Election 2024: LA teachers union pulls endorsement of LAUSD board candidate Kahllid Al-Alim

The union representing Los Angeles Unified School District teachers pulled its endorsement of embroiled board candidate Kahllid Al-Alim late Monday, March 4, on the eve of Tuesday’s primary election.

Al-Alim, who could not be reached for comment early Tuesday, is one of seven candidates seeking to succeed retiring board member George McKenna as the District 1 representative. The district runs from around Beverly Hills southward, wrapping around Inglewood and ending at Gardena.

Al-Alim’s candidacy took a hit last month because of revelations about social media activity that was sexually explicit, as well of some posts that led to accusations of antisemitism. Al-Alim previously aplogized for the posts.

United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents more than 35,000 LAUSD educators, announced it had rescinded its endorsement of Al-Alim in a statement on its website.

“United Teachers Los Angeles has rescinded our endorsement of District 1 school board candidate Kahllid Al-Alim after a democratic process that involved (multiple union bodies),” the union’s statement said. “UTLA member leaders moved decisively as information came to light.”

Al-Alim became the center of controversy in late February when screen shots of his activity on X, formerly Twitter, began surfacing. Some of the activity was decried as antisemitic; he also followed accounts that were sexually explicit in nature, including those that promoted women on the adult site OnlyFans. The activity was from Al-Alim’s personal X account, which was deleted when the controversy erupted.

Al-Alim quickly apologized for the activity in a statement, and said his career — which included serving on the African American Education Task Force and advocating for the creation of the Black Student Achievement plan, according to his website — had been dedicated to fighting oppression. He also did not drop out of the District 1 race; the top two finishers will face off in the November general election.

“I have spent my life fighting against antisemitism, anti-Arab hate, Islamophobia, and all forms of oppression,” he said in his initial statement. “I have spent my life fighting for the equality of all people. There is a very long history of Jewish and Black people backing each other and working in solidarity for justice. I want to continue that important work.”

But that didn’t stop the outrage.

Everyone from the Los Angeles County Federation Of Labor, AFL-CIO — which also endorsed him — to the Simon Wiesenthal Center and LAUSD Board of Education President Jackie Goldberg condemned. UTLA, which had described Al-Alim in its endorsement as “fighter for racial and economic justice,” also condemned him

But rescinding its endorsement was a long process. UTLA’s endorsement team, the Political Action Council of Educators and its Board of Directors all needed to weigh in — and its 250-member House of Representatives had to vote.

The final decision came Monday evening.

“UTLA condemns all forms of oppression,” the union said in its statement about rescinding Al-Alim’s endorsement, “including racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Blackness, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and homophobia.”

The union also said this situation was a chance to learn.

“As educators, we recognize that people can learn and evolve through courageous conversations,” UTLA’s statement said. “Therefore, we view this situation as a valuable learning opportunity not only for UTLA, but also for the wider community. We look forward to engaging the diverse communities that make up Los Angeles.”