An Ethnic Studies teacher at Santa Ana High School, has her classroom decorated with images of well-known communist figures armed with assault weapons, and finds them “inspiring” according to social media posts by the teacher Carah Reed. 

These photographs, which teacher Reed uploaded over the course of several years, include images of Malcolm X and an unnamed Zapatista revolutionary, both brandishing high-capacity rifles of the kind that would be illegal in the state of California, as well as of racist mass murderer Che Guevara. All of these images are visibly and prominently displayed in her classroom.

Reed’s history of using her classroom to promote left-wing ideology dates back at least to 2017. In an article for YES! Magazine published in that year, Reed described how she encouraged her students to engage in activism against the Dakota Access Pipeline, including attending anti-DAPL street protests.

“When these student protesters returned to school that Monday,” Reed wrote, “they were different people. They were now invested in a struggle that they didn’t care about last October… They now see themselves as part of a global movement.”

Furthermore, the photographs reveal that Reed’s classroom bulletin board contains sentiments such as “Anti Capitalist Socialist Club” and “Not today, colonizer.”

When asked about the imagery in Reed’s classroom, Santa Ana Unified School District declined to comment on the specifics, but said that the district “will always support civility and encourage an engaged school community through respectful and peaceful free exchange of ideas.”

Santa Ana Unified School District has rules that ban students from using certain imagery associated with violence, including Old English lettering on clothing, due to potential gang associations.

In a recent conference call, Reed also made inflammatory comments about her fellow white teachers, arguing that white teachers who teach students of color “need to stop being colonizers. And they are colonizers. The system makes them so.”