CADC had engaged SF NAACP in early February addressing SFUSD issues, including interracial tensions among the student populations and access to exellent education at all public high schools in San Francisco. 

Our relationship had evolved and we subsequently chose to discuss the Asian Hate issue where there were joint meetings that included the District Attorney and SFPD Chief of Police. 

When the 2016 Alison Collins tweets emerged in the news, CADC engaged in an internal deliberation. After reaching a position, CADC contacted the SF NAACP to inform the organization of our position. We knew this would be a difficult conversation but we chose to update the SF NAACP before going public with our statement out of respect for our relationship. 

Shortly thereafter, the SF NAACP reached out to discuss having conversations with Alison Collins. We attempted to negotiate the terms of the meeting in order to avoid any unnecessary tension among our membership and to preserve the coalition that both organizations had worked hard to develop. 

We eventually agreed to meet with the embattled school board member in a joint meeting with the SF NAACP. CADC was unaware the joint meeting would be a “restorative justice” proceeding and only informed through public statements made by the SF NAACP, at which point we withdrew from the meeting.   

CADC is saddened the Alison Collins’ issue has divided our organizations. During our joint meetings we had learned that our communities have common issues, in which our respective organizations would be able to uplift each other. We believe the future is bright and we will overcome our differences. When the opportunity presents itself, we look forward to continuing the work with SF NAACP on important issues that help bring about better understanding among communities in San Francisco.