San Francisco school board votes no confidence in commissioner after racist tweets resurfaced

San Francisco Unified’s school board voted no confidence in commissioner Allison Collins following the resurfacing of racist tweets she wrote in 2016 against Asian Americans, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The board voted also to remove Collins from any committees and strip her of her title as vice president of the board. The vote passed 5-2, with Collins and President Gabriela López opposing.

In the tweets, Collins used a racial slur and said Asian Americans used “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and ‘get ahead.’”

Days before the vote, Collins said the tweets were taken out of context and apologized for the pain she caused but has not removed the tweets. The tweets were posted in 2016 before Collins was elected to the school board.

The tweets were resurfaced not only on the heels of an increase in attacks against Asian Americans in the Bay Area and across the U.S. Some students in California said the recent uptick in violence against Asian Americans has made being a student a “nightmare” right now, on top of existing pandemic-related trauma.

“This resolution distracts from priority matters,” said Collins, referring to reopening schools and replacing outgoing Superintendent Vince Matthews. “This resolution does nothing to enhance our team. I reject the attempts to mischaracterize me as a person and as a member of this board.” Collins’ supporters say she was unfairly targeted by right-wing activists.