District looks into video of Puyallup sub using racial insults toward Black conservatives
The Puyallup School District is looking into a complaint about a substitute teacher and coach who called Black conservatives “Uncle Toms” and another derogatory name after protesting the Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C.
In a video posted to his Instagram account, Stefon Lyons, who is Black, said he and other protesters ran into a Black family who supports President Donald Trump. Lyons used racial insults to describe them.
The video, shared on MyNorthwest.com, appears to show Lyons traveling in a car with other people after leaving a protest.
“As we were leaving, we ran into people leaving the acceptance speech — so a bunch of rich, GOP donors — and we actually had some interesting words with the Black family that supports Trump,” Lyons said in the video.
Lyons then pretend-coughs names that are considered anti-Black caricatures. He did not use the N-word.
Puyallup School Board communications director Sarah Gillispie said Lyons is an “inactive” employee, meaning he isn’t currently working for the district. He was a basketball coach at Kalles Junior High and a certificated substitute for secondary schools.
He has been with the school district since October 2018 and has been “inactive” since schools closed in March, Gillispie said.
The district became aware of the video after a person reported it Sunday afternoon, she told The News Tribune on Thursday.
Gillispie said the district is still trying to reach Lyons to hear his side of the story.
The News Tribune had not been successful in reaching Lyons as of Friday morning, but he told Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio that the phrases aren’t hateful.
“In the Black community these words both represent being a sellout,” Lyons told Rantz this week. “While there is a racial connotation attached to both words, they aren’t hateful like some other racially charged phrases. While I’ll own the fact I could’ve used better language, (it’s) pretty clear in the video this wasn’t a hateful statement.”
District staff are held to a “higher standard” when it comes to posting on social media, Gillispie said.
“As public educators, they are told to be mindful of their social media posts and not engage in conversation that would cause a disruption for the learning and professional environment,” she told The News Tribune.
School Board President Kathy Yang said the district is still getting all the facts, but there is no imminent danger to students right now.
“He is not in contact with students,” she said.
In an email to The News Tribune on Sept. 9, Lyons said he was a part-time emergency sub on a volunteer basis last year, in additional to coaching basketball.
“I was not employed as a teacher when I posted the story in late August,” he wrote. “Better yet, I had (zero) plans on teaching this year. My status is inactive within the district because we haven’t communicated since the last day of school last year.”
Lyons is on the board of directors of Legally Black, a group supporting civil rights in Tacoma, and has been involved in Black Lives Matter protests around Tacoma, according to his social media accounts.
This story has been updated on Sept. 9 to reflect comments made by Lyons to The News Tribune.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 12:30 PM.
