Quisha King joins Priscilla Rahn in the studio to talk about race relations within education. The two talk about DEI in schools, and whether merit based systems are better for children learning. They talk about critical race theory, is it being taught in elementary schools?
00:00:03 Introduction to Restoring Education in America
00:00:17 Excalibur Classical Academy and Guest Introduction
00:03:02 Keisha King-Benton’s Family and Homeschooling Journey
Welcome to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. She’s a master educator and author, leading the conversation to restore the American mind through wisdom, virtue, and truth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to Restoring Education in America. I’m your host, Priscilla Rahn. I’m so excited that you’ve decided to join the conversation today. 2026 is going to be a very exciting year. There’s a lot going on, especially in Colorado. And I want to let you know that there’s a new private classical school that’s opening in Centennial. It’s called Excalibur Classical Academy. And what’s amazing about this school is that it’s a private school, tuition-based. Go to their website, ExcaliburClassicalAcademy.org. And what’s special about Excalibur is that their goal is to restore America’s heritage by developing servant leaders who are keepers and defenders of the principles of freedom for which our founding fathers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. And what better year to open a new private school than America’s 250th birthday? But there is this massive national conversation around education. And I have an amazing guest that I am going to bring on to the stage who is no stranger to parental rights and what’s going on in our schools. I’m welcoming my friend, Miss Keisha King-Benton. Hi, Keisha. Hi, Priscilla, so glad to be here. I am so excited to have this conversation with you because you have been at the forefront of this conversation around parental rights. But before we get into the conversation, I’m going to share your bio with our listeners so people can get to know a little bit more about you. So Mrs. Keisha King-Benton is a wife and mother, host of the Keisha King Show and founder of Mass Exodus Movement that helps parents with resources to get their kids into better learning environments. Currently, she is a national speaker on education issues, parental rights and politics affecting American culture and faith. She has been featured on major news outlets and national TV news. Keisha received the 2021 Rising Stars Award from the RNC and was a featured guest at Governor Ron DeSantis’ 2022 State of the State Address. She was also highlighted by Governor DeSantis for her Board of Education remarks against critical race theory during the 2020 Faith and Freedom Conference. She’s a former spokesmom for Moms for Liberty and also a member. Keisha is an advocate for Christian conservative values and continues to uncover progressive tactics that damage American culture. Wow. Wow. Wow. And you just got married. You have five children. Tell us a little bit about your children and your awesome husband.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my gosh, so my husband is a veteran. He owns a barbershop here where we live in Florida, and he’s amazing. He’s just the most amazing human being on the planet. I think I mean, he’s just, you know, we as far as education is concerned and how we are Raising the children, it can be a struggle because they all need different things and there’s 5 of these jokers, you know, so it’s like, oh, my gosh. So our, our oldest, she’s 19 and so she’s, she’s going into her. She’s going to be a hairstylist. So she’s going to cosmetology school, but the others are still in K through 12, but they’re all homeschooled. So we have. You know, gotten them little by little out of the public school system. It’s like, because listen, being married to me, we’re not doing public school and we’re going to try as much as we can. You know, obviously we compare it, but. we’re trying as much as we can and thank god it has been a blessing to have everybody on board because we really do want the best for you know all of the children so we can get into more more into that if you if you’d like yeah well let’s go back to the beginning where this all started what was the trigger for you to kind of get up and get active in this whole conversation around education Oh, man. So everybody remembers 2020. I have to back up just a bit. So before I got involved in politics, I had learned some incredible things about Thomas Sowell and just different things about the Democrat Party, the Republican Party. And I’m just learning all these things. And I had this pivotal moment in my life where the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that my skin color had become an idol in my life. It changed everything for me. I can’t leave that part out because it. It dovetails right into, you know, what happened next? So that was around, like, 2017, 2018, 2020 comes around COVID hits and. my oldest comes home and she says so we were doing hybrid at this point so they were in school for three days and out for two so we were you know florida was one of the places where we were trying to get the kids back in school faster and first day of eighth grade my oldest comes home and she says my teacher