The San Francisco Board of Education has voted to remove its vice president after tweets she posted in 2016 that were critical of Asian people resurfaced.
KPIX-TV and KRON-TV in San Francisco report that the board voted 5-2 on Thursday in a vote of no confidence of Vice President Alison Collins.
The tweets resurfaced last week amid rising instances of hate against the AAPI community and in the wake of a mass shooting in Atlanta, where eight people — including six Asian women — were gunned down at three separate spas in the region.
In the 2016 tweets, Collins told her followers that she was looking to combat anti-black racism in the Asian community at her daughters’ school
Later on in her thread, Collins accused many Asian Americans of believing that they benefit as the “model minority.”
“In fact many Asian American [teachers], [students], and [parents] actively promote these myths. They use white supremacist thinking to assimilate and "get ahead",” she wrote. “Talk to many @thelowell parents and you will hear praise of Tiger Moms and disparagement of Black/Brown "culture.”
In a statement released to the San Francisco Chronicle, Collins apologized said her tweets had been “taken out of context.”
“A number of tweets and social media posts I made in 2016 have recently been highlighted,” Collins told the Chronicle. “They have been taken out of context, both of that specific moment and the nuance of the conversation that took place. 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.”
After the tweets resurfaced, Collins was denounced by several local politicians, including Mayor London Breed and several California state assembly members.
