Latino parents lash out at school board after teacher’s ‘racism’ in classroom
A southern California school board has come under fire from Latino parents after a high school teacher went viral for his classroom rant against Latino voters who support President-elect Donald Trump.
Several students, parents and community members attended the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) board meeting on Tuesday. Several students spoke out in support of a Valley View High School teacher, whom they identified as AP World History teacher Maximiliano Perez, after he was placed on administrative leave. But some members of the community were upset by the teacher’s actions.
Clips of his speech went viral after being shared with X by an executive at the American Culture Project Corey DeAngelis last week. Perez, who identified himself as African-American in the clips, warned students they could end up in “concentration camps” or “disenfranchised” because of Trump.
He also made several derogatory comments about Latinos who voted for Trump.
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“I know a lot of Latino men who want to be White, and they’ll never admit it to you. A lot of your fathers. A lot of your uncles. A lot of your great-grandfathers. God, they want to be White so bad. But they’ll never be. I hate that point in his long cry.
Several members of the Latino community at the school board meeting called for the teacher to face consequences, calling his behavior unacceptable and unprofessional, according to audio of the meeting posted on MVUSD’s YouTube channel.
“Can you guarantee that every parent in the classroom of the teacher who is doing all these racial slurs, will not be abused?” asked another Spanish mother named Bethany. “You can make sure that every child with that teacher, [whose] My father or grandfather voted for President Trump, will they be bullied?”
“It is time for this school district to stop tolerating hate speech in the classroom,” he continued.
“You mean a Hispanic man wants to be White?” he paused in frustration. “I’m upset. Yo soy Mexicana. I’m Chicana. I’m indigenous, and my family voted for Trump.”
“This teacher should be fired, hate speech should no longer be tolerated,” he said.
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Kenneth Prado, a trustee in the neighboring Hemet Unified School District who spoke as one, also criticized the teacher’s comments as racist.
“The majority of your students are Hispanic,” he said of MVUSD, whose student body is 75% Hispanic.
“What you just did was a very racist comment, telling them that their fathers – they were blessed to have a father at home, like me – that if they voted for Trump, they did it because they wished they were white. That’s worse than any embarrassment to him and I know he’s going to do it the right way,” he told the board. .
Another Latino reserve asked the board to fire the teacher. “He insults, he calls people like us who don’t eat, that we want to be White,” said Oscar Avila. “I say remove him, he can no longer work with schools, remove him from work.”
Fred Banuelos, a self-proclaimed Mexican-American Trump supporter, called what Perez said in class, “unacceptable.”
“He said things that shouldn’t be said. He used profanity and it’s not acceptable…you have the right to say those things, but not in our schools. That was crossing the line,” he said.
“There must be big consequences,” he continued.
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Parents and members of the public who criticized the teacher had to wait for more than three hours before they were given the opportunity to speak to the board, during the public comment section, a still image was included in the video while they were speaking. Most of the parents accused the leaders of trying to suppress dissenting voices.
DeAngelis also sent clips to X of the speakers’ comments, with video and audio, one community member recorded about the meeting.
The Moreno Valley Unified School District previously told Fox News Digital that the teacher has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation has been launched into his actions.
“We have recently been made aware of an incident at one of our high schools, where staff discussions regarding the election results turned secretive. We do not condone the conduct that occurred, and an immediate investigation has been initiated. The employee involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this review,” said the district’s statement. “We recognize the heightened emotions surrounding the situation of today’s politics, and we value the diversity of our society, including different opinions and beliefs. Our goal is to foster a respectful and inclusive learning environment for all students.”
“We appreciate those who come forward to share their concerns and tell us about this situation. By working together, we can continue to cultivate a positive and supportive educational experience for all students in the Moreno Valley Unified School District,” the statement concluded.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, a number of Valley View High students who supported Perez walked out of class on Tuesday morning in protest demanding that the school reinstate him.
Five students of this teacher also came to defend him at the board meeting, saying that he should not be fired for this one incident.
“I believe the way he spoke was unreasonable,” student Ezell Moreno said before the board meeting, according to the LA Times. “I believe he had good faith, but is he going to be fired for one incident where he has done so many good things in his entire time as a teacher?”
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Another student, Jailene Bailey, said the teacher “saved her life” when she was going through the dark, by encouraging her.
“Mr. Perez saved my life and helped me to continue my education by telling me that I am important in a sea of thousands of students, and I believe that he has the power to help other students as he helped me,” she said. “I really hope that in the future I can still see him and give him a big smile and a wave.”
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