Walz education appointee who called for overthrow of US government under Republican Party fire: ‘insurgent’

FIRST ON FOX: Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks demands an investigation into a Minnesota professor who was appointed to a task force investigating “ethnic studies” within Governor Tim Walz’s Minnesota Ministry of Education, which denounces the professor’s previous comments that the US should be “overthrown” because the country is “irreversibly racist.”

“(Brian Lozenski) has clearly explained, publicly and on video, that he supports the deconstruction and overthrow of the United States because our nation is irredeemably racist and evil. This is a radical and destructive worldview that, because of Governor Walz’s recent signing of the Minnesota education law, will be taught to thousands of children in your state,” wrote Banks, who is running for Senate and endorsed last month received from former President Trump in his letter.

The letter was first obtained by Fox News Digital and calls on Jennifer Hoppenstedt, interim inspector general of the Minnesota Department of Educationto investigate Brian Lozenski, associate professor of urban and multicultural education at Macalester College, following comments calling for an “insurrection against the United States.” Macalester College is a private liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Representative Jim Banks and Governor Tim Walz (Getty Images)

“I call on you to examine Mr. Lozensky’s history of advocating insurrection against the United States, and to investigate whether Mr. Lozensky’s radical, anti-American views have undermined the development of the framework for ethnic studies by Minnesota’s Ethnic Studies Working Group. Banks continued in his letter.

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Lozenski was appointed by Walz’s Department of Education to help write the framework of ethnic studies standards for the state. The Ethnic Studies Working Group framework is expected to be finalized by October 31, with the Bank’s letter sent to the IG about a week before the deadline.

Walz taught high school social studies before starting his political career as a member of the Minnesota U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.

Rep. Jim Banks speaks during a news conference to criticize the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan outside the U.S. Capitol on August 24, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital previously reported that a video published by The Solidarity Network on June 19, 2022 showed Lozenski discussing his critical research on race theory and arguing that the US is “irreversibly racist” and “must be overthrown.”

“We don’t use critical race theory in school,” Lozenski said. “The first principle of critical race theory is that the United States, as constructed, is irreversibly racist. So if the nation state, as constructed, is irreversibly racist, then it must be ended. He must be overthrown,” he said. in the 2022 video.

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“We can say, ‘Oh no, critical race theory is just about telling our stories and diversity,’” he added. ‘That’s not what it’s about. It’s about overgrowth. It’s rebellious.’

Gov. Tim Walz speaks during an election rally on Oct. 22, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The video was removed from YouTube last month after it received media attention Walz’s ongoing campaign for the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket.

“You can’t be a critical race theorist and be pro-US at the same time. Okay, it’s an anti-state theory that says the United States needs to be deconstructed, period,” he continued in the video.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign, Lozenski and the Minnesota Department of Education but did not immediately receive a response on Sunday. Banks sent the letter on Friday.

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“Mr. Lozenski is a critical advocate for race theory and associate professor of urban and multicultural education at Macalester College. He was apparently selected to serve on the working group following his advocacy for Minnesota House Bill 1502, which created the Ethnic Studies Working Group, because of his experience teaching ethnic studies at St. Paul Public Schools,” Banks continued in his letter.

Banks’ letter comes as Harris and Walz make their final pitch to voters in the final stages of the election cycle. (Reuters)

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“He also founded a group called Education for Liberation Minnesota, which advocates supplemental curriculum for ethnic studies in Minnesota public schools. Not surprisingly, a closer look at Mr. Lozensky’s past statements reveals radical political views that should disqualify him from working in public education and certainly from developing a statewide curriculum.

Lozenski’s biography notes that he is the author of a book titled “My Emancipation Don’t Fit Your Equation: Critical Enactments of Black Education in the US,” and that he serves on the editorial board of a journal called Ethnic Studies Pedagogies.

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Banks’ letter comes as Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz make their final pitch to voters in the final stages of the election cycle. A national poll released last week by the Wall Street Journal showed Trump with a slight lead over Harris, with support at 47% to 45%.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

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