DANVILLE — District 118 Superintendent Alicia Geddis told Vermilion County First that she received a threat this summer that was allegedly from the Ku Klux Klan. At the start of this school year, trucks followed her home from work.
The NAACP in Danville sees the situation as part of an escalation of rhetoric about undocumented immigrants and others during Donald Trump’s campaign for presidency.
“White supremacists think they have a free reign now that they can text and email the Black community because of that rhetoric. We as a Black community are just not going to stand for it,” Danville NAACP President Edward Butler said.
Black people across the country received anonymous texts after Trump’s election about being summoned by “slave catchers” to “pick cotton.”
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, two members plan to ask about rumors that the superintendent hasn’t been working from her office for almost two months.
Butler says the superintendent should come into work in person, perhaps with added protection.
The Danville Police Department declined to provide comment on the investigation. The Springfield Federal Bureau of Investigations Field Office declined to comment on whether an investigation was occurring, as is their policy. Geddis did not return requests for comment.