San Francisco’s top-elected officials, including the mayor, state lawmakers and a majority of supervisors, have asked school board vice president Alison Collins to resign on Saturday over racist tweets she posted in 2016 on Asian Americans.
“We are outraged and sick at the racist, anti – Asian statements tweeted by the school board’s visionary Alison Collins, which came to light recently,” 22 current and former elected officials said in a statement on Saturday. “No matter the time, no matter the place, and no matter how long the tweets are written, there is no place for an elected leader in San Francisco who creates and / or creates hate speech and speeches.”
Officials continued to add their names throughout the morning and early afternoon.
Officials thanked Collins for her service and asked her to resign from her post.
A tweet by SFUSD Vice President Alison Collins from December 4, 2016
Twitter screenshotCity officials, community organizations and parents have widely criticized Collins’ racist tweets, which re-emerge this week amid a surge of violence and harassment against Asian Americans in the Bay Area and across the country.
More than 24 hours after the unrest broke out and after the request of dozens of public officials that she should resign, Collins – who did not want to apologize on Friday – lamented in an online report on Saturday about the pain her words caused.
She did not resign.
Collins did not want to identify her tweets as racist and repeatedly insisted that they be ripped out of context. The posts were still available from Saturday morning. The Chronicle has published the social media posts in their entirety.
A number of tweets and social media posts I made in 2016 were recently highlighted. “They were taken out of context, both from that particular moment and the nuances of the conversation that took place,” she said in a statement. ‘… I acknowledge that my words, which are currently being taken out of context, are currently causing more pain to those who are already suffering. I’m sorry for the pain my words caused, and I apologize unconditionally. ‘
About one-third of the district’s more than 52,000 students are Asian Americans.
Breed spokesman Jeff Cretan said the mayor did not see Collins’ statement on Saturday as an excuse for her messages on social media.
School board member Jenny Lam said she was “upset” by Collins’ statement and called it a “non-apology”.
In short, she conveyed the case to former President Trump, claiming that her tweets were “taken out of context” twice when it became clear when and why she made the statements, “Lam said. “I can not imagine families now feeling safe with someone on our board who feels comfortable saying something so offensive about Asian Americans and still refuses to fully accept it and apologize.”
Lamb is so far the only school member requesting Collins to resign from the board. The other members of the school board did not respond to requests for comment.
While Mayor London Breed was not among those who signed the statement, she posted on social media on Saturday that she also wants Collins to resign.
“I support the calls of leaders like David Chiu and (school board member) Jenny Lam, as well as many others, to thank Alison Collins,” Breed said. “Our students and our API community (Asian Pacific Islander) deserve better.”
Those who signed the statement included ten supervisors, with Dean Preston the only name missing; former supervisors Norman Yee, Jane Kim and Sandra Lee Fewer; Members David Chiu and Phil Ting; BART directors Janice Li and Bevan Dufty; and David Campos, chairman of the San Francisco Democratic Party; Ivy Lee, former trustee of City College; and Susan Solomon, president of United Educators of San Francisco.
“At the end of a tragic week for our Asian American community, I was so disappointed with Vice President Collins’ remarks that false and harmful stereotypes persist,” Chiu said in a statement. “I agree that Commissioner Collins should resign, and I hope she can understand why.”
School Superintendent Vince Matthews did not want to address the tweets specifically, but sent a letter to district staff on Friday on the issue.
“We need to work together and talk when we see or hear racist actions or behavior towards any member of our community,” he said. ‘All forms of racism are harmful to our whole community, and to uproot one group does not mean to put down another group. We must not create divisions at a time when it is important to be united … we are not going to put aside the hurt by recent actions.
At a time when we are seeing an increase in anti-Asian violence, xenophobia and racism across our country, we must once again commit to creating safe communities for every person. ‘
Students also spoke out. Based on the tweets, the Lowell Black Student Union removed Collins on Thursday night as a panel member at a Women in Leadership event.
“The Lowell Black Student Union stands with the Asian community and condemns all acts of anti-Asian hatred,” organizers said in an Instagram post.
Jill Tucker is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jilltucker