Shawano School Board Member Facing Calls to Resign After Racist George Floyd Post

Board met in special session Sunday, voting for Mart Grams to resign.

Shawano school board members are calling on one of their colleagues to resign after he posted a derogatory Facebook comment about George Floyd.

According to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, School board member Mart Grams on Saturday wrote “You know George Floyd is drug free for 2 months” on his Facebook page. 

During a special session meeting Sunday, board members condemned Grams’ use comments and unanimously approved a resolution calling on him to resign immediately. 

Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The video of his death prompted protests around the world seeking reforms of police treatment of people of color and an end to systemic racism. Protests have occurred in Milwaukee, Madison, and across much of Wisconsin. 

On Sunday Grams emailed Green Bay TV station WBAY a statement in which he said his Facebook post was “A joke, period. Anyone can say it was insensitive, or poor taste, but once the racist cards come out, the raw hatred, we have a very poorly trained generation who cannot deal with the slightest contradiction to what the (sic) are told.”

Grams’ Facebook post attracted hundreds of comments, many demanding he step down from the school board. 

Shawano school district officials said board members don’t have the authority under state law to remove a board member because those positions are elected by the public. However, the action the board approved Sunday night related to Grams’ Facebook post contends that action is harmful to the school district and merits his removal from the board. 

According to Grams’ LinkedIn profile, he taught civics in the Shawano-Gresham school district from 1987 to 2016.