Stephens, Vice-Chair of Orange Co. Board of Education, Addresses Racist Attacks

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – The American culture wars have raged onto a new battleground: Orange County school board meetings. Brenda Stephens, the Vice-Chair of the Orange County Board of Education, agreed to a telephonic interview with Spectacular Magazine.

The Board’s meetings have attracted an unsavory assortment of Kens, Karens, and Proud Boys. These provocateurs, many of them from out of town, are channeling their anger over mask mandates, social studies curricula, and LGBT visibility. Stephens discerned that the protestors “all appeared to be white men and women.”

Many commentators have noted that local school boards have not endured such besiegement since the days of the civil rights movement and de jure racial integration. Stephens, having come of age in the twilight of Jim Crow, remembers those days vividly. Comparing the late 1960s to the early 2020s, Stephens remarked, “At least they hid their hand [back then].” Reactionary forces feel emboldened. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has made a similar observation.

Citizen speakers’ tirades were generally a grab bag of conservative buzzwords and talking points. Stephens recalled with wry incredulity that speakers would rant about critical race theory (CRT), even when the topic of discussion was, say, math.

At times, such rantings would devolve into violent, racially-tinged threats. One man said the board members should tie rocks around their necks and throw themselves in the Eno River. This particular provocation disturbed Stephens, who recalled a grisly history of lynching. Black local officials have been killed before in North Carolina – one time just 20 minutes outside Hillsborough.

Sheriff’s deputies have confiscated a knife and a spear (yes, a spear) from mob members. School Board members had to be escorted to their cars. “I didn’t sign up for this,” said Stephens. “I don’t want any harm to come to me or my family.” Recently, someone posted board members’ home addresses on social media, prompting Stephens to become a licensed gun owner. Board chair Hillary MacKenzie had to invest in a home security system.

People are scared. Stephens has tried desperately to convince young people to run for office but has had few takers. Exasperation punctuates her Carolina Piedmont drawl. “This environment will discourage citizens from running for school board…We’re killing the kids. Our children are the losers here. We can’t talk about achievement gaps [or] reading… It’s hard to concentrate [at board meetings].” A 2022 re-election bid is “still not off the table” for the long-time member.

Stephens said she was “disappointed” in N.C. school chief Catherine Truitt’s public statements regarding critical race theory (CRT). Superintendent Truitt delivered the remarks at a June meeting with the Orange County Republican Party.

In 2017, Spectacular Magazine recognized both Brenda Stephens and her daughter, Sara, as “Women of the Year.” The elder Stephens won in the education category, while the younger one won in business. Brenda Stephens also boasts an award from the North Carolina Schools Boards Association (NCSBA), which she once presided over.

Stephens ended on a positive note. “We’re adding a Native American studies class to our curriculum,” Stephens announced. “We [also] changed two school names this year. The change was unanimous.” Until this year, the schools bore the names of controversial historical figures (i.e. slaveowners and segregationists).  Stephens is steadfast. “I don’t want them to think what they’re doing is chasing me off.”

There may be hope yet in Hillsborough.

For more information, visit the district website here.