The Tulalip Tribes of Washington are threatening a recall against a public school board member who said some students perform poorly on standardized tests due to their race.

The tribe said the remarks by Michael Kundu were unacceptable. “After reading his e-mail, and seeing the racist nature of it all, we had no option but to call for his resignation,” Chairman Mel Sheldon told The Everett Herald

In an e-mail titled “race and achievement (please circulate),” Kundu said there was a “definitive factor played by racial genetics in intellectual achievement.” He cited the work of J. Philippe Rushton, the author of a controversial book about race and intelligence.

But Kundu says he shouldn't have brought up Rushton, whom he now believes is racist. However, he told the paper, “I have no intention of resigning."

The Marysville School District has about 12,000 students, and about one-third are minorities. Many of the minority students are Tulalip tribal members.

“I think he just went and did something that he is not going to recover from,” Don Hatch, a tribal official who used to sit on the school board with Kundu, told the paper.

This isn't the first time Kundu has stirred controversy. He once ridiculed the Makah Nation for its "cryptic and dying culture" because he opposed the tribe's whale hunting tradition.

Tribal leaders are set to meet with the school board today to discuss the issue.

Get the Story:
Marysville official links race to school success (The Everett Herald 6/10)
Tulalips, NAACP demand resignation of Marysville school official (The Everett Herald 6/12)
Debate on race, school achievement proving messy (The Everett Herald 6/13)