A candidate running for a chair for the Indiana School board has a concerning outlook on the history of Nazism. Anesthesiologist Dr. Matt Keefer, who has been railing against critical race theory, and “wokeness” in schools, said in a Facebook post that “all nazis weren’t bad,” according to NBC WTHR. This was in response to someone asking him if teachers saying the truth would be considered indoctrination.
From NBC WTHR:
“All Nazis weren’t ‘bad’ as you specify. They did horrible things. They were in a group frenzy in both cases you site [sic],” his response reads. “Who is to say if we were both there in the same place and same time, that we wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
Parents were stunned by these comments. The Nazis murdered six million Jewish people and six million others while subjecting them to starvation, torture, and unlawful confinement in concentration camps. When Keefer was questioned about this, he doubled down on his line of thinking. Again, adding a both sides perceptions of nazism and stating, “the more you attack the Nazi, the better I look to “non-far left” people,” according to reports.
Zionsville Community School Board member Michael Berg, who is running for re-election, wasn’t surprised by Dr. Keefer’s alleged comments. He attributed them to Keefer’s “not being shy about making sweeping generalizations about many groups of people whom he disagrees with.” Berg went on to discuss why Keefer’s Nazi comments are so insidious.
Also, from NBC WTHR:
“Perhaps more concerning to me is his apparent desire to co-opt the suffering of Holocaust victims to claim a similar type of victimhood for himself over disagreements with COVID-19 mitigation strategies. I am concerned that Dr. Keefer and candidates like him are running for school board seats with motivations driven by their political beliefs. The ultimate responsibility of a school board member, and my reason for running, is to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality public education.”