JACKSON, MI - A Jackson School Board trustee’s social media comments describing “whiteness” as evil has drawn criticism and prompted the board to move the location of its Tuesday meeting.
The Jackson School Board will meet at 5:45 p.m. Jan. 17, in the High School Auditorium, instead of the high school’s second-floor media center.
District officials noted extra security will be on hand during the meeting after flyers with a logo resembling the far-right wing group the Proud Boys recently circulated in the Jackson community, including the staff parking lot at Jackson High School. The flyers single out the comments of board trustee Kesha Hamilton, while broadly proclaiming the “Jackson School Board hates White people.”
JPS also received notification from Jackson Police and Fire Services Director Elmer Hitt about the possible attendance of other “outside agitator” groups, prompting the district to move the meeting to a more secure location, Superintendent Jeff Beal said.
“I received attention from several concerned citizens within the last month who are frustrated with the racial tones or undertones of trustee Kesha Hamilton’s social media,” Beal said.
“The people in Jackson County who want to speak against (Hamilton) or want to speak on her behalf - I’m used to that. It’s relatively calm and stable. But the minute we bring in outside agitators, I’m working with law enforcement to try to create a secure entry and exit for the board and myself. The auditorium simply gives us a much better way to control the crowd.”
Community members spoke out against the comments made online by Hamilton, who on Dec. 18 tweeted, “Whiteness is so evil. it manipulates then says, I won’t apologize for my dishonesty and trauma inducing practices and thinks you should applaud it for being honest about its ability to manipulate and be dishonest.”
While the post didn’t receive a lot of attention when Hamilton sent it in December, people who eventually responded online expressed disappointment with Hamilton’s characterization of “whiteness.”
One person called Hamilton’s tweet “disheartening,” asking if she was elected to represent the “entire student body within our racially diverse student population?”
“What’s disheartening? Calling out whiteness? Or whiteness being evil?” Hamilton asked in response.
Hamilton, who is Black, recently provided additional context to her social media comments on “whiteness,” saying she used a description provided by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which describes whiteness or “white racialized identity” as referring to “the way that white people, their customs, culture and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups of are compared.”
“Our concern should not be that I named these issues, but that these issues continue to persist,” Hamilton wrote on Facebook.
Hamilton did not respond to questions seeking additional context to her comments and how they reflect on her representing JPS constituents.
Hamilton, who works as a racial equity consultant with Diverse Minds Consulting LLC, has spoken out as a school board member on several occasions regarding district policies and practices she views as biased, discriminatory or racist, including its attendance/tardy policy and its criteria for selecting a valedictorian. She also is the chair of the City of Jackson’s Racial Equity Commission.
Hamilton also has been an open adversary of Beal, with the district hiring a third-party law firm to investigate an incident between the two after a January 2022 board meeting. The investigation found there was nothing to substantiate Hamilton’s allegations that Beal engaged in harassing or bullying behavior.
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