California teacher blames 'White supremacy' for parents demanding schools reopen

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A California high school teacher has ruffled some feathers for appearing to suggest that parents who want their kids back in school for in-person learning are "White supremacists."

Damian Harmony, a Latin teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento, made the incendiary comments in a speech to the school board that he later posted on Facebook.

Harmony, who is a parent himself, said he has been able to better gauge "White supremacy" in his neighborhood, after hearing other parents demanding that the school district have its teachers return to the classroom.

JFK High School Sacramento

"I’m as disappointed as I am unsurprised that last week, we all had to hear all the cynical, pearl-clutching, faux-urgency, ableist, structurally White-supremacist, hysteria, even as teachers were moving forward with an MOU that already put them in harm’s way and was asking too much of a beleaguered group of professionals," Harmony said.

Harmony then chastised parents for treating teachers like a "wait staff" – actions that, he argued, will impair children’s ability to "grow up to be better than our generation."

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"You’ve attempted to bully a school board into making the schools less safe for the teachers and children. And you nearly succeeded, making complicit two of its members – who are still meeting virtually, but deciding that others must meet in person," Harmony said. "You’ve attempted to bully a school board into acting in bad faith with teachers of your children."

In the comments that followed, a few appeared to agree with Harmony’s comments, while others criticized him for being too narrow in scope. 

A spokesperson for the Sacramento City Unified School District told Fox News that Harmony's comments were "not made in his capacity as a district employee of Sacramento City Unified School District, but in his personal capacity and through the public comment portion during a different school district's board meeting regarding that district's reopening plan." 

"The tone and sentiment of his personal statement does not reflect the official opinions or policy of Sacramento City Unified School District," the spokesperson said. 

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The Sacramento City Unified School District reached an agreement with the Sacramento City Teachers Association last week to begin a phased-in reopening plan for in-person classes starting April 8.

The district said it has given all of its staff members the opportunity to receive a vaccination. As of last Friday, the district has provided nearly 5,000 vaccinations.

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Fox News has reached out to Harmony with a request for comment but did not hear back before publication.