Demand an end to the cancel culture campaign against Mike and Barb Blandino

We are aware of accusations against Mike and Barb Blandino in which the highly prevalent "cancel culture" has resulted in false claims of racism against these two upstanding people. The words racist and racism to describe them is nothing short of slander and libel. We do not believe this is an issue that the Fairborn City School District should be involved in.

What kind of culture do we live in where "virtue signaling" is used to demonize innocent people? On a public site and acting as a private citizen, Mike used one word, "thugs," to describe criminal opportunists who looted, rioted, assaulted people and burned down and vandalized businesses during the protests. Why are we, as a society, redefining words in order to play "gotcha" games. After a search of on-line dictionaries there was no definition of "thugs" that equated that word with race/skin color. The only person who interpreted the word, "thugs" to mean a specific race/skin color was his accuser. That same accuser then went on to accuse Barb of racism because she refused to report a meme supportive of BLM. Barb, again acting as a private citizen, used a single word, "nope", to refuse.

For the Fairborn City Schools to become involved and pursue an internal investigation them is both intrusive and demeaning. What is more, after teaching more than 28 years Mike is facing termination and an impact on his future earnings as well as a loss of earned sick pay. We question why this government entity is seeking to regulate the private speech of citizens.

Most of us have known Mike and Barb for many, many years. We have NEVER witnessed nor are we aware of any situation in which these two made any derogatory remarks, used any racial slurs or treated any human being as less than equal. We are aware of, and have witnessed, their kindness, inclusiveness and influence as leaders and role models. For anyone to use hateful words against them clearly indicates they do not know these two citizen servants.

We, the signatories of this petition, demand that the Fairborn City School District preserve the reputations of two more victims of "cancel culture" madness and stop pursuing any retribution against both individuals We must not allow accusations to falsely impugn and indict our citizens. This is not who we are as a free country under our constitution. And it is not who we should be as US citizens who want to preserve those truths.