Black leaders call Rhonda Thurman’s remarks racist

Napoleon Williams, left, a former Chattanooga police officer, listens as state Rep. JoAnne Favors, right, speaks to the Times Free Press on Wednesday. Favors held a news conference at the Hamilton County Board of Education on Wednesday to address statements made by school board member Rhonda Thurman.

Rhonda Thurman

Local black leaders including ministers, county commissioners and Board of Education members joined with state Rep. JoAnne Favors Wednesday, calling out a Hamilton County school board member for what they say are racist comments about poor children in inner-city schools.

Favors, D-Chattanooga, is calling for school board member Rhonda Thurman to resign and formally apologize for a statement published in Sunday’s Chattanooga Times Free Press. In the story, Thurman said inner-city schools get too much attention and money without much payoff. Her District 1 is in North Hamilton County, including Soddy-Daisy and Sale Creek.

“I don’t think suburban students have been treated fairly,” she said in the story. “Poor people learn. Slaves learned to read. I don’t know why poor people can’t learn to read and write. I have a lot of poor people in my family, but they are still expected to learn.”