Conflict over Instagram endorsements by a school board member intensifies, leading to accusations of Nazi affiliations
Candy Olson, a member of the Redlands school board, is currently facing intense controversy and calls for her resignation after it was revealed she liked Instagram posts containing racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and ableist images from a far-right meme account.
Olson, a member of the school board's conservative-voting majority, has been criticized for her actions. The controversy began when she faced criticism during a meeting where she was supported by the far-right activist group MassResistance. The carousels Olson liked included a picture of Adolf Hitler and Jesus apparently commiserating about Jewish people, an image of a character from "The Simpsons" dressed in a Nazi uniform, and a meme that appeared to joke about hitting an LGBTQ Pride parade with a car.
Olson has denied that her Instagram likes reflect her personal views, stating she intended to like only apolitical images within those posts and has since unfollowed the problematic account. She called the backlash a “massive hate campaign” aimed at ruining her reputation and accused critics of launching a smear campaign due to disagreements over her policy positions.
During an August 5 school board meeting, numerous community members called for Olson's resignation. However, some attendees defended her against what they see as politically motivated attacks. The school board did not censure Olson publicly, and according to the district, board members operate independently without being subject to employee conduct codes. Any disciplinary deliberations would occur privately if at all.
The Redlands school board has proposed changes to the district's anti-racism resolution and a new process to pull "blasphemous" library books from shelves, leading to increasingly contentious meetings. The board has also banned all flags from classrooms other than the American and California flags and military flags, which critics see as an attack on LGBTQ pride banners.
The Redlands Unified School District is located in a middle-class community in San Bernardino County, which is generally considered reliably Republican. The district is facing rare heightened monitoring by the California Department of Justice for its mishandling of sexual abuse and misconduct cases.
The controversy remains unresolved publicly with high community tension, active calls for resignation, Olson’s firm denial of wrongdoing, and no official board action disclosed yet. The divisions in Redlands' school board are part of a larger trend of political differences about what children should learn continuing to roil communities, years after the initial backlash to mask mandates and critical race theory turned school boards into battlegrounds.
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- The political turmoil surrounding Candy Olson, a Redlands school board member, has expanded beyond local boundaries, attracting funding from various far-right groups on social media, fueling the calls for her resignation.
- Amidst the general-news headlines about the Redlands school board's stance on politics, one cannot ignore the entanglement of entertainment, as Instagram posts involving memes from "The Simpsons" and popular culture have added fuel to the fire.
- As crime-and-justice incidents in the Redlands area continue to make the news, the ongoing controversy involving Candy Olson and her Instagram activity serves as a stark reminder of the role that social media can play in shaping public opinion and influencing justice-related matters in a community.
