Note from the editor: This article was originally published on CareyMartell.com
This article is a follow-up to my first two articles about Tai Harden-Moore. If you have not read them yet, I suggest you do so you can be fully informed about what I am discussing in this article, as it is a continuation of the arguments I am making in the first two discussing the role of Tai Harden-Moore in the Newberg, Oregon community as a consultant for the city and a social activist who is organizing political campaigns.
Part 1,
Part 2,
This new third article will be a series of claims I make to bolster the material claims I have previously made already, so that any resident of Newberg, Oregon who is still on the fence about whether my claims about Tai Harden-Moore are true can come to know that they are and believe me based on the evidence I have previously provided and provide further support for here.
Tai Harden-Moore Claims She Doesn’t Teach Critical Race Theory, I Disagree
I want to begin this third article criticizing Tai Harden-Moore’s political activities in Newberg, Oregon by refuting a claim that Tai has repeatedly made to obscure the insidious nature of the so-called ‘anti-racism’ framework she teaches. She has claimed that she does teach Critical Race Theory, yet refuses to provide any evidence for why the framework she teaches is actually uniquely different than Critical Race Theory.
I am very familiar with the literature of Critical Race Theory and the various names it goes by when taught by consultants to private companies and townships, which includes ‘anti-racism training’ , ‘diversity training’, ‘inclusion training’ and ‘equity training’. On my other blog, MillennialGentleman.com, I have authored the essay, The True Origins of Critical Race Theory and Anti-Racism Training. It would be useful for you to read it so you may fully appreciate the arguments I have made in my rebuttal to Harden-Moore’s claims that she does not teach CRT.
In my prior debate with Tai Harden-Moore, I have refuted her claims that she is not a public figure. She engages in political activism, has ran for office, and is organizing a recall election of school board members. She is more than happy to criticize others who oppose her political agenda but when she becomes the subject of criticism for her political activities, she cries ‘harassment‘. This is both disingenuous and hypocritical.
Fourteen hours after I provided my comparison of CRT and the anti-racism training framework that Harden-Moore teaches, explaining how they are the same, former Newberg city councilman Robert Soppe appeared again and responded to another commenter instead of addressing my claims, and so I said the following declaration to my opponents,
At this time Robert Soppe finally engaged with me, and we had a short exchange,
At this point, Tai Harden-Moore made a post into the thread with my full name tagged in the post, and with nothing else said. I attempted to respond to this post, but discovered that I couldn’t submit the reply.
I refreshed the screen and it looked as though she had blocked me, since I couldn’t load her Facebook page anymore (which I neglected to screenshot — it’s important to note, I don’t always take screenshots in real time as I debate people. I normally try to assemble them after the fact).
Given that she decided to block me instead of refuting my claims that were created as a rebuttal to her claim that she was not teaching Critical Race Theory, I declared victory. What other result can be concluded from her refusal to refute my claims when they are so very central to my criticism of her, and that she so adamantly claims are wrong? Instead of proving that I am mistaken, she simply blocked me on Facebook and so I announced my victory.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a screenshot of the blocking because within the minute of my declaration of victory, Harden-Moore unblocked me (which is why you can see her name now in the screenshots I am providing).
Upon realizing she had unblocked me I wrote this,
I awaited in anticipation at what Harden-Moore would say to my argument. But nothing ever came.
It has been over eight hours since I issued my public challenge of Harden-Moore to prove her claim that she does not teach Critical Race Theory. She has not done it.
While her refusal to engage does not necessarily mean that she could not refute my claim, it does mean that she has refused to do so. This is important.
“Why has she refused to refute my claims?“, is the question we must consider.
Previously, Harden-Moore claimed that I had no idea what Critical Race Theory was or what it was she taught. If that was the case then it should be very easy for her to disprove my claims. That Harden-Moore has decided to not do something that should be easy if her claims are true, can be assumed to mean that my claims actually cannot be easily dismissed and may in fact be true.
I say they are true and I am willing to debate Tai Harden-Moore about this. That is exactly what I am trying to do here. I have provided her the fair opportunity to refute my claims, and she has instead ran away from my claims.
Do you need you any more proof greater than this that my claims about what Tai Harden-Moore is teaching to the residents of Newberg is in fact Critical Race Theory?
Tai Harden-Moore is a person who has multiple degrees in three different fields; a Masters in Business, a Juris doctor in Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Two of these degrees (law and psychology) are fields that deal with how to persuade people of your arguments. And yet, despite being an expert in how to refute arguments, Tai Harden-Moore could not refute my claims with any meaningful resistance whatsoever.
The truth is plain and self evident; Tai Harden-Moore teaches Critical Race Theory under the label of other names. I was completely prepared to have a long and complex conversation with her over the finer details about this framework, but it was not even necessary, as she put up no resistance after I described in detail how what she teaches is the same thing as Critical Race Theory. I submit to you that my claims must therefore be true.
