December 3, 2020 Edward H. Sebesta XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX edwardsebesta@gmail.com Justin Henry President Dallas Independent Board of Trustees Board Services Office 5151 Samuell Blvd. Dallas, TX 75228 Dear Mr. Henry: I enclose a history of Oran M. Roberts’ long vicious career of supporting white supremacy, for whom Oran M. Roberts Elementary school is named. Roberts’ white supremacist career is much more than the Confederacy, his calls for secession, and his defense of slavery. In my history is his defense of the Ku Klux Klan and his lecture given at the Univ. of Texas where he explained that the phrase, “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence, doesn’t apply to Native Americans and African Americans, but to white men only. But I also include a few pages from Roberts’ book on Texas. There is Roberts’ idea of world-wide exterminating war against those who resist white domination. Of particular interest is Roberts’ denigration of Mexicans and hence Mexican Americans as being lower in civilization and having deficient manhood. You have students who will have on their transcripts, and have had on their transcripts, someone who regarded them as less than fully human. In my photo documentation of the school I noted that Oran M. Roberts Elementary had a banner hanging stating, “We Are a Proud Two-Way Dual Language Campus! ¡Estamos orgullosos de ser una escuela de lenguaje dual!” Also, on the banner is a shield with a large “R” and the name of the school. On the same banner you honor a man who thought Latinos were basically dog poop. I enclose the photo of the banner. Michael Philips and I flagged this school name in our online essay published by the Dallas Morning News. It would be helpful if the DISD Board of Trustees gave a damn about schools named after white supremacists and changed their names including this one. https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/04/dallas-confederatememorials-scream-white-supremacy/ Sincerely Yours,
Edward H. Sebesta
CC: DISD trustees, Dan Miccichie, Edwin Flores, Karla Garcia, Dustin Marshall, Maxie Johnson, Joyce Foreman, Ben Mackey, Miguel Solis.