Madera County school official urged to step down after Confederate flag post

A petition calls for the president of the Madera County Board of Education to step down, following a social media post on her personal account that read “I am proud to be white” and included an image of the Confederate flag.

Sara Wilkins represents portions of Raymond-Knowles, Bass Lake and Yosemite Unified School districts and has been on the board for 31 years, according to the board website. Her term expires in 2022.

The Confederate flag’s image included the statement: “’ I’m proud to be white.’ (sic) I bet no one passes this on because they are scared of (sic) be called a racist.”

Wilkins did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The online petition had around 650 signatures on Wednesday afternoon.

“She needs to be removed from this position because this kind of racism will not be accepted by our community,” said Andrea Hernandez, the petition’s creator.

The Madera County Superintendent of Schools said it confirmed that the post was made from Wilkins’ account.

“We have confirmed that Mrs. Wilkins’ private Facebook account contained images being brought to our attention,” said Cecelia Massetti, the superintendent of schools. “The images that were posted on the account are not condoned and do not represent the Madera County Board of Education or the Madera County Superintendent of Schools.”

The Madera Unified School District said Wednesday it was also made aware of the post.

“The Madera Unified School District Board of Education and Superintendent do not tolerate or condone any type of racism, including racist images,” the district said in a statement.

“We do not tolerate acts of racism as it is our due diligence as educators to call out these issues and make every effort to correct them,” the district continued. “Madera Unified has been working diligently to improve racial equity within the school district to ensure that all students have a safe learning environment.”

The district pointed to a video shared recently by Madera Unified Superintendent Todd Lile that called for racial equity and justice.

The post comes during a time when Confederate monuments have been taken down across the nation, spurred by critics who say the monuments celebrate the country’s racist history.

This month, NASCAR banned the flag from its events, after the sport’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, called for its end.

Confederate flag a hate symbol

The Confederate flag has long been considered a hate symbol by many Black communities, who have called for its removal from public spaces, according to Ethan Kytle, a professor and chair of the history department at Fresno State.

He said white people have only just started to listen and understand the history behind the flag.

“Many white people across the country who fly the Confederate flag no doubt believe that it is simply a symbol of southern (white) heritage or of southern rebelliousness or rebelliousness in general,” he said.

“This is why, for instance, southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd flew it in the 1970s.”

But Kytle said the flag “simply cannot be divorced from its white supremacist origins during the Civil War or its white supremacist use in the 150 years since then.”

Kytle said the flag has stood as a symbol of the Jim Crow south and is frequently used to show opposition to Black civil rights, including the 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that desegregated schools.

“It was the symbol of the Dixiecrat Party, created by southern Democrats who broke with the Democratic Party because of its progressive civil rights platform in 1948,” Kytle said.

“Angry white mobs regularly deployed the flag when they attacked civil rights activists in the 1950s and 1960s,” Kytle said. “And, of course, it was the symbol that Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine black worshippers at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, SC, five years ago, proudly flew.”