Baton Rouge activist Gary Chambers Jr. called out school board member Connie Bernard for online shopping during a public meeting about changing the name of a school named for Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
“You should walk out of here and resign and never come back,” said Lee, “because you are the example of racism in this community. You are horrible.”
Bernard had also made remarks defending Lee, “saying those offended by the name of Lee High should ‘learn a little bit more about’ Confederate General Robert E. Lee, for whom the school is named, and discover that he eventually freed all his slaves.”
Wrote Chambers on Instagram: “Connie Bernard shopped while Black people discussed renaming Lee High. I told Connie Bernard to her face she needed to resign from the East Baton Rouge School board.”
“She was shopping while citizens were speaking about changing the name of Lee High,” Chambers continued. “She was a school board member 4 years ago when they voted to keep Lee associated with the school. Then she chocked (sic) a teenager in his home in 2018, she should’ve resigned then. Then she got on TV last week telling Black folks we needed to learn more of Lee’s history.”
“When we don’t confront elected officials we give them permission to disrespect us and to devalue us,” Chambers added. “Connie needs to resign. I stand on that. If you think her actions are unacceptable send an email to the members of the board encouraging Connie to resign.”
Speak truth to power, stand on your convictions, let NONE of them slide, and #KeepPushing. We got work to do,” Chambers continued. “I love US for real. We won the vote to change the name of Lee High, but the work continues until Connie is gone.”
Bernard later lied and said the shopping accusations were false. So Chambers shared another video to Instagram that proved she was lying, along with a video in which Chambers said Bernard revealed herself to be a “Karen supreme” after she entered a home and assaulted a teen.
