In 2015, Rashad Turner founded the St. Paul Chapter of Black Lives Matter. Once on the inside of the organization, Turner said the group cares little about the quality of life for black families and more about political support and affiliations.
“I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies,” Turner said. “Black lives do matter. However, after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families and they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis.”
Turner said the group instead stood side-by-side with the teachers union against charter schools which he said created a barrier for improving the access to quality education for black students. Now, he’s helping parents relocate their students from poorly performing schools to better ones.