(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Tennessee school board member urged to resign again after making gang rape joke on Facebook [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-16 "Joe Biden saying he showed China how tuff he is, reminds of a joke I heard years ago," Thurman wrote on Facebook Feb.7. She then shared the joke— which will not be shared in this article— but had to do with a woman being gang raped while the man she was with distracted himself. Relating the joke back to Biden, she recalled a story Biden told about standing up to a gang member named Corn Pop. "Yep, that is Tough Man Joe!" Thurman wrote on Facebook. "Obviously, Xi Jinping never heard about Corn Pop or he would never have sent that balloon over here.” The post quickly went viral, with several Twitter users blasting it. Some even called for her resignation, noting that sharing such stories was inappropriate for those in leadership positions related to schools, especially on public platforms. x CHATTANOOGA UPDATE: @hamcoschools board member Rhonda Thurman re-posted her Biden gang rape *joke*—calling parents upset by it “snowflakes & whiny liberals”. We requested an interview. Email: thurman_rhonda@hcde.org Board: hcdeboardmembers@hcde.org Post: https://t.co/Ekk2lEHFPc pic.twitter.com/GA1W0TarnN — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) February 16, 2023 Of course, Thurman didn’t care what people thought and had no issue with the rape joke she made. Speaking about the post, she told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that people need to “get over it.” "You people need to find something to do," Thurman said. "I have told this joke in open meetings. This is so pathetic. Anybody that has a problem with this can get over it. They are so ignorant.” To make matters worse, she claimed she was almost a victim of rape in the past and despite this, would appreciate a joke. "As a school board member, I still have a sense of humor," Thurman said. "You have to, to be able to be on the school board.” Others disagreed with this type of ‘humor,’ including state Rep. Gloria Johnson, who called the joke “distasteful.” "I don't care who you tell the joke about, but we have a school board member posting a rape joke on social media,” Johnson told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. A retired Knox County Schools special education teacher, Johnson emphasized how school officials must lead by example. "As a teacher, we always struggled to be role models for kids," Johnson said. "I certainly wouldn't as a representative of the entire school system of Hamilton County put just really filthy stuff out there.” She also acknowledged that while it is common for public officials to get criticized for their opinions, what Thurman posted was out of line. "I think elected officials are people, and they can express their opinions," Johnson said in a phone call. "But distasteful, really hideous and ugly and abusive jokes, that's just not somewhere I would go, especially if I was representing the children of Hamilton County.” At this time, Hamilton County Board of Education officials are further reviewing the post. As calls for Thurman to resign continue on social media, it’s important to note that this isn’t the first time. Last year Thurman received public backlash and calls to resign after she was quoted by Chattanoogan.com for saying that Spanish-speaking children are considered a “burden” when compared to English-speaking children in schools. In the article, titled “Rhonda Thurman Says Hispanic Students Who Speak Little Or No English Are Overwhelming County Schools,” Thurman was quoted saying: “We had about 8,000 Hispanic students last school year, and at last count the number was 8,671 this year. They arrive every day at schools like Howard in groups of five or more. It is mind-boggling to me the burden it puts on the schools, the teachers and the taxpayers. Teachers tell me they cannot give the attention they deserve to the English-speaking students because they have to devote so much time to try to help the Hispanic students catch up.” The incident received national attention in October when community members and teachers came together at a school board meeting to defend Hispanic students and ask Thurman to resign. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/16/2153310/-Tennessee-school-board-member-urged-to-resign-again-after-making-gang-rape-joke-on-Facebook Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/