Virginia mom and author Asra Nomani calls out war on merit following son's merit notification delay
Fairfax County, Va. mom Asra Nomani rips her son's merit notification delay on 'The Story.'
A Fairfax County, Va. mom is calling out the "equity warriors" after officials allegedly delayed notifying her son and hundreds of others about their academic achievements to avoid hurting the feelings of other students.
"What we have here is a pattern and practice of discrimination and systemic injustice," author Asra Nomani told "The Story." "The equity warriors out there want to talk about dismantling the systemic injustice, but they are actually now the purveyors of this racism and discrimination."
Nomani’s son, who is now a sophomore in college, earned the National Merit Commended Student Award, but his merit was kept "secret" until two years after the fact. As a single mom, she is now paying out-of-state tuition and on a payment plan.
"I want to just make this very real for people: this isn't just equity policy without damage," she said. "There's real damage in the lives of families and human beings like my son."
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A Fairfax County school bus sits in a depot, a day after it was announced the county would begin the school year all online, in Lorton, Virginia, U.S., July 22, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
The Virginia mom said that in Fairfax County, Prince William County and Loudoun County, where they confessed to withholding the Commended Student Award, 75% of the recipients of the prize are Asian.
"We are an inconvenient minority for their narrative, but we’ve got to keep fighting," she said.
Fairfax County Public Schools' superintendent Dr. Michelle C. Reid issued a statement saying they are "sincerely sorry for this error" and "each and every student, their experience and success, remain (their) priority. "
The school district has been contacting colleges to inform them of the recipients and say they "remain committed to being transparent," according to the statement.
In the Summer of 2020, Nomani said Asian students were targeted in the Summer of 2020 at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The situation became a "laughing matter" for a school board member who she quoted saying they knew it was "anti-Asian...LOL."
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The author recalled coming to the United States as a 4-year-old little girl, attending Martin Luther King Elementary and living in a world where "equality was our virtue."
"Now what we have in Fairfax County public schools is things like $20,000 for an hour with Ibram X. Kendi, who has famously said... 'The remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.'"
Fox News’ Kristen Altus contributed to this report