Over the weekend, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board decided to change the name of a local school dedicated to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee after Baton Rouge activist Gary Chambers Jr. gave an impassioned speech that was caught on camera.
Video of the speech has now been seen by millions, leading to praise of Chambers' verbal takedown of the homage to Lee and thus echoing the sentiments of many Black Americans forced to see Confederate monuments, flags or emblems in their cities and towns.
At a school board meeting on Thursday, Chambers wasted no time in criticizing the board for ignoring the concerns of the local community, saying Republican school board member Connie Bernard was shopping online during the meeting.
“I had intended to get up here and talk about how racist Robert E. Lee was, but I’m going to talk about you, Connie. Sitting over there shopping while we’re talking about Robert E. Lee. This is a picture of you shopping while we’re talking about racism and history in this country," Chambers said while holding up a photo of Bernard.
"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,” he added, also referencing comments Bernard made defending Lee and the Confederacy.
In a Monday morning interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe, Chambers explained that he was already frustrated that it took this long for the board to decide on changing the school's name, considering the area has a majority Black population.At this moment in history I guess them scarfs 🧣 was more important #ConnieBernard shame on you. You just been schooled by #GaryChambers pic.twitter.com/fCZvgqCR5P
— Kilabee (@shakilacalhoun) June 20, 2020
But it also enraged him that the concerns of the Black community were being ignored by the board's white members, who could not even spend an hour listening to their concerns.
"You can look at all of the streets around Lee High School are named after Confederate generals ... when you go to a local school board meeting, what you saw in that video is really a reflection of what Black America is dealing with as it relates to white America," he said on Monday.
“You have Black folks speaking up passionately about what they feel, while you have a school board member, a representative of the people, a Republican, who’s sitting there scrolling on the internet while people are expressing their concerns,” Chambers told the show's hosts.
Lee High School will be changing its name, but a decision has not been made on what its new name will be, NBC News reported. One of the best parts of Chambers' speech was the list of local Black heroes who he said deserve to have their names on buildings, as they "were on the right side of history."
Bernard has since apologized for defending Lee in a statement to local news outlet The Advocate.
"My comments last week about the naming of Lee High School were insensitive, have caused pain for others, and have led people to believe I am an enemy of people of color, and I am deeply sorry.”
Despite the photos and witnesses who saw her shopping during the meeting, Bernard denied the allegations, telling The Advocate that it was simply a pop-up that came up on her screen.
Her comments prompted Chambers to reiterate during his MSNBC interview that "until Connie Bernard is off the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, we still have work to do.”
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