NC town manager receives backlash from ‘hurtful’ and ‘divisive’ 9/11 speech
A speech at a North Carolina high school to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks turned into a “hurtful” and “divisive” political commentary, according to some students in attendance.
Troutman Town Manager Ron Wyatt delivered his remarks to students, parents and faculty at South Iredell High School in Statesville on Friday. In his speech, he tried to explain how important law enforcement was during 9/11 because the students in attendance weren’t alive during the attack on the World Trade Center, Wyatt told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday.
Some students, however, said they didn’t appreciate Wyatt shifting the focus of the speech to his political opinions on law enforcement and how “the idiots” in national media portray the profession.
“He hurt almost everyone who went to the high school,” South Iredell junior Adamae Schaad told the Observer.
Erica Brinskelle, a junior at the high school, said war and political rivalry have been ingrained in teenagers’ lives since they were born. Wyatt’s pivot from 9/11 to headlines about police “had no relevance whatsoever,” she said.
Wyatt, a former Marine and law enforcement officer, told the Observer he tried defending his former profession in the speech because certain parts of national media continue to run “anti-police stories.”
“There are more instances of teachers being arrested for harming children through molestation and sex crimes, but yet national media outlets aren’t banding together and just downing teaching as a profession,” he said.
Wyatt ended his speech by telling the audience if you don’t like America then “buy a ticket and go somewhere else.”
“That’s the greatest thing about America,” Wyatt told the Observer. “If you don’t like what America does or how it does, then we have the freedom to do the best thing of all, you can buy a ticket and go wherever you want.”
Schaad took offense to Wyatt’s comments. Her mother wasn’t born in America, and the 16-year-old Schaad says she’s been told multiple times to “get out of this country” because she’s half-Hispanic.
“It was literally one of the most offensive things he could have ever said,” she said.
All speeches, including his, are “open to interpretation,” Wyatt said.
“My intention in the speech was to get these students to make choices and judge people and professions based on facts and not what people want to feed them,” he said.
Wyatt, a former mayor of Troutman, 35 miles north of Charlotte, said three complaints about his speech were filed with the school.
Message to Iredell-Statesville school board
Juliet Mingle, another South Iredell student, started a petition on Change.org demanding that the Iredell-Statesville School District board acknowledge that Friday’s ceremony was “disgraceful to a delicate matter” and politically charged.
“We, the students of South Iredell High School, recognize the sacrifices made on 9/11,” the petition reads. “We cannot ignore someone who would rather choose to benefit their own political aspirations over the memory of those who gave their lives on that day.”
As of Tuesday night, the petition had over 240 signatures and a number of comments critical of Wyatt’s speech.
Schaad and Brinskelle said they sent lengthy emails to South Iredell principal Kelly Shoffner. In a screenshot of Shoffner’s response posted by Schaad and Mingle on social media, the principal said students were “changing part of the message” and changing what Wyatt actually said.
In the note, Shoffner also said she spoke with Wyatt about his speech and would “try to address” the student body because she wants the school “to focus on unity and honor others.”
Shoffner did not immediately respond to an Observer request for comment Tuesday.
Wyatt said Shoffner spoke to him after the speech and said she wished he hadn’t called the national media “idiots” or made the comment about getting a ticket out of the country. However, Wyatt said Shoffner told him his speech wasn’t political.
“I’m perplexed about what in that speech they thought was political because nothing in it was intended to be political or divisive,” he said. “Honestly, as an adult, people are entitled to their opinions.”
Schaad said people think the teenagers’ stance on Wyatt’s speech doesn’t matter because they’re high school students.
“They’re acting like we don’t know what we’re talking about,” she said. “It was just a really stupid situation.”
Schaad and others want an apology from Wyatt about his speech, but he said he doesn’t owe anyone an apology for what he said. The only regret Wyatt has about his speech is that “people were not open minded enough” to understand what he was saying.
“You and I can both listen to the same song and walk away with two entirely different meanings,” he said. “That don’t mean that you are more or less intelligent than me, or I’m more or less intelligent than you and that don’t mean that either one of us should be spoke about negatively. The interpretation is up to the beholder.”
