Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said she won't resign despite a wave of controversy surrounding incendiary comments she made in a speech last month.
Lewis, 58, who is also vice president of the American Federation for Teachers, mocked U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's lisp during a union rally in Seattle, Wash., Oct. 1. The conservative Education Action Group, which advocates school choice, began circulating video footage of the attack Nov. 10.
"Now, you know [Duncan] went to private school 'cause if he had gone to public school he would have had that lisp fixed," Lewis said in the video.
"I know—that was ugly wasn't it? I'm sorry," she continued, before eventually launching into a joke about drug use.
"I am the only Black woman in the class of 1974 from Dartmouth College," Lewis said. "People are impressed… I spent those years smoking lots of weed, self-medicating… Oh, I'm sorry, there are kids here. I wasn't supposed to say that, right? Too late!"
Conservative columnist and EAO CEO Kyle Olson slammed Lewis in a Nov. 14 blog post.
"I thought we taught children not to mock or make fun of others," Olson wrote. "Apparently the teachers are exempt from such lessons. This is the best the Chicago school employees have to offer?"
Lewis apologized Nov. 16 during a press conference.
"Some of what I said was inappropriate and insensitive," she said. "No one should ever resort to personal attacks. I should not have let the frustration get the best of me, and I should never have engaged in a personal attack against anyone. It won't happen again."
The Chicago Teachers Union issued a press release Nov. 16 stating that Lewis' comments had been taken out of context. The group noted that only four minutes of Lewis' 35-minute speech had made it on to YouTube. It also questioned EAO's motives for releasing video footage more than a month after Lewis had made the comments.
Lewis is no stranger to controversy. She's long been criticized for her brash style, and has publicly butted heads with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over the appropriate length of Chicago's school days. Proponents say Lewis' candor is one of her strengths.
