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Texas School Board Member Apologizes for Comparing Abortion With the Holocaust

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June 10, 2020
ODESSA, TX – JANUARY 20: Unused pipe for work in the oil industry pile-up in a shop yard in the Permian Basin oil field on January 20, 2016 in the oil town of Odessa, Texas. Despite recent drops in the price of oil, many residents of Andrews, and similar towns across the Permian, are trying to take the long view and stay optimistic. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 540 points on Wednesday after crude oil plummeted another 7% and crashed below $27 a barrel. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A member of the school board in Ector County, Texas, apologized on June 9 for a series of controversial Facebook posts, including one comparing abortion with the Holocaust.

Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) Board of Trustees member Doyle Woodall has been under fire for three Facebook posts. One post showed Nazi officers saying, “Jews aren’t actually people” juxtaposed with a woman telling a pregnant woman that “babies aren’t actually people.” Another post stated that it was important “to make evil people feel punishment again” accompanied by a photo of a noose.

The third post showed Muslims praying with the words “Spill a few gallons of bacon grease on that street and it would clear out fast.”

Woodall initially defended his posts but eventually issued an apology.

“Last Friday, I was being interviewed by Ruth Campbell, a reporter from the Odessa American, and I was still angry at what I saw as a small group of people trying to interfere with my constitutional right to free speech,” Woodall told CBS 7. “Near the end of our interview, Ruth asked me if I knew she is Jewish, and I said, no. She told me what one of my posts meant to her as a Jewish woman and I felt I had been kicked in the stomach. It was the opposite of my intent for the post. I had seen it only from my perspective. A blinder came off.”

He said that another blinder came off when he talked with the Texas Education Agency’s Deputy Commissioner of Governance, A.J. Crabill, on June 6. Crabill, an African American man, told Woodall that his post showing the noose had offended Crabill.

“It was like another kick in the stomach,” said Woodall, who is white. “Another blinder came off.”

Woodall added: “Today, I understand why my posts were offensive. I will remove them from my page. I have a lot to learn about cultural differences and I will dedicate a great deal of time learning by attending cultural awareness and sensitivity training. I want to say again, I am truly sorry.”

Newsweek reported that ECISD Board of Trustees President Donna Smith and ECISD Superintendent Scott Muri denounced Woodall’s post in a joint statement, calling them “offensive and demeaning.”

“They do not represent the views of Ector County ISD,” they said. “We embrace and serve a diverse staff and student body as well as a diverse community.”

Several people in the community have called on Woodall to resign over his posts.

“Anyone that is in a position of power has to call on [Woodall] to resign immediately or [you’re] complicit,” activist Rod Johnson told Fox 24 during a June 9 protest in front of the ECISD administration building. “The public has a right to assume that you agree with or that you are associated with those remarks until you publicly come out as a leader. Everyone, if you are not calling on him resign then you are complicit — your silence is that complicity.”

A petition also has circulated calling on Woodall to resign that garnered nearly 5,000 signatures. Woodall has thus far refused to step down.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted, “Adults are supposed to be dedicated to guiding America’s children to a better future. Proud bigot standing tall with his hate. Where are the other adults on the #Texas School Board?”

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