Cobb Board of Education member David Banks is coming under fire for making a reference to COVID-19 as the “China virus” in his weekly e-mail newsletter.
Banks, a three-term Republican from East Cobb, sent out a newsletter on Tuesday listing recent retirees from the Cobb County School District, and led with this sentence:
“Since the China virus is still of concern, the CCSD Retiree ceremony was canceled this year. “
Not long after that, Julia Hurtado, a Democrat who is running against Banks in the Nov. 3 election, posted a message on a private Cobb schools Facebook page saying that “I am heartbroken for any of the Asian kids this man represents,” and encouraged anyone bothered by what he had written to go to her website.
Other social media messages have expressed similar sentiments, and East Cobb News heard from a constituent of Banks, parent Jonathan Chen, whose children attend school in Post 5, which includes the Lassiter and Pope clusters.
He said he’s lived in Post 5 since 2010 and hadn’t heard of Banks, and thought the reference was xenophobic.
“I feel it is critical that he be held accountable for his words, especially since he has been tasked with the education of our children,” Chen said.
Chen, a pulmonary doctor with the Wellstar Health System, said it’s not wise to name a virus or pathogen after the location where it was discovered because “has the effect of casting blame on the area as the source of disease which can lead to discrimination, isolation, and even violence.”
Chen said if such an outbreak were to have originated in Marietta, “fear now arises that all Marietta residents are infected so consequently, they are viewed with suspicion, fear, and even hatred by residents of surrounding communities.”
He added that “calling the SARS-coV2 virus the China virus blames China and Chinese people for the virus,” and that he refers to it as the Coronavirus.
East Cobb News has left a message with Banks seeking comment.
UPDATED:
At 9:15 a.m. Sunday, Banks e-mailed this reply to East Cobb News:
“I read your article.
“I received less than 100 negative emails concerning the ‘China virus’ and all but one came from Democrat voters. This is not a ‘blast.’ Several thousands would be a blast. These people are racists and you carried their water. Don’t be used to divide.”
ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES:
During a Cobb school board work session Thursday, two of Banks’ colleagues referenced the incident without mentioning him by name.
The board was discussing an anti-racism resolution that ultimately failed in a 3-3 vote, with Banks voting present. He said that resolution was unnecessary and read language from district’s non-discrimination policy.
Board member Jaha Howard made a motion to amend the resolution to include an apology by any board member who had said anything racist or offensive. That amendment failed.
Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, said before the vote that board colleagues have made slurs, and that “if we can’t condemn that as a board I don’t understand why we’re moving forward with this resolution.”
She and Howard were among the three black Democrats who voted against the resolution, saying it didn’t go far enough in condemning racism in the school district. Three votes in favor of the original resolution were the other white Republicans on the board.
It was the third time that the board attempted to come to a consensus on an anti-racism measure, following other local governments, including Cobb County, and metro Atlanta school districts.
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