San Francisco school board vice president, Alison Collins, is refusing to resign over a series of racist, anti-Asian tweets that surfaced over the weekend, where she called Asians “model minorities” and accused them of using “white supremacist thinking” to get ahead of other people of color.
Collins also made anti-Asian remarks during a dispute over merit-based admissions to certain San Francisco schools, calling the system “racist” against people of color who refused to position themselves in a favorable way towards white people.
“Collins was one of several members of the school board who pressed to do away with merit-based admissions at one of the district’s top schools because she believed such a system was ‘racist’ against minorities,” The Daily Wire reported over the weekend, “even though Asians seemed to make up a significant percentage of the student body.”
“When we talk about merit, meritocracy and especially meritocracy based on standardized testing. I’m just going to say it, in this day and age we cannot mince words. Those are racist systems.” she said.
In one particularly egregious example, Collins lashed out at Asian-Americans who voted for President Donald Trump.
“Where are the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump? Don’t Asian Americans know they are on his list as well? Do they think they won’t be deported? profiled? beaten? Being a house n****r is still being a n****r. You’re still considered “the help,” she wrote.
Her tweets, though, raised eyebrows among San Francisco school district parents and San Francisco officials after they were posted by “Recall SF School Board,” a group that is seeking to replace members of the San Francisco district administration who are more focused on woke ideology than a successful educational system.
30 REASONS TO RECALL THE SF SCHOOL BOARD
19. Commissioner Collins appears biased against Asian Americanshttps://t.co/lX2Q0IhFyw pic.twitter.com/LyAe6gty13
— Recall SF School Board (@recallsfboe) March 19, 2021
San Francisco Mayor London Breed even called for Collins’ resignation, but on Monday, the Daily Mail reports that Collins is standing firm and refuses to step down despite clear evidence of bias. She reportedly refused calls from San Francisco newspapers but posted a casual statement to the open platform, Medium, instead, claiming her tweets using racially charged language against Asians were “taken out of context.”
“A number of tweets and social media posts I made in 2016 have recently been highlighted. They have been taken out of context, both of that specific moment and the nuance of the conversation that took place,” she wrote.
She then seemed to imply that she was being targeted by critics who were, themselves, racist: “as a Black woman, a mother, an educator and a fierce advocate of equity in our schools I utilize my social media platforms to speak out on race and racism. Even when these conversations are difficult in our very divided society.”
Ultimately, she says, the problem was Donald Trump and the hurt he has caused the Asian community.
“Meanwhile one of my daughters had recently experienced an incident in her school in which her Asian American peers were taunting her Latinx classmate about “sending kids back to Mexico” and the KKK. It was a time of processing, of fear among many communities with the unknown of how the next four years would unfold,” she said. “But whether my tweets are being taken out of context or not, only one thing matters right now. And that is the pain our Asian American brothers and sisters and siblings are experiencing. Words have meaning and impact.”
“Trump showed us that clearly with his sowing of hate and pitting communities of color against one another for political gain. I acknowledge that right now, in this moment my words taken out of context can be causing more pain for those who are already suffering. For the pain my words may have caused I am sorry, and I apologize unreservedly.”
Other members of the San Francisco board refused to accept her mea culpa, calling it a “non-apology.” The president of the San Francisco school district expressed solidarity with Collins in her own statement Sunday.
“I stand in solidarity with Vice President Collins and Asian American communities. This week has been marked by hate and violence. And in this moment of pain, words matter more than ever. I appreciate that Vice President Collins has apologized for her remarks,” she said, suggesting that Collins’ issue is actually beneficial to the overall discussion of race. “The board recognizes the hurt that has been caused. Discussions on race and racism create discomfort but when done correctly we contribute to the learning and growth in our community.”
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