John,

 

Some of you may have seen something I posted the other day. I wasn’t trying to be vague, I was honestly struggling to process the news of what happened to Nex Benedict.

 

So I just posted a simple statement: “No student should be beaten to death at school. PERIOD.”

 

I’ve had a week to think about it...and I think I need to amend that statement. So here goes:
A graphic featuring a message in white text set against a black background, which reads: “No student should be beaten, berated, bullied, hungry, scared, shamed, shot, silenced, neglected, terrorized, erased, othered at school...or any damn place else. Period.”

John, what are we doing here? What have we allowed our schools to become?

 

School is supposed to be a sanctuary for kids. A place where they get to unlock their talents, explore their dreams, and discover their hopes for the future.

 

Outside of their own homes, schools should be the place where kids feel the MOST safe and the MOST cherished.

 

So I ask again, what are we doing here?

 

We’re banning books and erasing the history of students of color. We’re shaming, silencing, and attacking LGBTQ+ kids. We’ve got schools locked down like prisons but we refuse to do anything about guns and school shootings are more prevalent than ever. We’ve got kids sitting in class on an empty stomach because of “school lunch debt”. We’re slashing teacher pay and attacking their union rights. We’re turning a blind eye while kids are bullied or beaten by other students for being different.

 

Okay, maybe it’s not you or I who are doing any of that. But we are the adults here, and this is our responsibility.

 

The most horrifying thing about Nex’s tragic story is knowing it isn’t an outlier. Our kids are not safe at school today, and that’s on us.

 

I became a foster parent years ago to provide a safe and stable home to older kids, who usually get left out of adoption. I adopted my sons, two brothers, to keep them from being split apart by the system.

 

I am serious about protecting kids. When I’m elected, I will fight for federal funding and protections that will turn our schools into the sanctuaries they are meant to be. If you’re with me, please consider a contribution to my campaign to flip ID-02 today.

 

The more I think about what happened to Nex the more I think about the kids at Sandy Hook and Parkland and Uvalde, and all the other stories I’ve read about kids suffering in a place they are meant to be safe.

 

We have the power to change this, and we are going to. It stops with us.

 

Period.

 

More soon,

David
         

David Roth is a single, gay dad running for Idaho’s Second Congressional District. We’re going up against a GOP incumbent who has been in this seat for 25 years. It’s time for change in Idaho, and our grassroots campaign is building on the momentum that began in David’s race for U.S. Senate last cycle. The GOP is not planning to defend this seat, so we plan to take it from them and help Democrats retake the House majority next year. We’d love your support to build a solid campaign to bring progress to Idaho and the country.

 

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