Michigan school board member faces backlash over ‘whiteness is so evil’ tweet
Misty Severi
A school board member in Jackson County, Michigan, faced backlash in her community over tweets that attacked “whiteness,” claiming it was even more dangerous than animals.
The tweets, shared by Libs of TikTok, showed school board member Kesha Hamilton calling white women “stupid” and that “whiteness” was evil. However, defenders of Hamilton claimed she was referring to systemic racism and not “white people.”
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“Whiteness is so evil.. it manipulates then says, I won’t apologize for my dishonesty and trauma inducing practices and thinks you should applaud it for being honest about its ability to manipulate and be dishonest. #Deceitful #Perfidous,” Hamilton tweeted last month.
https://twitter.com/kchamp06/status/1604361758545788928
Hamilton also warned a hiker that she did not need to fear the animals but rather white people when hiking in the woods.
“The last thing you have to worry about is an animal — though that could be a very real threat.. more dangerous are any whites you may see on the trail.. be safe!” Hamilton tweeted in December.
Hamilton defended the tweet in a separate statement to Fox News, claiming it referred to the challenges that black people face when it comes to “freedom of movement.”
“The United States has a longstanding history of efforts aimed at keeping black people from enjoying freedom of movement and restricting them from entering spaces that have been racialized as white,” Hamilton told the outlet.
Parents addressed the controversial tweets during a school board meeting on Tuesday. Members of the Jackson County community claimed that Hamilton should be held to a higher standard because she was a teacher who influences “thousands” of students.
“Someone in her influential position must be held to a high standard. She must be a representative for all students in the JPS system,” Gina Hastings, a parent, said. “Her racist comments should not be condoned. How can all kids feel safe when physical characteristics over which they have no control are being called evil and dangerous.”
Another person claimed that Hamilton’s messages were not “unifying” but “dividing” the community and were hurtful to students. But some supported Hamilton, claiming she was not referring to white people but the system. Hamilton confirmed that she was referring to “whiteness” as a construct.
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“Whiteness defined is ‘white racialized identity (which) refers to the way that white people, their customs, culture and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups are compared,” Hamilton told Fox News. “Whiteness is a construct, a normalization with a foundation in white supremacy, recent examples of the normalization of whiteness with a foundation of white supremacy are the murder of George Floyd, the massacre of Black residents in Buffalo, NY, the attempted kidnapping of MI Governor Whitmer, the attack on our Democracy on January 6th, 2021, inconsistencies of our criminal justice system, etc.”