Founder of The Tennessee Holler Justin Kanew spoke out against anti-mask parents at the Williams County, Tennessee school his five-year-old daughter attends.
His speech blew a hole through anti-masker's "religious exemption" excuse saying there is no biblical reason that justifies not wearing a mask.
The Williamson County, Tennessee school board held a meeting after hundreds of anti-masker parents protested just the week before.
At that protest, a medical professional spoke in support of masks.
A parent was heard yelling at them:
"We know who you are."
"You can leave freely, but we will find you."
At the school board meeting that took place on Monday, Kanew said:
"I'm a dad of a new kindergartener and her first day was right after the chaos last week."
"She went to school and was one of just a few kids in her class wearing a mask which made her ask me why she had to."
"My answer was because we want to take care of other people. She's five years old, but she understood that concept, and it's disappointing that more adults around here can't seem to grasp it."
Kanew said it wasn't just his opinion, he talked to an actual pastor:
"I asked a pastor friend of mine and he was very clear, there's no actual biblical justification for using the Bible to get out of a mask mandate passed by a majority of this elected board, but thousands are doing it anyway, calling it a 'religious exemption,' which is frankly just sad."
"Avoiding masks is not in the Bible but taking care of others is."
Kanew said he didn't plan to speak at the meeting, but his unplanned speech now has near 840 thousand views.
Williamson County has an estimated weekly average of 134 new COVID-19 cases. With only a population of 238,412, the county has seen over 31 thousand cases total and the number is on the rise.
Republican Governor Bill Lee signed an executive order voiding any local mask mandates which allowed parents to opt-out of masks for their children.
Kanew ended his speech talking about the executive order:
"[It's] government overreach undercutting a local decision."
"If you only like democracy when it goes your way, you don't like democracy."
People on Twitter have praised Kanew for speaking up.
Kanew also made a few comments on another highly debated topic, Critical Race Theory:
"First of all, Critical Race Theory is not in our schools, and it never was."
"The people here to complain about it did not know what it was six months ago and had never heard of it."
"That's why they're going after Diversity, Equity and Inclusion instead and trying to pretend they're the same thing. They aren't."
"And frankly, there aren't many communities around the globe that need DEI more than this one that we live in."
You might also know Justin Kanew from when he was on CBS's Amazing Race twice and when he was the Democratic Party's 2018 nominee for a U.S. House seat.
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