asked me what pronoun i wanted to go by now So I, by this point, I was very well versed in critical race theory. I was very well versed in all of the things that were happening in the school. So when she said this to me, that was like five alarm, my alarm bells went off and I’m like, okay, stay calm, remain calm. Don’t go and dive across the teacher’s desk. Okay. Okay. So I wrote her a letter. I asked her why she would be asking something like this to children who are not bringing this issue to them. Why are you introducing these concepts to children? She never responded. Fast forward, same teacher a few months later. I told my daughter at that time, I said, be vigilant. Just let’s not, we’re not going to make a big deal out of it, but be vigilant. And so she recorded a conversation that our lecturer, I guess the teacher, had had that day she said we’re gonna be uh going over some books that have some racial themes in them and you know okay all right and she was like well I just want to kind of you know prepare you guys a little bit so but she doesn’t talk about literary you know themes in the book or concepts or anything like that she starts asking the kids how are they oppressed little Johnny always an African American child. How are you oppressed? As an Asian child, as an LGBTQ, like all the different identity groups got asked, except for the white kids, there was no group for the white children, you know, except for if they happen to be a part of the LGBTQ. And I think, you know, you pick up that you see why these younger children are searching for an identity group to be a part of. And they’re like, okay, I’ll be the trans one. I’ll do the trans because it allows for everybody. You can still participate. You still get that oppression Olympics trophy, you know, but you can still fit in if you don’t happen to have like more melanin. So I know, let me get back to the story. But anyway, so she, My daughter brings the recording home to me and I couldn’t believe it. I could not believe that I was listening to critical race theory being pushed in the classroom. It was just like I didn’t. It was one of those things like, you know, it exists, but you don’t think it’s like not in your not with your children. You know, that’s other people. It just opened my mind to how widespread this had become. And I start digging in my own backyard and find out that there were critical race theory materials back in 2013, I think, or 2011, 12, all under the Obama administration, funny enough. when they really started to come into the classroom. So this had been going on for years and we had no idea. So this was happening right as like Loudoun County was starting to surge with all of the uncoverings and what they were finding there. So it was just this boiling point that happened across the country. And I started going down to the school board meetings and we had… because of this big debate of critical race theory was being brought to the forefront. And DeSantis had a board of education meeting, a state board of education meeting in my city. And I went and spoke. And it went viral. And so I was already involved in politics. I was already, you know, volunteering and I had ran the RNC, the Black Voices for Trump in 2020. So I was involved. And so this was kind of just like an extension of my involvement. It just happened to hit home, you know, with my own children. And so it just really drove me. drove me like to, you know, just something I couldn’t ignore. And I didn’t want other parents to have to go through that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow, that’s powerful. If you’re just tuning in, my special guest today is Mrs. Keisha King-Benton. She is the host of the Keisha King Show, and she’s an Uber mom. And I remember that I always say it wasn’t just the children who were indoctrinated, Keisha. It was those of us who are teachers. I’m still a full-time classroom teacher in Denver. And we were taught, you cannot implement this type of indoctrination without the teachers involved. implementing it as well. And so all of our professional development was leaning towards what you were talking about, the critical race theory that, you know, that was a, that’s a whole other conversation. We know the nuances of it being at the college level versus how it’s being implemented and the books that we were reading in order to try to satisfy the needs of, as you said, the oppression Olympics, it no longer was about quote unquote black excellence and really decreasing the achievement gap and making sure our students were learning. It became about all of these different demographics. But last summer, actually, Keisha, I was in D.C. at the Teacher Freedom Alliance and I met the Florida Commissioner of Education. His name is Stassi Kamoutsis. What an amazing firebrand. When he came on the stage, I was like, oh, I’m so excited to hear what’s going on in Florida. Because across the nation, we love Governor DeSantis. He is at the forefront of making sure schools are open. And I started seeing a lot of your videos, too, talking about what’s going on in education. And I would be here in Colorado, a blue state, so jealous that… You had this wonderful governor and now you have this wonderful commissioner of education. What can parents in Florida expect from this administration going forward?
