San Francisco school board Vice President Alison Collins is facing calls for her resignation for a series of 2016 tweets in which she compared successful Asian-Americans to white supremacists and used a racial slur.
Collins said in 2016 that she was seeking to combat “anti-black racism in the Asian community” by calling out Asian-Americans who use “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and ‘get ahead.'” Collins, who was elected in 2018, is now facing mounting pressure from civil rights leaders, parents, alumni, and political leaders to resign, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Despite her Twitter timeline now being filled with “anti-racism” rhetoric and claims of supporting the Asian-American community, Collins used a racial slur to refer to some Asians in the 2016 thread. “Being a house n****r is still being a n****r. You’re still considered ‘the help’,” Collins tweeted. The tweets have not been deleted as of Saturday morning. (RELATED: ‘It Has Been A Year Of Kids Suffering’: Latino Parents And Students Protest For San Francisco Schools To Reopen)
San Francisco school board VP uses a racial slur to refer to Asian-Americans in 2016. (Screenshot/Twitter)
“Where are the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump? Don’t Asian Americans know they are on his list as well?” she tweeted in 2016. Collins, who is black, said many Asian students and teachers she knew wouldn’t “engage in critical race [conversations]” and buy into “model minority BS.”
In light of recent attacks against Asian-Americans, including a mass shooting in Georgia that left eight people dead, the Lowell Black Student Union removed Collins as a panelist at a Women in Leadership event slated for Thursday. “The Lowell Black Student Union stands with the Asian community and condemns all acts of anti-Asian hate,” the group said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed did not go as far as to say Collins should resign, but did condemn her comments. “Asian people in this country have long faced very real racism, including here in San Francisco, and you can’t just broad brush their experience in a way that is so harmful and offensive,” she said.
The San Francisco school board tried earlier this year to rename 44 schools named after public figures, including former Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.
