Texas teacher Lillian White was terminated from her position in Great Hearts Western Hills because she continued to wear a Black Lives Matter mask after being asked to stop.
White says that she wore facial masks with slogans from the Black Lives Matter movement and that she was asked by the assistant principal to stop wearing those types of masks. When she refused, she was terminated from her role.
“It was stressful because I have a financial obligation to help support my family,” White told KENS5 News. “It’s also kind of heartbreaking that this is the kind of—this is the reason that I lost my job,” she continued.
“This is human rights and it should be something that is promoted at our school. It’s an excuse to not talk about it by saying this is politics, talk about it on your own time. It’s just an excuse because they’re uncomfortable with the conversation,” White said.
Superintendent Daniel Scoggin said in a statement that “Great Hearts respects the privacy of all current and former employees and as a result does not issue a public comment on specific personnel matters. On the question related to face coverings, Great Hearts enacted, in this unprecedented pandemic environment, a policy that faces coverings have no external messages. This policy was authored by school leaders and teachers in service to the learning environment of our classrooms.
“Great Hearts was founded and exists today to serve the innate dignity and worth of every human being. We stand with the Black community and all who are suffering. Great Hearts deplores bigotry and its crushing effects on all those subjected to it,” Scoggin continued.
“Great Hearts is committed to an America where racism, violence, and injustice do not happen because such acts find no home in the hearts of a great people.”
