In 2021, William S. Hart Union High School District board member Linda Storli wrote an Asian derogatory word on her public social media Facebook page to explain her reason for voting against retaining the Indian mascot at Hart High School. I asked Linda multiple times to remove the racist word because it was degrading and lacked common decency.
Instead, Linda justified using the word by telling me of a white school (Pekin Community High School) in 1960 that had mascots known (by that word) until 1981 when the National Organization of Chinese-Americans took offense to the name and asked the municipal government of the school to change the name. However, Linda still refused to remove the word from her Facebook page.
The word “Indian” is not offensive. Places within America use the title Indian, such as city of Indian Wells, California, or Indian City, USA Cultural Center. The U.S. government has multiple Indian-named departments such as the Department of Indian affairs, Department of Indian Health Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, etc.
So, I filed a complaint against Storli with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. As a result, I was part of her hearing with the commission. Again, Linda continued to justify why she used the word as a comparison to the Indian mascot and still refused to remove it from Facebook. Therefore, the commission forwarded my complaint to the state Department of Justice.
Linda finally took down the word off her public social media page.
Yet, Linda Storli has the audacity to run for another term as an elected board member for the Hart district, Trustee Area 1.
Please vote for Dr. Aakash Ahuja for Trustee Area 1. He is a board-certified psychiatrist and believes in core academic subjects to be taught in schools.
Nancy Fairbanks
Valencia
