The Houston chapter of the NAACP is calling for the removal of Roger Brown from his position as Humble ISD superintendent after he said he wanted to "lynch the mayor" during a staff meeting.
The Houston NAACP hosted a town hall meeting Monday at The Luke Church in Humble "to discuss the public's concern over racially offensive remarks recently made by the Humble ISD Superintendent, and to evaluate longstanding issues of inequality, under-representation and categorical disparities," according to a flyer shared on social media.
Jackie Anderson, chair of the Houston NAACP's education committee, was one of the organizers of the town hall and toldHouston Public Mediaafterward that Brown's comment likely represented a deeper misunderstanding.
"I just think that our schools should be nurturing environments for our students and teachers should feel safe and secure and therefore, the person that leads the district should be a person that can provide the type of environment that our students and teachers need," Anderson said. "Unfortunately, if something like that comes out of a person's mouth, like I said last night, I believe this was in their heart."
Humble ISD serves nearly 50,000 students northeast of Houston. According to demographic information on the district’s website, about 38% of its students are Hispanic, nearly 29% are white and 26% are Black.
The racially charged comments made by Browncame to lightduring a Humble ISD school board meeting last week after a district employee brought it up during the public comment period.
“During a leadership team meeting with 125 to 150 campus-based administrators in attendance, a cabinet-level administrator used a microphone to inform those in attendance that they were so upset after their house lost power during a hurricane that they wanted to lynch the mayor,” said Henry Phipps, Humble ISD's chief education support service officer. “They then echoed lynching the mayor by stating, ‘I wanted to take him out back and hang him from a tree.'”
Brown, who was hired by the district in January after trustees voted to terminate former superintendent Elizabeth Fagen, apologized for his remarks during last week’s school board meeting and said he had not meant them literally. He said he made the comment after showing a photo of pioneers in the west.
“The struggles of just daily living for this couple had to have been really challenging,” Brown said during last week’s board meeting. “I then said, ‘Do you remember when Hurricane Beryl hit last summer and how we wanted to lynch CenterPoint and the mayor?’"
Humble ISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. During last week’s school board meeting,Humble ISD board president Chris Parker said the matter was under investigation.
Anderson said she and most of the town hall attendees hope the investigation ends with Brown's removal. She also said she was disheartened that only one school board member was in attendance Monday.
"I know that the consensus of the people who were in attendance is that he should be removed," she said. "And that the board, who didn't bother to show up, with the exception of one board member, I think shows how they are complicit."
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