SPEAKER 02 :
Hmm. so florida has been a leader in in education we have governor desantis really stood with parents when we said we don’t want our children to be masked we want our children to be able to not just go back and sit in a classroom you know with cova going on but also get a quality education. So Governor DeSantis, he’s been putting together coalitions of parents along with, you know, people that not politicians, but maybe educators that aren’t in the they’re not teaching anymore, but people from the community to come back and help See, like, let’s bet some of these books, let’s see, let’s dig in and see what is actually in the library. Let’s look at the curriculum around slavery, the Holocaust, some of these big history moments where a lot of these. you know, people like to latch on to and take them in a critical race theory direction and just looking at history, just looking at the plain facts. And so under the DeSantis administration, especially his second term, really went into Figure out where there were there were failings in the academics. How can we make sure that the children are getting accurate lessons? Because critical race theory had crept into the actual like the textbooks, you know, they were there. It had gotten so bad. DeSantis a few, I think this was last year. He implemented that when we were looking at all of the different publishers and we were the textbook publishers. Let’s look at the math books. let’s look at you know things where you wouldn’t expect critical race theory to come in and believe it or not they were literally trying to say math had some racial like it was incredible it was just like you can’t be serious but that’s those are the kinds of foundational things that the DeSantis administration has been doing, literally gutting out the DEI, you know, broadly, more broadly speaking, DEI. And look, you know, getting this stuff out of the curriculum because it’s garbage. It’s junk. It’s these are, you know, these theories that, you know, they’re just theories. they they there’s no proof to them it’s just somebody’s idea it’s like that’s not why we send our children to school to get some theories that you know haven’t been proven You know, and they’re, you know, the theories themselves are just half cocked. You know, they’re not even like they’re not based in any fact. And so that those are the things that I really appreciate about the DeSantis administration going in and getting to the core, the root of where these things come from, because we can change policy. on the policy legislative level. But if we don’t get in there and look at the curriculum, they’re still able to feed this junk to kids. For me, that’s one of the things that I really appreciate about this administration.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you know, we saw a lot of parents starting to pay attention and get active, go to their school boards. And then they started being called domestic terrorists.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Remember that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I forget.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you were standing up and wanting to know what was in the libraries or what information was being taught, if you saw someone like a Governor DeSantis say, listen, we’re about prioritizing curriculum and education. Therefore, we’re not going to add any other types of teaching without parental knowledge. And then, you know, that whole don’t say gay bill where I had to tell people it’s such a short read. Go read the bill. Right. And say anything about that. But the left kept twisting the truth. This is what they do. They take advantage of the fact that people won’t go and actually read the bill or take the time to know all. what a law is saying, and then they will create a whole entire narrative, right? So he’s been at the forefront. So an organization like Moms for Liberty, all of these mom groups, Mama Bears started waking up too. to being active and you’ve started speaking out about this. So why do you think the movement hasn’t died down, right? It’s not like, oh, now schools are open and so we can go back to the way things were. No, these parent groups are more active and they’re growing. Why do you think that parents are still active and are becoming more vocal?
SPEAKER 02 :
Because there’s so much work to be done. You know, we had no idea that how entrenched our curriculums had become, you know, across the country, entrenched with, you know, critical race theory and just DEI and in all forms, like even the gender ideology stuff. We’re not just talking about race. We’re talking about gender issues. queer theory where they’re convincing children to cut off their healthy body parts. You just can’t imagine such a barbaric and just nonsensical way to put this on children. It’s just, it’s insane. And so, because that mind virus is still really active and it takes a little while to gut these things out because it had gone under the radar for so many years, I would say decades. it’s a lot to get to, you know? And it’s like, once you uncover one thing, you’re like, Oh my God, there’s like 50 million more. And then you, you’re like clearing that on. Then you’re to the next level. You’re like, and it, there is so much to be done. And parents, Or like waking up little, you know, there was like this mass wake up. And then I feel like it’s kind of in waves, you know, until it really hits your backyard. You don’t really like get that fire in your belly, you know. And once it does, though, it wakes up with moms. And that’s how we are because we’re going to tell our neighbor, you know.
SPEAKER 01 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Girl, you are not going to believe what’s going on. You know, that’s how we do. And so just the way by nature, how we are, we’re going to spread that message, especially when it comes to children. And I’ve been like doing I’ve done like where I’m on the street talking to moms and I’m like, do you know what’s going on in the schools? And they’re like, no, you know. I’ve heard the talk, you know, and I’ll show them pictures of some of the book, the inappropriate materials that they can’t believe it. And just by talking about it, doing things like this, it keeps parents like, oh God, well, what is going on? And so I think this is why we have to keep talking about it so more, the message can spread and more parents can get involved.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s definitely the important thing. And you’re right. We do talk. We talk and we text and we share. I mean, every day I’m getting flooded by text messages and videos of conversations that are happening. Things are happening all over the U.S. And you know what? School districts are getting more sneaky. about even with the DEI implementation. Right, right. With President Trump’s executive orders, districts are getting very creative, I should say, how they’re getting around some of these laws. But you took it a step further, Keisha. You decided to take the plunge and do homeschool. Why did you decide to do that?
