Temecula Valley School District (TVUSD) and neighboring districts like Murrieta, Menifee and Lake Elsinore, have all been prey to the ongoing Christian nationalist assault by 412 Church of Murireta/Temecula Valley, and its founder, Pastor Tim Thompson. As is common with politically active evangelical pastors, Thompson rose in popularity during 2020 when his church defied state public health rules and held in-person services at 412, where he is well known for his antagonizing sermons ##. His weekly podcast, “Our Watch with Tim Thompson” pushes culture war issues as biblical topics and fuels the divide between the left and the right with provoking subjects like abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality, CRT, and Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Thompson, like most evangelical pastors, embraces symbols and rhetoric that cross boundaries with white supremacy, and has been documented wearing the extremist anti-government hate group ‘Three Percenters’ (III%) symbol while gesturing the well known three finger hand signal. You can read more on Thompson’s ties to extremism here.
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3% militia fan Tim Thompson teamed up with Chloe Cole Brockman to challenge California's transgender sanctuary law SB107. https://t.co/QX06i55JjP pic.twitter.com/QTILHHGck4
— 👋 Not That Guy (@noesecarino) March 8, 2023
Religion And Politics
Thompson has gone to great lengths to influence local politics with his extremist Christian ideology. Through the Inland Empire (IE) Family PAC, he has successfully campaigned and placed numerous school board candidates in Riverside County. In 2022, six 412 Church and IE Family Pac candidates were elected as school board trustees, including three to the TVUSD Board, flipping it to a conservative majority. Following this change, TVUSD has become a hot bed of controversy promoting fringe issues that threaten diversity, equity and inclusion, transgender rights, and race related curriculum within the school district.
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CRT: The Talk Of The Town
A Black man at a school board meeting in Temecula, CA is thrown out for confronting a woman who told him to “leave the country” pic.twitter.com/cp0011zNFH
— Marjorie Gaylor Queen 🏳️🌈 (@Tim_Tweeted) March 23, 2023
Most recently the TVUSD board focused on banning critical race theory (CRT), which has become an all encompassing term referring to any history lessons about systemic racism, truthful teaching of American history and progress toward racial justice. The board voted 3-2 to hire Christopher Arrend for anti-CRT lectures and Q&A discussions with TVUSD staff at a whopping $400-$500 an hour over a two day period. Arrend, an attorney who denies the existence of systematic racism, does not hold any teaching credentials. TVUSD Board members Joseph Komrosky, Jen Wiersma, and Danny Gonzalez are Thompson’s hand picked candidates pushing anti-CRT agenda since they were elected in November 2022. In fact, it was the very first agenda item in their order of business.
During a CRT board discussion on March 22, 2023, things got heated and a Black man was thrown out by officers after a verbal fight broke out while he was giving passionate remarks on the subject. A white woman, Melinda Emig, told him to “leave the country” (read more HERE). Melinda Emig is a Temecula resident with a child at Linfield, a private Christian school. The event was non-violent and it is not clear why the man was forced to leave. Emig was later asked to leave, but only after tremendous pressure from the audience.
At the same time, another altercation erupted, where a large man can be seen hollering and facing off with a small girl. Needless to say the CRT agenda in TVUSD has sown contention within the district, and remains one of the most popular fringe issues amongst the revolving door of culture war topics being exploited at school board meetings across the nation.
The Price Of Resistance
Recently, a local Temecula resident was targeted for her activism on Easter Sunday. Jennifer Reeves, who is known for resisting Christian nationalist efforts in the TVUSD and surrounding school districts, suffered major vandalism on her private property when unknown suspects doused her driveway, cars, and house facade with red paint. ##
An investigation into the matter has been opened, but with the history of extremist actions within the school district, and Reeves involvement in countering them, it’s easy to assume someone with ties to 412 Church, or another conservative group, might be involved. We’ve also seen the repercussions of similar manufactured school district controversies in the Conejo Valley School District. That school district has also suffered vandalism, and even death threats.
When far-right activism results in vandalism and death threats like this, innocent peoples’ lives are put at risk. This is why S.C.E.W. strives to inform the public of the danger extremism and radicalism is having on communities across Southern California.