Who is Dr Tarece Johnson? Uproar as school board chair calls White people 'socialized racists'
A Republican state senator in Georgia is calling for an investigation into a newly elected school board black chairwoman after she described white people as 'socialized racists' and demanded an end to 'anti-black capitalism.'
Dr. Tarece Johnson, who is a Democrat, was elected the new chair of Gwinnett County Board of Education in January. She is the first black woman to serve as chair. Republican Sen Burt Jones of Georgia requested for investigation against Johnson.
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Chairwoman Johnson posted a video on social media in 2020 where she talked about the impact of systematic racism, stating that black people are impacted because they internalize racism and white people are also impacted because they are socialized racists. She also went on to say, "White people have privilege just because of the color of their skin,' she added. They have certain advantages that black people and brown people do not have."The request for investigation came from Republican Sen Burt Jones amid the controversy surrounding this comment by the chairwoman.
In a letter sent to the Georgia Board of Education this week, Republican Sen. Burt Jones requested a full investigation into Johnson's implemented policies, and administrative actions and whether they violate any of the code of conduct policies or other statutes.
(Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
In Jones' letter this week, he states that Johnson's 'actions severely undermine that mission and further divide our students and schools at a time when we need to unite and come together.'
Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor this year, also highlighted Johnson's comments about the district's indication that one of its classes utilized critical race theory (CRT) as a reason for his request for the investigation.
Johnson's book, 'The Global Purpose Approach: A Multicultural Resource,' reportedly describes CRT (Critical Race Theory) as part of multicultural learning, Fox News reported.
According to the Dailymail, the syllabus, obtained by Heritage Action, a conservative think tank, reads: "Students will bridge the skills from AP Language to AP Research, analyzing the value of using different lenses in social criticism (Critical Race Theory, Feminist, Marxist, Psychoanalytic) to aid their analysis across issues, and the class will discuss how these perspectives apply to the different methods used by research fields."
A statement by the Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) indicated the syllabus wasn't altered by Johnson and that it came years before she joined the school board last year. GCPS told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the syllabus was 'written by one teacher who submitted it to College Board in 2017 as a means of providing evidence that the teacher understood the scope of the course. It was not the syllabus actually used for the class.'
Adding to the above statement, GCPS director of communications and media relations Sloan Roach told Fox News Digital, "Some are uncomfortable with recent changes in leadership. The irony is that this syllabus was written five years ago, before recent changes on the governance team."