- A school board member revealed that a high school principal was fired over a letter he sent to the school community.
- James Whitfield sent a letter to the school community on June 3, 2020, addressing systematic racism.
- A year later in July, a former school board candidate demanded that Whitfield resign.
A Texas school board member admitted that they fired a Black high school principal for pushing critical race theory.
In a video posted on Facebook, Tammy Nakamura, a newly elected member of the board, revealed to a Republican National Committee-sponsored school board panel in June that former Colleyville Heritage High School principal James Whitfield was fired for his antiracist activism.
According to Nakamura, "the straw that broke the camel's back" ultimately got Whitfield fired was a letter he sent out last June to the school community, which accused Whitfield, the school's first Black principal, of teaching critical race theory.
The letter, which was obtained by the Texas Tribune, was in reaction to the wake of protest relating to the death of George Floyd.
"Education is the key to stomping out ignorance, hate, and systemic racism," Whitfield wrote in the letter. "It's a necessary conduit to get 'liberty and justice for all.'"
According to the Texas Tribune, Whitfield said he didn't initially receive negative feedback from the community.
A year later, Stetson Clark, a former school board candidate at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, accused Whitefield of teaching critical race theory at a school board meeting.
"He is encouraging the disruption and destruction of our district," Clark told the crowd.
According to the Texas Tribune, Whitfield resigned and was placed on a two-year administrative leave in August 2021.
Nakamura, who referred to Whitfield as a "total activist," claimed that teachers like him were taking schools down.
"They have to be stopped now, we cannot have teachers such as these in our schools because they're just poison, and they're taking our schools down," Nakamura said.
