By Illinois Review
North Carolina Pastor John Amanchukwu is generating national attention just days after he was arrested during a Wake County, North Carolina school board meeting for demanding justice for Lorena Benson – a 15-year old girl who was forced to read explicit and inappropriate material at school against her and her parents’ wishes.
In a post on X last Tuesday evening, Amanchukwu wrote,
“I was handcuffed tonight at the Wake County school board meeting for demanding justice for Lorena Benson. A 15 yr. old girl who was forced to read and discuss inappropriate content at school and for reprimanding the Wake County school board for violating HB49(Parental Rights Bill). The board breaks the law and no one cares, I protest and the cops cuff me?”
Video of the North Carolina pastor – labeled the “book banning pastor” by the liberal media – getting arrested and led out of the school board meeting by police – in handcuffs – has gone viral on social media. And in another clip, while being handcuffed, he could be heard saying, “Justice for Lorena Benson.”
In an appearance on The StoneZONE with Roger Stone last Friday, guest hosts Troy Smith, editor-in-chief of Slingshot.News and Illinois Review editor-in-chief Mark Vargas spoke with Amanchukwu about the arrest and his latest film project, 22 Words – Exposing the Loss of Decency in American Education, explaining that,
“Parents must embrace the fact that they are the first pedagogue for their child…we’re supposed to train them up, not mess them up. But so many school systems today are messing up our children.”
Amanchukwu also highlighted two books that children are forced to read and said the material “rivals swank magazine and Playboy Magazine – it would give Hugh Heffner a run for his money. It’s disgusting.”
The preacher, author and activist continued with a message aimed directly at fathers: “Our children are being indoctrinated across the board. And so now more than ever, we need our parents to speak up. We need fathers to speak up in particular. Dads have surrendered their voice to feminists, who have gripped them and they can’t speak. And so now more than ever, fathers need to speak up.”
Pastor Amanchukwu also talked about his film 22 Words, and said, “this documentary is going to be the snowball effect that opens the eyes of Americans and causes them to understand that if we don’t vote in the right president Donald J. Trump – if we don’t get the right people in office, this gender theory, queer theory and critical race theory agenda is going to destroy our country. It’s a fact.”
In Illinois, Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker – a billionaire, has publicly attacked conservative grassroots organizations that recruit and support local school board candidates, falsely calling them“racists” and “anti-LGBTQ.” Pritzker even directed funding to support Democratic school board candidates across the state during the Spring 2023 elections while conservative candidates struggled to raise enough money to fend off the vicious attacks from the left.
In April, the Downers Grove Village Council voted 4-3 to remove library board member Bill Nienburg – a conservative who consistently questioned how taxpayer dollars were being spent, as Mayor Robert Barnett weighed in saying he “can’t support this resolution.” The board remains controversial. In October 2022, the board planned a Drag Queen Bingo Night for school-aged children in grades 7-12. They also removed reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during board meetings.
In March, an Illinois-based parental rights organization successfully blocked legislation that would criminalize parents for denying gender transition and abortion services to minor children. The legislation would have made it a crime for parents to deny a minor child’s access to gender transition and abortion services – calling it “child abuse.”
Awake Illinois founder and parents rights advocate Shannon Adcock led a statewide grassroots effort to oppose the legislation, and legislative offices were bombarded with phone calls and messages from angry parents within hours of the bill being introduced. Adcock also went on a media tour, giving interviews to as many media outlets as possible to sound the alarms.
At least 18 states, including Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Nebraska have passed laws restricting transgender health care for minors, and an additional 14 other states are considering similar legislation.
An estimated 20 states, including Illinois, California, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania have put measures in place that both protect and expand transgender health care services, including for minors.
