Olympia School Board Director Promotes Conspiracy Theory
Talauna Reed Implicates Innocent People in Aunt's Death
This speech was given at the Olympia School Board Meeting on December 8.
Hello, my name is Candace Mercer. I am an independent journalist who has reported on the Yvonne McDonald case since 2018.
I have reviewed hundreds of pages of primary source documents, hours of footage and interviewed many close to the case, including family.
My reporting can be found on Substack and it includes these primary source documents.
I have watched Talauna Reed spread a conspiracy theory designed to incite racial tensions in Olympia. Reed positioned an accidental death as a hate crime.
I have watched her endlessly berate the OlympIa City Council with unfounded accusations that a city employee murdered her aunt.
Furthermore she implicates OPD, Medic One, two city managers, the prosecutor and the coroner in an elaborate scheme to cover up the murder solely because Yvonne McDonald was black.
Reed raised funds in McDonald’s name. Her relatives say that there are no records as to how the money was spent.
Reed used her aunt’s death to further her political career.
Reed bullied the city to do an independent investigation with an attorney billing at $425 an hour.
The $50K report says that “the known evidence indicates what happened to Ms. McDonald was a tragic accident involving no other member of the community” and that “despite rumors to the contrary, no employee of the City of Olympia was involved—there is zero evidence to support any of the claims that a street sweeper could be to blame for McDonald’s injury.”
Yet, to this day, Talauna Reed continues the false narrative that her aunt was murdered.
In my most recent Substack I link to multiple videos of Reed in her own words. After I speak, I will hand out copies of the city’s report and I urge you to compare to Reed’s rhetoric.
She is intentionally lying, just as she lied from the dais last month about her criminal record being about a bounced check for $24.
She expects us to believe her.
We all know you are not arrested for bouncing checks.
Ask Talauna Reed about the time she stole checks from her landlord and forged them.
Ask Talauna Reed about the $5K she embezzled from the Olympian.
Ask Talauna Reed why she was fired from the Salvation Army.
Talauna Reed is a conwoman and a thief.
She is not a role model for children.
To her defenders I ask, and be honest, would you want your child to follow her path?
The board’s actions in appointing Ms. Reed are indefensible. They have lost the trust of a large portion of the community and should resign.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TALAUNA REED, YVONNE MCDONALD AND CONNECTIONS TO ANTIFA:
Two primary source documents of note:
The City of Olympia Talking Points About the Investigation can be found here.
The Antifa News Network zine can be found here. This was shared by Reed signalling her approval. Reed has worked closely with the author Miguel Lofland. I report on their connections here.
That article also includes numerous videos of Talauna Reed in her own words.
In another article, found here, I discuss Reed’s criminal history, including screenshots from her 90 page Washington State Patrol background check.
I have a playlist on YouTube of the November school board meeting. I will be posting clips from the December meeting as soon as I can after the meeting.
Candace Mercer is an artist/writer/activist based in Olympia, WA. She writes on homeless response and political violence in the PNW. In 2021, she ran for Olympia City Council. She is currently working on developing a line of feminist art and writing on gender ideology.