Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas said in a deposition that she never said former Bullard High School football coach Don Arax called her son a racial slur.
That contradicts what she previously told local media, which led Arax to file a defamation lawsuit against Thomas.
The backstory: In May 2022, Thomas appeared on GV Wire’s podcast that was hosted by publisher Darius Assemi to discuss racism in Fresno Unified after a picture circulated of a student who appeared to be wearing a Ku Klux Klan Hood.
- Thomas discussed an incident with one of her sons and Arax on the podcast. “Then my son, my middle son, goes to football practice, where he has Arax calling him a n_____ and he decides he’s not playing for Bullard anymore,” Thomas said. “OK, and he ends up playing at Edison.”
- GV Wire made the YouTube video of the 2022podcast private until publishing their own report of the deposition, but the audio is still available to listen to on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Thomas made the comments around the 15-minute mark.
Flashback: Arax filed a claim against Thomas in June 2022 saying she made defamatory statements about him.
- He was removed as the head coach of Bullard in 2023, with the district saying at the time that it could not provide details for the decision.
- Last year Arax returned to coaching as he was hired to lead the football program at Central Valley Christian Schools.
What she’s saying: The Sun obtained a copy of the transcript of Thomas’ sworn deposition, taken on April 22, as part of pending litigation filed by Arax against Fresno Unified School District and Thomas.
- Thomas, speaking under oath, admitted neither her son – nor any of her other children – played football at Bullard.
- In the deposition, Thomas said she never called Arax racist or said he used the N-word.
- “I never said he called my son the N-word,” Thomas said.
- When asked if she ever told anyone that Arax called her son the N-word, Thomas replied “no.”
- When asked if she ever told anyone that Arax made a racial slur against her son, she said, “I never said against my son.”
