A black senior official with the Fort Pierce city government labeled opponents of “equity” initiatives in his local school district as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
According to the Florida Standard, a conservative website, the comments came on March 13 at a meeting of the Indian River County Public Schools board meeting.
Kevin Browning, a human resources manager for the city of Fort Pierce, spoke about foes of the school district’s Racial Equity Policy, the Standard reported on Thursday.
Commenting on remarks by a critic of the policy, Browning recalled the movie “Django Unchained,” and noted, “the slaver said to the black man, ‘Didn’t I give you my last apple?’ as if he did him a favor.”
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“That is just sickening and so wrong. It’s ridiculous,” he added. “So I invite you right now: if you have those feelings, please, take off your hood. Show us who you are.”
The Standard reported that the policy Browning supports promotes “racially equitable results” and advocates gutting practices “that lead to the over or under-representation of any student racial/ethnic group compared to peers.”
The policy also pushes for a “racially conscious and culturally competent” workforce and achieving “measurable decreases in district disparity and disproportionality.”
The Florida Department of Education called out the school district for the policy in November.
“It appears that some of these policies or procedures may not have been updated to comply with revised Florida law and State Board of Education rule,” DOE Senior Chancellor Jacob Oliva wrote to school district Superintendent David Moore.
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The law referenced by Oliva defines racial discrimination in part as “training or instruction” for students or employees that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels” belief that “a person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” or declares that a person’s “moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, national origin, or sex.”
The law further notes that it’s discriminatory to claim someone “bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin, or sex,” or that people because of their race “should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.”
The Standard reported that the conservative group Moms for Liberty issued a letter calling on the local NAACP chapter to force Browning out of a group created to monitor a 1967 desegregation order that is still in effect for county schools.
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“It’s apparent that Mr. Browning doesn’t believe in the Non-Discrimination policy already governing the school district,” Indian River Moms for Liberty Chairwoman Jennifer Pippin said in a statement.
“His comments demonstrate that he ignores the profound accomplishments in civil rights history, and those leaders who gave their lives for the full rights of ALL citizens. A person of such character who falsely accuses people of racism should not be on the Joint Equity Workgroup.”
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