SF school board member Alison Collins sues district and colleagues for responding to her tweets

Collins, who declined to comment on the lawsuit on Wednesday, is also seeking an injunction reinstating her as vice president and in her committee positions. She claims in her lawsuit that board members fought back against her because she, in her tweets as a private citizen in 2016, spoke out against “racist harassment and racist bullying” of black students and neighborhood browns. She was elected to the school board two years later.

In the tweets in which Collins said a Latino student was teased by Asian American students, Collins said Asian Americans used “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and” move forward “.”

She later wrote in the thread, “Where are the vocal Asians speaking out against Trump? Don’t Asian Americans know they’re on his list too?

Using asterisks in references to the racial epithet, Collins continued, “Do they think they won’t be kicked out? profiled? beaten? To be a house n **** r is always to be a **** r. You are always seen as “the helper”. “

The school board, in a 5-2 no-confidence vote on March 25, stripped Collins, who is black, of her role as vice-president and removed her from committee assignments. Collins did not recuse herself. She and President Gabriela López opposed the actions.

Collins is suing board members Jenny Lam, Mark Sanchez, Faauuga Moliga, Kevine Boggess and Matt Alexander. Four board members did not immediately return requests for comment. Boggess said he respects Collins’ right to sue and is seeking legal advice on how to proceed.

The lawsuit alleges that the vote violated Collins’ due process and caused him to suffer loss of income, significant loss of reputation, severe mental and emotional distress and humiliation.

“The false narrative and claim that Ms. Collins’ comments pleading with Asian Americans to resist oppression as’ racists’ generated this continued and escalating hostility, (causing) threats and damage to Ms. Collins’ reputation and threatening her physical well-being and that of her family. be, ”wrote Collins’ attorney Charles Bonner.

Bonner said that while the lawsuit was filed in court, the school board had seven days to call a special session and overturn the vote and draft a public apology for its actions. If the council members fail to do so, on the eighth day he said he would officially serve the council members and drop the case and that they would be forced to defend themselves in court.

Joel Paul, professor of constitutional law at UC Hastings in San Francisco, said such lawsuits by officials faced long difficulties.

Even though other school board members have called Collins a racist, as she alleges, they “have a right to express their views under the First Amendment,” Paul said. “She has the capacity to speak her mind and to stand up for herself,” but does not seek damages for comments from colleagues, unless they include knowingly false statements of fact.

As to the board’s decision to demote Collins, Paul said: “The courts would, I think, be extremely reluctant to interfere in discretionary matters of an elected body.

Collins filed the complaint hours before a planned rally to support her at the school district office. About 50 to 60 people listened to speakers supporting her and López.

At the event, Collins said she had no choice but to fight “this slander targeted to qualify me as a racist.”

“I have made a commitment and will continue to defend families and in particular those whose voice is often unknown and whose future is at stake,” she said. “Join me in making this moment count, not letting me or someone else be swept under the rug, called off or fired for speaking the truth to power.”

San Francisco teacher Arisa Hiroi was among the many at the rally, carrying a placard supporting Collins.

“I think the Asian community is really suffering,” she said. “People are taking advantage of the situation.” Critics have targeted the tweets, she said, “to capitalize on the real pain of the suffering Asian American community. I don’t think Alison is the source of the pain.

Prior to the no-confidence vote, members Lam and Moliga had asked Collins to resign, joined by 5,400 people who signed a petition saying the 2016 tweet thread “dehumanizes and divides our communities of color.”

Collins had previously responded to outrage over the tweets, saying his words were misunderstood.

“I recognize that right now, right now, my words taken out of context may cause more pain to those who are already in pain,” she wrote. “For the pain my words may have caused, I’m sorry, and I apologize wholeheartedly.”

Critics said Collins’ statement was not enough.

“Many took this for an apology without apology, just like me,” said Nancy Tung, a member of the San Francisco Democratic Committee.

The tweets remained online Wednesday afternoon.

Jill Tucker and Bob Egelko are editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; Twitter: @jilltucker