Our View: Clinkscales’ Facebook comments inexcusable
Nicole Clinkscales has an active interest in the Columbus schools. She is a PTA leader and the sister of Columbus Municipal School District board member Angela Verdell. She regularly attends at CMSD board meetings and frequently speaks at those meetings.
There is nothing wrong with any of that.
But on Oct. 24, Clinkscales turned to her Facebook page to attack CMSD Board Member Aubra Turner, inferring that Turner, who like Clinkscales is black, is an Uncle Tom. Later, engaging with a commenter, she referenced abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s quote about a mindset that kept blacks mentally enslaved. Tubman’s comment, which Clinkscales quoted, compared such thinking to a snake that should be killed.
Public figures are often the object of bitter criticism, of course, but what makes this incident different is one specific detail: Clinkscales is a municipal judge in Columbus.
And that makes a huge difference.
Columbus parents form committee to discuss high school issues
A subset of Columbus High School parents have formed a Parent Action Committee in the hopes of effecting positive change within the city school district.