SPEAKER 02 :
I just couldn’t imagine leaving my children in an environment that I knew was awful for them. It just didn’t make any sense. Because I knew so deeply what was going on and I didn’t trust, I kind of didn’t know who to trust. I don’t know, okay, I might be cool with this teacher and I trust this teacher, but they change the other one, I’m not so sure. And I just didn’t want to leave their destiny behind. into someone else’s hands you know like as a Christian woman as a believer we are called to be good stewards over our children and so I’m like that’s not being a good steward if I know that a house is on fire and my children are inside and I’m like well I’m gonna try to fix the fire first before I get my kids out and it’s like I understand it’s a very hard thing to do I understand it’s you know it could be tough you know financially it can be tough you got to move things around For me, it was worth it. You know, I just could not, I don’t think I could live with myself knowing what I knew and just be like, okay. see you when you get home. Like I, I just couldn’t do it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Keisha, I know that it does take a lot of sacrifice because for a while you were a single mom and you had to be the provider and, and taking care of that. And so what would you say to parents who are afraid or nervous and they don’t know for sure if they are quote unquote smart enough or have the right knowledge to homeschool their children? What advice would you give to them?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh man, I would say homeschooling your children is the best thing that you can do for them because it does so many things. Number one, it keeps the bonds close with you and your children. Because think about it, if you’re sending your children away to strangers, because they are strangers, you’re sending them away five days a week for 13 years, you know, in seven to eight hours a day. So you’re, you lose a lot. You don’t even know your children anymore. There are so many parents. And I know like once they start school, you’ve, you’ve, you know, you sat on the floor with them. They’re like three and four and you’re showing them the ABCs and you’re doing colors and all this stuff. And then you send them to kindergarten and then like two weeks, they come home saying stuff. You’re like, where’d you get that from? Whose child are you? You have instilled all of these beautiful virtues in your lovely little child and they come back after two weeks of public education. You’re like, I don’t know who you are. And as time goes on, we have come to believe, oh, this is the phase. They’re just going through this phase where they want to be away from you. That is not true. That is not how we are made up as human beings. When you keep those bonds close with your children, they want to be closer to you. I got closer to my children. You know, they talk to me more. I didn’t experience all those, you know, my child doesn’t want to talk to me, you know, because they’re going through this weird teenage phase. Because I pulled them out, we kind of, we didn’t have to go through that. And it’s like, oh, mom, you’re my best friend. It’s like, well, I will be here for you. Because you have to make those lines. I’m your mother. But we can have those conversations in the appropriate, you know, as we both respect each other’s role. And It has changed their life. My oldest daughter, I mean, we went from her just not liking school. She was walking around the house reading her history book for fun. And she’s like, mom, did you know this? Oh my gosh. And so I put her in a co-op. So it was like a group of parents that got together and we paid a teacher to teach our children. And it was so great. It was two days a week, but she graduated with honors. She’s a thinker. She is a thinker now. And she wasn’t bad. you know, when I pulled her out, I noticed that when I would ask her certain questions, I didn’t like her, her logical, she wasn’t logically processing her thoughts. And I, you know, this was ninth grade, like first semester, ninth grade. And I’m just like, you know, I knew something was wrong and I hadn’t uncovered the, I was trying to do better. You know, I had kind of made up my own system of how I was You know, going to teach and now had learning all the things that I learned, but I hadn’t pulled her out yet. And so as I’m talking to her, you know, when I would pick her up, I’m just going like, she’s not where she needs to be for a ninth grader. Like I expect certain responses. But when I pulled her out, we were able to have better conversations and I was able to show her more how to think through certain things and help her come to her own conclusions. Okay, well, tell me why you think that way. Think through that a bit more. Okay, well, what about, don’t you have to consider this instance too? So just being able to help her see where she’s at, see where your children are at mentally. Because when they’re… eight hours a day at school you don’t really know and you think that they’re feeling that the schools are filling in the gaps of where their learning isn’t um you know where they haven’t come it hasn’t come full circle and they’re not many times and so i would encourage parents to really dig into your poke and prod on your kid see what they know because it’s like how are kids graduating and can barely read. That is a parent problem. We can’t blame everything on the schools. You know what I mean? You should be really invested in where your child is at. If you’re going to leave them in public school, let’s just say it’s just… It’s unfeasible to pull them out. Then you better. And I’m saying it like this because it is true. You had better make sure that they are getting what they need. And you have to make you the parent have to has to make sure that that’s happening. Sorry, that was really long.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, don’t apologize because the heart and the passion is coming through as a mom. And I just want to encourage so many parents that there are other options. It doesn’t have to just be homeschool. But like you said, co-ops or micro schools and other families supporting alongside you. So I would just encourage parents to look into all of the different options. But Keisha, I’m looking at the time and I’ve got to land our plane. And I’ve totally enjoyed having this conversation with you. We’ll have to do it again and talk a little bit more. So to my listeners, thanks for tuning in and catch me next time. And remember that educating the mind without the heart is no education. So seek wisdom, cultivate virtue and speak truth.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for tuning in to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. Visit PriscillaRahn.com to connect or learn how you can sponsor future episodes to keep this message of faith, freedom, and education on the air.
