Families for San Francisco calls on Board of Education Commissioner Alison Collins to resign

Yesterday, a Twitter thread written by now-Board of Education Commissioner Alison Collins in 2016 has come to light. Her comments are offensive and racist to Asian Americans. They are unacceptable, especially from an individual in or seeking public office. Our Executive Director, Seeyew Mo, said the following this morning:

 “There are various reasons why the tweets by Board of Education Commissioner Collins are problematic. Some are upset about the choice of words. Others find issues with the perpetuation of the "model minority" AND "Asians believe in model minority" myths. Many decried the tone-deafness of those tweets. Regrettably, a few folks don't see any issue with it at all.

 For me, the most problematic part of these tweets is the core underlying assumptions behind these messages: Broad generalizations, perceptions that Asian Americans are "different" from other minorities, and the erasure of Asian culture and experience.

 Ms. Collins drew broad conclusions about who we are and what we believe. Asians are not a monolith group. She relied on anecdotal stories and branded the whole community using a few bad examples. Doesn't that tactic sound familiar to you? Isn't that what racists do all the time?

 Are Asian Americans different from other minority groups? No! If you look closely, you'll see American problems—economic struggles, inability to access health care and housing, discrimination at work, immigration issues, and so on. Systems are stacked against Asian Americans, like other minority groups.

 Finally, Commissioner Collins asked rhetorically, "Where are all the vocal Asians speaking up against Trump?" She did it because she refused to acknowledge that we have been here all along. Does she not know there's a massive contingent of Asian American staff who worked against Trump in 2016? I was one of them. There were so many Asians who contributed to anti-Trump groups such as Flippable and Resistance School? I was there too. But just like generations of Asians before us, our contribution and life experiences were conveniently ignored and deemed irrelevant. 

To be clear, Asians in the United States have significantly benefited from the civil rights work pioneered by African and LatinX Americans. All we ask is just the opportunity to work together to solve these problems that confound us all. Is that too much to ask? Now more than ever, we need a leader who can unite instead of dividing us. Regretfully, Commissioner Collins is not that leader. I hope she does the right thing and steps down.”

 Families for San Francisco joins the calls for Commissioner Collins to resign her seat as the Vice President of, and a member of, the San Francisco Board of Education. Her comments today were not an apology, they are an excuse and performative at best.