#Texas governor wants teacher fired for comparing cops to KKK, slave owners

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on state education officials to investigate a teacher who gave an unauthorized assignment to students that compared cops to slave owners and KKK members.

The Republican governor shared his disgust Sunday on Twitter over the assignment featuring a five-panel political cartoon starting with a slave owner holding his knee on a black’s man neck and ending with a police officer on a black man’s neck who says “I can’t breathe” — a clear reference to George Floyd’s police-involved killing in Minneapolis in May.

A KKK member and a white sheriff are also included in the cartoon, both of whom are depicted with their knees pressed into a black man’s neck.

“A teacher in a Texas public school comparing police officers to the KKK is beyond unacceptable,” Abbott tweeted. “The teacher should be fired. I’m asking the Texas Education Agency to investigate and take action.”

Abbott’s criticism came days after Fraternal of Police National Vice President Joe Gamaldi spotted the assignment and shared it with his nearly 10,000 Twitter followers while calling out the Wylie Independent School District outside Dallas.

“This is abhorrent and disgusting, and only further widens the gap between police officers and the youth in our community,” Gamaldi wrote.

A message seeking comment from district officials was not immediately returned Friday, but spokesman Ian Halperin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the assignment was part of a social studies class at Cooper Junior High School.

Students in the class were being taught about the Bill of Rights and the assignment was intended to educate them on political satire, Halperin told the newspaper.

The cartoon, which was not approved by district officials, was chosen by the teacher, who was not identified by the district, the newspaper reports.

The assignment has since been pulled, district officials told KTVT.

“Wylie ISD is aware that a junior high social studies lesson taught at one of our schools included political cartoons that have been divisive in our community,” the district announced Monday.

“The assignment has been removed, and students will not be expected to complete it. We will continue to work with our staff to ensure content follows the state curriculum.”

The district also apologized in a since-deleted tweet, saying it was sorry for the lesson that “reflected negatively” on law enforcement officers, KTVT reports.

“We value them and will do better,” the apology read.

The Texas Education Agency did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the matter Friday.