MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Days after a heated Memphis-Shelby County School board meeting, a state representative is responding to a problematic comment made after he expressed his views on the session.
On Tuesday, MSCS called a meeting to discuss whether they should terminate Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins’ contract .
However, the school board meeting quickly became unruly, with some attendees being escorted out by security.
State Representative Antonio Parkinson took to Facebook to express his concerns about Representative Mark White’s presence at the meeting.
MSCS board postpones vote on Feagins’ future until January
“Just so I’m clear, you have an internal family disagreement (Black folks) about the direction of MSCS. And you go and get the white Republican who is leading the complete decimation of MSCS? Am I the only one confused about this,” Parkinson said.
Parkinson is calling for the board to handle their issues internally without relying on state representatives.
“The board is predominantly African-American. The people that were disrupting the meeting are predominantly Black and brown people. So those are the people that I’m talking to, and let me be clear, because I have a great relationship with State Representative Mark White. It’s no slight against him. There’s nothing against him at all,” Parkinson said. ” I know he was called because Mark White, who is from Germantown, does not routinely just hang out in Hyde Park. But he was there, and it’s nothing against him. He is not the issue. This is an issue within the Black family. You got a disagreement with another Black person. You don’t go out there and get the law to put on that Black person. Solve it. Fix it internally.”