6 February 2-8, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents to a scene in the movie Elf in which Will Farrell refers to himself in a disparaging way as “cotton-headed ninny muggins” because he can’t build toys as fast as the rest of Santa’s elves. The website for the Continental Gin Building includes the history of the place. The site explains that it housed Robert Munger’s company until 1900 when it was bought by Alabama’s Continental Gin Co. The history is there, and cotton is used in some of the branding for the building now, but it all feels a little whitewashed to Glover. He tried not to let it bother him as we headed to our final stop in Lancaster. A friend of his owns land in the city and lets Glover keep his 500-pound bale of cotton there. On the way, Glover points out large swaths of land that were once dedicated to cotton. “All this was cotton at one time,” he said. “When I look at these fields, I see people.” On his friend’s land, Glover grows mustard greens and collard greens and keeps up with his bale of cotton. He said it likely would’ve taken just a day and a half to pick all of the 500 pounds. Imagine how things might have been different had the people who picked it been fairly compensated, Glover said. “If we were properly compensated, my gosh, what would have happened?” he said. “What would America look like? Where would we be today?” ▼ EDUCATION TROLL BOARD A LOCAL CONTROVERSIAL COMEDIAN IS RUNNING FOR HIGHLAND PARK ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES. BY SIMONE CARTER A lex Stein marched into the High- land Park ISD annex building on a mission. Dressed in a suit and tie, he introduced himself to an unsuspecting em- ployee as “Alex Stein, pimp on a blimp.” The 30-something-year-old comedian- turned-viral-internet-sensation, you see, had set his sights on an upcoming local election. Stein filmed himself as he picked up the ap- plication to run as a candidate for Place 7 on the Highland Park ISD Board of Trustees. “Are you nervous?” he asked the em- ployee after they had stepped into an office. “Um, no. Not at all,” the woman replied. “You guys should be,” Stein shot back. Video of the exchange, posted to Stein’s YouTube channel — where he enjoys some 309,000 subscribers — has already racked up more than 82,000 views. He also shared it on Twitter (409,700 followers) and Instagram (226,000 followers), but apparently not on Facebook (12,000 followers). Stein again addressed his virtual audience as he exited the office, paperwork in hand. “I’m going to take no mercy, no prison- ers,” he said, looking into the camera. “Highland Park Independent School Dis- trict, when Prime Time 99 wins, the whole game is going to change.” To hear Stein tell it, he’s running for the school board to fix grave issues. Critics, though, are far more skeptical of his true in- tentions. For several months, Stein has steadily built up a robust online presence. He’s infa- mous for appearing at city council meetings, both in person in North Texas and virtually in other states, to comment on hot-button topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccines to abortion rights. Detractors have slammed him as bigoted and transphobic, along with a number of other less-than-favorable descriptors. Sup- porters have lauded him as a renegade re- former cleverly working to expose the lunacy of the left. Stein’s upcoming election is emblematic of a broader GOP push to pack local school boards with conservatives. Steve Bannon, a right-wing podcaster who once served as an adviser to former President Donald Trump, has previously promoted such races as “the path to save the nation.” Texas Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have railed against what they view as liberal policies in public schools. Critical race theory, a college-level academic framework, was ef- fectively outlawed from class discussions in 2021 — despite districts’ insistence that it wasn’t being taught in the first place. And amid the current state legislative session, some politicians are pushing for a ban on lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity. Stein isn’t afraid to broadcast his own controversial take on gender issues. He once appeared at a Plano City Council meeting claiming to be a transgender swimmer. He also recently protested against a drag queen story hour at a New York City public library. The comedian is fast becoming a fan fa- vorite on the right. He’s a contributor for Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV. He’s chatted with ul- traconservative Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on her streaming broadcast “MTG Live.” He’s been featured on Texas conspiracy king Alex Jones’ InfoWars website, gotten a nod from podcast giant Joe Rogan and has been interviewed by Fox News hero Tucker Carlson. Stein made international headlines last summer, with The Independent reporting he “sexually harassed” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat. “AOC, my favorite big