A high school student who went viral for being censored during a debate is back in the spotlight for slamming the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA).

As previously reported, Florida high school student Briana Whatley went viral in May after she alleged that she’d been “warned” against mentioning former President Donald Trump in her arguments.

She returned to the spotlight last week by, one, dropping a column for the Washington Examiner, and two, posting the following video to Twitter:

I’m a high school debater that has been censored. @speechanddebate and judges alike need to stop imputing their narrative into our debates.

LET US DEBATE! pic.twitter.com/5Htom9vajw

— Briana V. Whatley (@briana_whatley) June 29, 2023

In the video, she responded to a Twitter Spaces discussion about high school debates that she’d just heard.

“It was just a couple months ago that my judge warned me to not to mention President Trump because she deemed it inappropriate. She couldn’t put her personal ideology to the side to judge me impartially. I’m not the only student who’s had to self-censor in debates,” she said.

“There was a specific debate couch on the Twitter Space last night that states arguing against systemic racism is the same as arguing the sky is green. That is the issue. It is no wonder my students like myself are not being judged impartially but rather on how closely we align to our judge’s personal beliefs,” she added.

She then turned to the NSDA.

“What’s more alarming is the National Speech & Debate Association themselves. They released a topic stating how does race-based affirmative action benefit black Americans, completely disregarding the other side of the debate of how affirmative action could be a detriment. It’s important we look at that topic they released because it was just today that the Supreme Court ruled affirmative action unconstitutional,” she said.

Seen here, the list of topics all appear to be one-sided.

Here are some examples, in addition to (reasons) why the examples are bad:

• “How can online hate speech be stopped and prevented?” (not everybody believes in censoring so-called “hate speech”)
• “How can the criminal justice system be reformed to lessen the impact of racial bias?” (not everybody believes the criminal justice system needs to be reformed just because of disproportionate rates of incarceration)
• “How can the U.S. government address environmental racism?” (not everybody believes in the notion of so-called “environmental racism.”

Whatley concluded her video by demanding to know why the NSDA has had so much difficulty as of late condemning bad behavior.

“Why is it so difficult for the National Speech & Debate Association to condemn the judge that told me not to mention President Trump or the one who openly says in their paradigm that they will not vote for pro-capitalist arguments? Why is it so difficult? The NSDA and judges alike need to stop inputting their own narratives into our debates,” she said.

Notice what she said about a judge automatically downvoting pro-capitalist arguments. This revelation was uncovered in a report filed by The Free Press in May.

In the report, reporter James Fishback talked about one specific NSDA judge who identifies as a “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist” and who’s vowed to “no longer evaluate and thus never vote for … capitalist-imperialist positions/arguments.”

High school debates are now adopting the same rules as left-wing media: if you say “capitalism can reduce poverty,” “Israel has a right to defend itself,” or “illegal immigrants,” you will lose. No questions asked. This is why young Americans are so lost.https://t.co/v9igIzYvte

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 25, 2023

In an update published a month later, Fishback offered even more examples.

“John Hollihan, debate coach at Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School, judged three rounds at NSDA nationals. His paradigm tells students that ‘I am EXTREMELY skeptical of ‘capitalism good’ arguments. If you go for them, you better do a lot of analysis to convince me,'” he wrote.

“Chaz Wyche, who judged the final round of middle school policy debate, states in his paradigm that ‘I reserve the right to end the debate due to anti-blackness,'” he added.

The examples go on for days.

In her own column published in the Examiner, Whatley explained why resolving this crisis of bias in America’s HS debate system is so critical.

“Debate is the last area on Earth where students should be shamed for making fact-based arguments. Unfortunately, it happens all the time. I just want to debate without being ridiculed or censored by either my judges or my peers,” she wrote.

“The essence of a debate is to provoke thought, challenge prevailing views, and prepare young men and women like myself to analyze different perspectives and build persuasive arguments. If we allow ideology to overrun high school debate, it will no longer be debate. Instead, it will be a mindless activity where curiosity is nowhere to be found,” she added.

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Vivek Saxena

Senior Staff Writer
Vivek@bizpacreview.com

V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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