Tai Harden-Moore Believes All “Whites” Are Wealthy
I have in prior articles highlighted Tai Harden-Moore’s racist views from examination of her own writing. This will be more of the same.
I was alerted by a reader of this blog to this thread in the Yamhill County News and Discussion Group,
I don’t know the truth of this claim and cannot verify it. This claim is not the point of showing this thread to you.
The actual reason I am mentioning the thread is because Tai Harden-Moore posted into it and said the following things,
The part that is relevant to my claim relates to the discussion of test scores.
According to a source, Tai made the following post as a comment to a now deleted post in the same Facebook group as a continuation of this disagreement. Because these posts have since been deleted and I cannot verify the precise relationship between the threads and this post, I believe what Tai said in the deleted post she made is important for residents of Newberg to see,
These are fairly racist views I would say.
Tai Harden-Moore makes the claim that all “whites” get funding for college, and so no “white” person needs a college fund. An interesting claim!
Let’s explore this.
According to the ‘About’ page of her consulting website, Tai has three degrees.
Let’s try to deduce the costs of her education,
- According to US News’ page about Florida A&M University College of Law, full time out of state tuition is $34,035. A Juris Doctor degree program is three years. So, that would be $102,105.
- According to College Tuition Compare, Concordia University – Portland had a tuition cost of $32,230. A Masters of Business is a two-year program, so that would be $64,460.
- According to the US News’ page about Eastern Washington University, full time out of state tuition is $26,328. A Bachelor of Arts in psychology is a four year program, so that would be $105,312.
This would calculate to be about $271,877 spent on her education, if these figures are reflective of the tuition costs. I am assuming she had residency in Oregon, so the other two would be out of state tuition costs, and as Concordia apparently is defunct now the only source for tuition costs I could locate is the College Tuition Compare site.
According to Tai Harden-Moore’s LinkedIn Page, she earned her MBA in 2016 and her JD in 2014. I am unsure of when she earned her BA, as she provides no dates in her profile for that degree. For estimation purposes I am going to assume that she earned her BA and then enrolled into Florida, so that makes an estimate of enrollment years at Eastern being 2005-2009.
If we assume an inflation rate of the past few years at about 1.5 to 2.5 per year, then I’d adjust the $271,877 current year tuition rate costs to predict that Harden-Moore’s total college education cost could have been anywhere from $163,126 to $206,626.
Now let’s contrast her estimated college tuition costs with the average income of the people she is talking to, whom she assumes are all wealthy because they are ‘white’.
According to US Census data, Newberg is predominantly Caucasian (87.5%) and the average income per person is $27,675. I couldn’t find any stats on average cost of living in Newberg, so I will wing it; According to Zumper, the average cost to rent a 1-bedroom apartment in Newberg is $13,800 annually, utilities is around $1,726 and food cost per year is probably $1,800 to $3,600. That makes around $17,326 to $19,126 in annual expenses, so a $8,549 to $10,349 remainder after deducting costs to live in the town, assuming the average Newberg resident doesn’t drive a car, have a car payment, own a cellphone, pay any taxes, have or any other recreational expense (unlikely).
The point I am illustrating here is that Tai Harden-Moore is completely out of touch with reality. She assumes all “whites” are wealthy, when objectively not all are — certainly not all of the people whom she is speaking about who are graduating from the Newberg school system.
Furthermore, more money has been spent on Tai Harden-Moore’s education than the average “white” person in Newberg will earn as net income over a decade or more. Yet here she is, a hired consultant for their city, being paid from their tax dollar contributions, and trash talking them with her racist viewpoints on ‘whites’ while simultaneously claiming that she is an “anti-racism consultant” who can help resolve racial tension problems in the city.
She is not. She is creating the racial tension problems in Newberg with her own racial prejudice rhetoric and working residents up into a hysterical frenzy with her divisive nonsense.
A recent protest here in Newberg was organized by Tai Harden-Moore, held at the flag pole in downtown. A big sign was held up claiming that Newberg has “white supremacy”.
I ask you, do you believe Tai Harden-Moore’s definitions of racism should be believed when she harbors such racist viewpoints against “whites”?
Tai Harden-Moore Organizes a Rally Where People Draw Antifa Hate Symbols
The screenshot of the rally poster for the rally Tai-Harden Moore organized on September 22nd, is something you should look at again and then read the rest of this part.
Some people think I was making a slippery slope fallacy by suggesting that the problems of Portland will appear in Newberg, and we’ll end up having the mob violence.
Well, after the protest organized by Tai Harden-Moore in the center of town, this was discovered on the sidewalk here by that flagpole in town, after Tai Harden-Moore’s group had left, as posted in the Newberg-Dundee Info Group,
“ACAB’ for those who are not aware, is a hate symbol utilized by antifa that means, “All Cops Are Bastards”. It is a recognized hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League, who notes it was originally used by skinheads but has been adopted by “anti-racists” (i.e. antifa).
