Two San Francisco school board members were the target of online harassment after the board’s closely watched decision to change Lowell High School’s admissions system to a lottery.
Disturbing images were posted to Facebook and Twitter showing Gabriela López and Alison Collins, both women of color, with swastikas photoshopped onto their foreheads and a red X across their faces. In a video, you can see bloodstained white gloves holding the images while they burn.
The posts were made by a man named Andrew Tang, a 24 year old graduate of the San Francisco public school system. He said he posted the images to raise awareness about what he calls anti-white and anti-Asian discrimination. He later went onto Twitter to say that he regrets the posts. He’s since taken them down.
The school board members – joined by San Francisco supervisors and state officials – held a press conference on Monday to condemn the posts.
Gabriela López told KALW she sees the posts as an attempt to silence women who are vocal about the realities of racism. But she will not be pressing charges.
Editors Note: KALW’S FCC license is held by the school district.
