Connie Bernard blasted for shopping online during school meeting on (Robert E) Lee High School name change
Connie Bernard, Board Member for District 8 of the East Baton Rouge Parish School District, was caught shopping on her laptop during a discussion on Thursday, June 18, to change the name of Lee High School which was named after confederate general Robert E Lee. At the board meeting, a speaker, Gary Chambers, pointed out that she was shopping online instead of participating in the discussion and listening.
"So I had intended to get up here and talk about how racist Robert E. Lee was, but I’m gonna talk about you, Connie. Sitting over there shopping while we talking about Robert E. Lee. This is a picture of you shopping,” he said during the meeting, showing the room a picture on his phone, “while we talking about racism and history in this country.” Chambers continued, “You should walk out of here and resign and never come back because you are the example of racism in this community. You are horrible.”
You see the video here.
In an interview on June 10, Bernard had said that those who were uncomfortable with the school being named after a Confederate General should learn more about him. She said, “I would hope that they would learn a little bit more about General Lee, because General Lee inherited a large plantation and he was tasked with the job of doing something with those people who lived in bondage to that plantation, the slaves, and he freed them.”
Bernard's comments had drawn criticism as the Board Vice President Tramelle Howard told her “The comments you made were extremely tone-deaf to our collective community, extremely tone-deaf to the students of our district, and I would be remiss if I did not stand up and stand against that. I understand where you were coming from in trying to recognize history but it’s just wrong, totally wrong. This man was a murderer, he was a racist and a bigot.”
As the video and photo of Bernard shopping during the discussion emerged, there were renewed calls for her resignation. A user tweeted, "Connie Bernard was SHOPPING during an entire @EBRSchools Board meeting about changing the name of a nearly all-Black school named after Robert E. Lee. That’s when @GaryChambersJr confronted Bernard, and rightfully so. Black students deserve RESPECT. She needs to resign ASAP!!" Another wrote, "Connie Bernard should be shopping for a new damn job."
Another user tweeted, "#ConnieBernard of the East Baton Rouge School Board caught shopping online while a community leader was addressing the board about racism and requesting the removal of Robert E Lee's name from a local school. She needs to RESIGN!" Another wrote, "I feel second-hand embarrassment for Connie Bernard, and I’m all the way in Philadelphia. She should resign from the school board. Not necessarily for online shopping during the hearing, but for choking a teenager on camera a year prior."
In 2018, a profanity-filled video featuring Bernard went viral. In the video, Bernard appeared to be involved in a physical and verbal dispute with a teenager and was charged with a misdemeanor as prosecutors said that when she put her hands to the boy's neck it amounted to a simple battery.