An Alaska high school teacher has been placed on administrative leave over comments she made during a class discussion on police shootings, KUAC reports.
Video posted to YouTube last week show a woman identified as Connie Gardner arguing her case to students about the police killing of Daunte Wright and Ma'Khia Bryant, saying that the media disproportionately focuses on shootings carried about by white police officers. At one point, she mentions George Floyd, saying that while she did not agree with Derek Chauvin's actions, Floyd's failure to comply led to his death.
"I do not agree that the Chauvin guy was right — I think he abused his authority, and I think he went too far. And I think that he was complicit in George Floyd's death. I think that there were many factors that contributed to it, and that was one of them," Gardner says. "But if George Floyd had ... just sidled into the car, slid in there, and let them put his legs in, he would be alive today and you know that's true."
"So that's my message to you ... If any of you find yourself in a situation where you are — justly or unjustly — being addressed by the police and ordered to do something, please comply. Do not fight the cops. Don't try to run away," she said.
"Here's the thing too," she continued. "Look at how you guys are dressed. You guys are dressed nicely — you don't look like thugs. You don't have your pants down around your knees."
It was at that point someone pushed back at Gardner's comments, saying that how someone is dressed shouldn't determine how they're treated by police.
A woman who recorded the video also spoke out, telling Gardner she was a woman of color who had experienced racism and said the teacher was "uneducated" and unable "to address these things that are going on in the world today" due to the fact that she's white.
Watch the video below: