Twitter Suspends Main Account, Multiple Staff Accounts for Education Website That Highlights Dangers of CRT

A Twitter logo is seen outside the company headquarters in San Francisco on Jan. 11, 2021. Stephen Lam/Reuters

Twitter has suspended four accounts associated with The Chalkboard Review, a website that includes a detailed guide to critical race theory (CRT) along with other resources and commentary on education.

The social media company, which named Parag Agrawal as CEO after founder Jack Dorsey stepped down from the role in November, suspended the publication’s main Twitter account, @ChalkBoardRev, on Feb. 3.

It then quickly suspended two other accounts associated with The Chalkboard Review, according to a tweet from the organization’s director, Tony Kinnett.

“That’s my social media team @bravojourno and my scheduling editor @goinggodward. And still not one email, notification, etc. explaining ANY reason for suspension—and no timeline for when or if it lifts,” Kinnett wrote.

The former account belongs to Quinn Weimer, while the latter belongs to Jocelyn Gunter. Weimer’s personal account, @QuinnWeimer, also has been suspended.

On the morning of Feb. 4, Gunter received a message from Twitter saying her @GoingGodward account was suspended for “multiple or repeat violations of our rules.” The message didn’t specify which rules were violated, or how.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Kinnett confirmed he has received no further explanation for the suspensions from Twitter. He said he has two primary theories as to what could have triggered them.

“I believe it’s because we were either mass reported or because of the NEA’s recent involvement with asking tech giants to censor anti-CRT publications,” he said.

The NEA is the National Education Association, a union and advocacy group for public school teachers and other educational staff. It sent a letter to Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok in October 2021 asking those companies to “stamp out disinformation and violent trends” on their platforms, including information that has activated “a small but violent group of radicalized adults who falsely believe that graduate-level courses about racism are being taught in K-12 public schools because of misinformation spread on social media.”

Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute, whose reporting on CRT has greatly raised public awareness, told The Epoch Times: “Chalkboard Review is an essential resource for parents who want to fight back against education failure and indoctrination in public schools. Twitter should immediately reinstate their account and let them do their work of informing the public.

“I stand 100 percent behind the thoughtful people at Chalkboard Review.”

On Jan. 24, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter (pdf) to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asking Cardona to clarify whether he had played a role in requesting the letter from the NEA. Reporting by Fox News on an email exchange suggests that Cardona had requested a similar letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) in which that organization likened parents to domestic terrorists.

“The implication of both letters is the same: individuals opposed to critical race theory and mask mandates in schools are potential domestic terrorists,” Cotton wrote in his letter.

Kinnett said he thinks CRT has attracted so much attention “because it’s a massive embarrassment for the left.” He believes there’s an effort to silence discussion of CRT by smearing those who criticize it as racists opposed to teaching any black history.

His publication’s “About“ page stresses its commitment to ideological diversity, stating that the publication wants to offer readers ”a thoughtful range of voices from teachers to advocates, scholars, and industry leaders—left, right, and center.” Kinnett said concerns about CRT aren’t a strictly partisan issue.

“It’s universally, bipartisanly terrible that we would treat black children, Hispanic children, Asian children, etc., as impotent and by birth victimized unless white people come along and help them,” he said, adding that, according to that same belief system, white people, even those who are recent immigrants, “are still composed of this racial white guilt that is responsible for the suffering of anyone and everything around” them.

He pointed out that his website has published an article that was critical of the website’s coverage of American Federation of Teachers leader Randi Weingarten.

“It will be a very cold day in hell before I take that article down,” he said. “Even though I disagree with him, he has a right to his political opinions, especially as an educator communicating as the classroom, and parents should get to see what he says.”

Twitter has been accused of stepping up its censorship of conservative and heterodox accounts since Agrawal was named CEO.

Virologist Dr. Robert Malone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and conservative commentator Matt Walsh were all suspended, in Walsh’s case temporarily, during January 2022.

In a Jan. 14 letter to Agrawal, Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), and 11 other House Republicans expressed concern over the suspension of Malone, asking Agrawal to explain which policies Malone’s account had violated.

“While the 117th Congress has failed to address the need to update and modify Federal law and regulations impacting the internet and social media, it is highly probable that under new leadership in 2023, Congress will spearhead an effort to hold Big Tech accountable for its arbitrary censorship practices,” the lawmakers wrote.

Kinnett thinks the suspensions his team has faced could be related to the rise of Agrawal.

“Twitter has become much more aggressive under his leadership,” he said.

Twitter officials didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.