Disturbing new audio shows the moment a beloved gay high school principal was shamed for standing up to an anti-racism trainer — whose bullying drove the teacher to suicide.
Richard Bilkszto, 60, was found dead on July 13 after two years of emotional turmoil following the encounter.
He was devastated when Kike Ojo-Thompson turned on him during a session in April 2021 after he challenged her claim that Canada – where both lived – is more racist than the US.
In the audio of the session obtained by The free pressdo you hear Bilkszto say that Canada may not have been “the bastion of white supremacy” that Ojo-Thompson had claimed to be.
He pointed out that public schools for Canada’s poorest students are generally better funded than their counterparts in the United States.
Turning to Bilkszto, Ojo-Thompson told him in front of everyone else, “There’s a lot going on as white people that isn’t your personal experience. It will never be. You’ll never know it is. You’ll never know it is.
“So it’s your job in this job, as white people, to believe.”
Ojo-Thompson – who was paid $7,500 an hour for eight hours of seminars – laughed in a subsequent discussion about the challenge of Bilkszto, who was described as a very progressive man who was praised for his focus on “equity” at work. The anti-racism trainer was later labeled “abusive” by an official government investigation into her antics.
Kike Ojo-Thompson, a diversity trainer from Toronto, called Bilkszto an example of “resistance to white supremacy”
Richard Bilkszto, 60, took his own life in Toronto on July 13 after two years of unrest after meeting in April 2021 at the school where he was principal. He filed an official complaint and won, and had just filed another lawsuit
And in the next session, she again called him an example of “white supremacist resistance” in newly released audio clips where she also laughs as she sets an example of him.
The late principal’s family says his grief only deepened when his school district superintendent, Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, further disgraced him in a tweet suggesting he was a racist.
The tweet, which has since been deleted, praised Ojo-Thompson “for modeling the discomfort administrators may have to experience in order to disrupt ABR,” or anti-black racism.
The week after his death, Kike Ojo-Thompson, the diversity trainer, came out a challenging statement who made no apology for her role in Bilkszto’s death – even suggesting she was the victim.
“This incident is being used to discredit and suppress the work of all those who are committed to diversity, equality and inclusion,” she said.
‘We will not be stopped from our work to build a better society for everyone.’
Now the school board and Canada’s education minister are investigating Bilkszto’s death and whether the obsession with awakened policy may have contributed to it.
Bilkszto, who was gay and single, is said by friends to have dedicated his life to teaching and spent time at a harsh majority black school in Buffalo, New York.
He had recently retired, hoping to travel more, but was convinced to work as director of the Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute in Toronto after his retirement.
In April 2021, the school district hired Kike Ojo-Thompson, a diversity trainer in Toronto, to conduct four two-hour sessions for school leaders — with her company, the KOJO Institute, which charges $15,000 for each session, according to The Free Press . .
The first session was uneventful, but during the second session, Ojo-Thompson claimed that Canada was significantly more racist than the United States.
He disagreed, but no one stood up for him.
After the meeting, Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, the executive superintendent of education, thanked Ojo-Thompson for briefing.
Sheryl Robinson Petrazzini, the executive superintendent of education, thanked Ojo-Thompson for the session that so upset Bilkszto
“When faced with resistance to addressing anti-black racism, we cannot remain silent, as it amplifies the damage done to black students and families,” Petrazzini wrote.
Thanks @KOJOInstitute for modeling the discomfort administrators may have to experience to disrupt ABR, or anti-black racism.
She has since deleted the tweet.
Petrazzini recently made headlines, in her new job, for organizing a non-white “belonging celebration” for “racialized workforce.”
Friends of Bilkszto said Petrazzini’s tweet deeply hurt him.
Robert McManus, 60, a retired teacher who had been friends with Bilkszto since they met at Boy Scout camp at age 11, said the tweet gave the impression that Ojo-Thompson’s reprimand was endorsed by the school district.
It “had a terrible effect on Richard,” McManus said The free press.
Bilkszto’s public disgrace was compounded during the third session, where Ojo-Thompson said his comments were a “teaching moment.”
“One of the ways that white supremacy is maintained, protected, reproduced, sustained and defended is through resistance,” she said.
She then laughed and added, “I’m so lucky that we have perfect evidence, a beautiful example of defiance that you all have to bear witness to, so we’re going to talk about it because, I mean, it doesn’t matter.” it doesn’t get any better than this.’
Kike Ojo-Thompson, founder of the KOJO Institute. Bilkszto said she accused him of supporting white supremacy because he disputed her comments
The day after the third session, Bilkszto applied for sick leave and missed the fourth and final session.
He then filed a complaint with school officials saying he had been harassed.
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board investigated and concluded in August 2021 that Thompson’s behavior was “abusive” and amounted to “workplace harassment.”
Bilkszto was given seven weeks’ wage loss.
But friends said he never got over the humiliation of being labeled a white supremacist, and the confrontation ate at him.
In April of this year, Bilkszto sued the Toronto District School Board, citing Thompson’s “defamatory statements” and administrators’ unwillingness to defend him despite previously praising him.
Bilkszto has suffered and will continue to suffer from his character and reputation, both personally and professionally.
“Bilkszto has also been the victim of embarrassment, scandal, ridicule, contempt and severe emotional distress.”
He committed suicide before the case could be completed.
Bilkszto, 60, committed suicide in July after suing the Toronto District School Board for emotional distress
The 60-year-old experienced teacher had worked for 24 years and was still volunteering as a deputy principal. His family says he was so ‘upset’ by the disagreement with the anti-racism trainer and what happened next that he killed himself
Jason Bilkszto, Richard’s cousin, told The Free Press, “How can you not disagree a little bit on something without them tearing you apart for it?”
McManus said he last spoke to Bilkszto the day before he killed himself.
“It was absolutely clear he wasn’t sleeping well because of all the stress,” McManus said.
“He was a very optimistic person, so the vast majority of the time people talked to him would be seen as doing well, but his friends knew he was struggling — he was struggling with what had happened to him.”
Canadian Education Minister Stephen Lecce said: ‘I extend my sincere condolences to Richard’s family and friends as we remember a teacher who went above and beyond for his students.
“No member of staff should ever be harassed while at work.”
Ojo-Thompson said she “welcomes the review of this matter by Education Secretary Stephen Lecce and will cooperate fully with ministry officials.”
She added: “We believe the Department of Education is best placed to investigate this matter to get to the bottom of what happened at the Toronto District School Board after our workshop closed more than two years ago .’
Ari Goldkind, a Toronto lawyer, told The Free Press that DEI consultants and the institutions that hire them must realize their programs “could have horrible, realistic consequences.”
“There is a real possibility here that the DEI training session will become much more contentious in the future, with participants who feel offended or hurt or reviled, dangerously reviled – meaning they will be banned or made unemployed – striking back in court.” , Goldkind said.
“That’s the lesson of this tragedy, that people are tired of being isolated and ostracized from polite society for having the audacity to ask a question or challenge orthodoxy.”