Woke cancel culture suffered a recent setback when Ohio’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Gibson’s Bakery, a family-owned bakery that was defamed by Oberlin College and falsely accused of racism.
The recent conviction stems from an incident that occurred in 2016 when a bakery employee and the owner’s son confronted a black shoplifter who had stolen alcohol from the store. The thief and his companions then attacked the employee. The attackers were later arrested and pleaded guilty, but nearby Oberlin College, a notoriously liberal campus in northeastern Ohio, responded quickly to Gibson’s Bakery.
Students protested by handing out fliers accusing the bakery of being a “racist institution with a long history of racial profiling and discrimination,” even though they had no evidence to support it. Oberlin officials, including then-Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, supported the protests, while liberal media quickly amplified the “racist” narrative. The Oberlin Student Senate passed a resolution condemning Gibson’s Bakery, which was aired among all students and posted publicly on campus. The university then tried to bankrupt the bakery by encouraging a boycott and severing its relationship with Gibson’s, and after a long collaboration, banned its products from campus.
Business was paralyzed, employees were laid off, family was vilified, and all professional life was reduced to the mentality of a crazy leftist social justice mob.
While we can take solace in the fact that truth, law and order prevailed, it does not make up for the millions of dollars in losses and years of persecution that a proud, family-owned company had to endure. Unfortunately, the store owners and lead Plaintiffs did not live long enough for the verdict to be upheld in court, but their fight provides an critical lesson in standing up to the madness of the left.
Democrats claim to be the Party of Tolerance – unless, of course, their views differ from theirs. They are the Party of Cancel Culture – never mind the facts and evidence. This is a party that treats criminals with respect and respect, but law-abiding citizens and businesses as villains.
We’ve seen this many times. From Jussie Smollett’s fabricated hate crimes, to the slanderous attacks on Covington Catholic school children, to the entire circus in which Democrats harmed Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and the defamation of Kyle Rittenhouse as a “white supremacist,” the crowd of Democrats social justice attacks first and asks questions later.
That’s why I’m going to Washington, D.C., to fight these antics and defend common sense and due process. That’s why we need elected leaders like me who have the courage to treat criminals like criminals and police officers like the heroes they are.
This case also demonstrates the need to disrupt education in America. Our universities have long become bastions of liberalism, but this indoctrination began to penetrate our schools earlier and earlier. One of my main goals in the United States Senate will be to ensure that our schools, from K-12 through college, focus on reading, writing, and the long division, not reading, writing, and the racial division. We should educate students and prepare them to be the next generation of engineers, salespeople and IT specialists, not indoctrinate them into a generation of social justice warriors. This way, China will lead while America lags behind.
To address this, as the next United States Senator from Ohio, I will work to pass legislation to ensure that not a penny of federal money goes to schools that promote critical race theory or other like-minded ideologies. Instead, schools should be rewarded for focusing on the fundamentals of good education and workforce development. I will also fight for transparency and school choice, so that parents decide about their children’s health and education, not federal bureaucrats and politicians.
As a U.S. senator from Ohio, I will always side with the baker running his petite business. A policeman who keeps our streets secure. A parent fighting for a good education for his child. And an America where common sense and decency prevail over mob mentality.
Jane Timken is a candidate for the United States Senate. She was a former chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party.