booty Latina,” he said while filming the lawmaker on her way to work at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. To learn their thoughts on Stein’s race, the Observer reached out to outgoing dis- trict Superintendent Tom Trigg and the cur- rent trustees. We also tried contacting Pete Flowers, another Place 7 contender who works in commercial real estate, but didn’t hear back. A spokesperson for Highland Park ISD told us that the district “welcome[s] our community’s participation” and encouraged interested parties to apply. Responding to the Observer’s emailed in- terview request, Stein vowed to crack down on the “sexualization” of students, should he prevail. “I’m running in the school district race to stop the sexualization of the children in our district…Once I win my race I will bring the district back to a level of prominence that highland park [sic] once had when I was graduating from there in the early 2000s,” he wrote. Stein also attached a PowerPoint pre- sentation containing what he called “evi- dence of the deviant things happening at HPISD” that outlined his concerns about certain faculty and leadership. He didn’t’t respond before publication time to a subse- quent email with several follow-up ques- tions, including whether he has children in the district. *** Tania Noelle Boughton’s two boys thrived during their time attending Highland Park ISD schools, and like many parents, she takes their education seriously. She’d heard of Stein before and classified his candidacy as “self- serving” and “disappointing.” She also cited his brief stint on a now-de- funct reality show called The Glass House around a decade ago. “He’s doing everything he can to remain what he considers to be relevant, and it’s at the expense of our children,” Boughton said. “And what’s his true interest?” Stein is somewhat of a fixture at the dis- trict’s school board meetings, where he of- ten makes a “spectacle” of himself, Boughton recalled. She said considering the pandemic-induced trauma that many stu- dents have endured, they “deserve some- body who’s got a vested interest in their educational and emotional growth.” Boughton worries that the comedian’s candidacy could scare away other contend- ers who fear becoming a troll target. “We could be losing out on somebody that we really need, because he wants to take selfies all day and video himself and behave this way,” she said. “And how is he going to serve in that position? More chaos? No par- ent wants that.” James Whitfield was Colleyville Heritage High School’s first Black principal before getting pushed out amid allegations that he was indoctrinating kids with critical race theory. He said that until fairly recently, “you didn’t hear about partisan politics in- side school districts.” Things have changed. The public education advocate said he was able to serve with great school board members before he agreed, in late 2021, to resign. “Being one of those seven members of a school board is a really high honor to be be- stowed upon somebody in their commu- nity,” Whitfield said. “So, they’ve got to be trustworthy. They’ve got to operate in integ- rity. They have to be somebody that has high character. They understand the nuances that are going on in public education.” In Whitfield’s experience, a typical school board member might be a former or current educator, or someone with children or grandchildren enrolled in the school sys- tem. Members are there to support teachers and students, and they have the power to create policy and to hire (and fire) the super- intendent. The Dallas Morning News reported last October that the Lone Star State had more than 40 superintendent vacancies, and that many had endured attacks from conserva- tives. The month before, Grapevine-Col- leyville ISD then-Superintendent Robin Ryan announced his retirement. Whitfield noted an influx of dark money pouring into local school board races. Pa- triot Mobile, which bills itself as a conserva- tive Christian cell phone company, helped bankroll the election of nearly a dozen new school board members in North Texas, per Axios. Stein, however, has said that he won’t ac- cept campaign contributions and that his bid will be self-financed. The way Whitfield tells it, voters should be leery of fear-mongering candi- dates, some of whom may be advancing a “Christian nationalist extremist agenda.” He added that it’s important not to dismiss the “nonsense” surrounding such races: “Public schools are under attack, and if we allow that to continue to fester, ultimately, the educational experience of our kids is at risk.” To be sure, Stein’s announcement video has attracted heaps of praise online, with fans proclaiming that they would vote for him in whatever office he pursues. But Boughton Unfair Park from p4 John Anderson Joe Raedle/Getty Images Alex Stein (in suit jacket) counter protests against people protesting the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit outside the Tampa Convention Center last July.
