Mesha Manor is a Georgia state legislator who represents a central-city Atlanta district where Martin Luther King Jr. lived. A passionate supporter of school choice, she announced she is becoming a Republican on Tuesday.

“When I decided to stand up on behalf of disadvantaged children in support of school choice, my Democrat colleagues didn’t stand by me,” Mainor told Fox News. “They crucified me. When I decided to stand up in support of safe communities and refused to support efforts to defund the police, they didn’t back me. They abandoned me.”

Mainor says “the most dangerous thing to the Democrat Party is a black person with a mind of their own.” She said her former party “demanded every Democrat vote against children and for the teachers union. I voted yes for parents and yes for children not failing schools.” At some schools in her district, only 3 percent of students meet reading proficiency standards and many cannot do simple math.

Here is a clip of the pro-school choice speech that got Mainor drummed out of the Democratic Party: