investigated, but they would not provide any other details on an ongoing human resources investigation.

The "book banning pastor"

Amanchukwu, a pastor at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, went viral in 2022 with a speech before the same Wake County school board decrying the district's prioritizing "cultural Marxism" of DEI and "grooming children" over the education of its students.

Now a contributor with TPUSA Faith, Amanchukwu has spoken at school boards across the state and country over the two years since, earning him the epithet of the "book banning pastor" from pro-LGBTQ media, which he has appropriated for himself.

In his speech on Tuesday, Amanchukwu cited a number of "pornographic" and "gender confusion" books available in the Wake County Public School System as in violation of North Carolina law:

• Born Ready: the True Story of a Boy Named Penelope

• Calvin

• I Am Jazz

• It Feels Good to Be Yourself

• When Aidan Became a Brother

• Worm Loves Worm

• Call Me Max

• Introducing Teddy

• Jack, Not Jackie

• My Princess Boy

• Sparkle Boy

• 10,000 Dresses

• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress

• Julian is a Mermaid

• Julian at the Wedding

Amanchukwu has previously faced opposition at school boards, including the Asheville City Schools, where he was cut off while reading from a "children's book" present in the district's Middle School library which contains graphic illustrations and descriptions of sexual acts; this August in Baltimore, the school board "abruptly" ended a public meeting Amanchukwu was attending, which he attributed to an attempt to block him from speaking.

Amanchukwu has also been active locally in opposing abortion, having "ministered and led a 40-week prayer walk" for 12 years (according to his bio) at the "A Woman’s Choice" abortion clinic in Raleigh.

Intimidation?

The drama at Tuesday's meeting did not end with Amanchukwu's removal; Janet Peterson of the Pavement Education Project described an attempt to "intimidate" her and and other activists by Tyler Swanson, the Democrat representing District 9 on the board in an email provided to This Week in the Triangle.

In the email, addressed to Swanson, board chair Chris Heagarty, and district superintendent Robert Taylor, Peterson describes Swanson taking the unusual measure of interrupting his comments to the board to tell her to "be safe" (as is corroborated in the video):

After the break in the meeting last night, Mr Swanson began staring intently at me as Mr Heagarty and other members spoke. He also mouthed something at me which I could not interpret. As I rose to leave with two other visitors, he audibly told us to "be safe." This can be found around 2:05:18 in the video. We felt that Mr. Swanson was attempting to intimidate us. He does not speak out to others. We are alarmed at his attempt to bully us.

Peterson also referenced how Swanson apparently shared an image he took of the audience from his position behind the boards desk with leftist Twitter/X account @nofascismnc:

Later, when I arrived home, I was told there was a picture(s) taken at the school board and posted on social media that appears to have been taken by someone seated on the board to Mr Heagarty's left side.  I find this to be another way that a board member is trying to disquiet and coerce visitors into silence. All this is very unbecoming and unacceptable behavior of school board members. I expect an apology from Mr Swanson and assurance that this type of behavior will not occur in the future with me or anyone else that wants to attend or speak at the meeting. I would like the Identification of the member that took and posted the photo(s).

In response, Swanson claimed that it was in fact "[Peterson] and her friends" in the audience that had "snapped pictures of [him] and stared [him] down as if you were going to intimidate [him]", and that he would "not tolerate [her] trying to play the victim here".