This is something Ryan Clarke at the Newberg Graphic won’t report on,
That is the anarchy symbol, another common sign used by antifa.
Here’s another photo,
Why is it that a protest group that Tai Harden-Moore organized and which consisted of her supporters drew a bunch of antifa signs on the sidewalk, if not because this situation is in fact escalating toward the direction Portland is at?
And here is the proof that Tai Harden-Moore’s group was responsible for this, as provided by a video report by KGW, Dozens in Newberg rally against hate amid political sign ban.
Go ahead, watch the video on the KGW article I linked to. These antifa hate symbols were drawn in the same place they held their protest.
Here is a comparison for the people who don’t live in Newberg and know anything about us,
See the house with the sale sign in the front yard? That inlet from the video is where this writing was made.
A slippery slope fallacy is something based on little evidence. It’s not a fallacy if there is, which there is.
Again, Ryan Clarke at the Newberg Graphic won’t tell you this stuff. He doesn’t provide the full story of things happening in our town and delivers pointed comments, because as I mentioned in the first article when I pointed out that he neglects to mention Tai Harden-Moore is a consultant employed by the city, he is not a journalist — he is a propagandist. When hate symbols are drawn by the people on the side of the issue he supports, he doesn’t report on it. Yet he is more than happy to report on cases that may not actually be racism, such as the Rosa Parks costumed teacher incident at the school, which might have been mischaracterized as a case of racism by Ryan Clarke’s initial reporting.
Tai Harden-Moore Is Wrong About The Newberg School Rosa Parks Incident Involving Lauren Pefferle
Recently, Lauren Pefferle appeared on the Lars Larsen Northwest Podcast 09-23-21 radio show. Lauren Pefferle is the teacher who has been accused of wearing blackface to school as part of a racist act.
Unlike Ryan Clarke, the propogandist who works for the Newberg Graphic, I will allow you to hear Lauren Pefferle in her own words explain what she thought she was doing and explain she had no racist intentions. Instead, she says she was dressing like Rosa Parks because she admired her and wanted to send a message about segregation of unvaccinated teachers within the schools. She also points out that the school was celebrating a ‘Constitution Day’ as well, which is why she was dressed up as a historical figure in the first place.
The part where her interview begins is at 33:22 in the program, so just click on the timeline bar to jump to that point.
Personally I believe that what Lauren Pefferle did was in poor taste and she should not have done it. However, it does not appear to have been a racist action. Tai Harden-Moore has therefore jumped to conclusions that the action must have been racist without allowing Lauren Pefferle any chance to explain her actions, and Tai Harden-Moore and her supporters have used this isolated incident to construct a composition fallacy, blaming the whole town for the actions of a single teacher while mischaracterizing the intentions of Lauren Pefferle. ‘Blackface’ is a specific kind of performance done to ridicule African-Americans based on stereotypes. This act is not what Lauren Pefferle was intending to do and she claims to instead have dressed like Rosa Parks because she admired her. How can something be racist if the individual was not practicing racial prejudice? It obviously cannot be.
Therefore, Tai Harden-Moore’s claims that this incident was proof that white supremacy exists in Newberg is utterly refuted by the available evidence at hand, and unless she can prove that Lauren Pefferle is actually a racist she should retract her claims and apologize for the accusations she has made in her composition fallacy, judging the whole of the town of Newberg based on an isolated incident and causing further hysteria.
So far, the only evidence I have seen of racism in Newberg is the type of racism Tai Harden-Moore is involved in promoting.
I once again extend an invitation to Tai Harden-Moore to abandon the Common Enemy path she has been treading and join me in restoring the Common Humanity approach to our town, where we judge a person by the content of their character, and we do not make sexual orientation, gender and ethnicity the most important qualities to judge others and ourselves by. Let’s restore peace to our town and be good neighbors, instead of spreading divisive rhetoric that benefits no one. And to Ryan Clarke at the Newberg Graphic, I say the same and encourage him to abandon the path of a propogandist and return to being an actual journalist who abides by the journalistic codes of conduct to provide fair and balanced reporting on events, which I do not believe he is doing based on the evidence at hand.
UPDATE: Response from Ryan Clarke of the Newberg Graphic
Ryan Clarke has responded to this article,
Update Related to the Rosa Parks incident involving Lauren Pefferle
Since publishing this post, KATU2 news did an interview with Lauren Pefferle
After watching the video and considering the evidence so far, I have formed a theory. It is not a claim I can prove with the available evidence but I would like to share it,
I believe it is worth considering. In any regard, the abnormality of the incident is not evidence of a widespread problem in Newberg of racism.
