Gregory Salcido, a high school teacher and city council member, went on a profanity-filled anti-military rant in his classroom after observing a student wearing a United States Marine Corps sweatshirt. The video went viral and now people are demanding he resign or be fired.
NOTE: This article contains the original video in question, which does contain profanity. Furthermore, uncensored quotes from Mr. Salcido are also included in order to provide a complete picture of the facts as they happened.
Last Friday, a video of a teacher at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California launching a profanity-laced tirade against members of the United States military went viral. In the video, service members are referred to as unintelligent and “the lowest of the low.” The teacher, Gregory Salcido, is also a Pico Rivera councilman and has a long history of controversial behavior in both the local government and in the high school in which he is employed.
“We’ve got a bunch of dumbshits over there. Think about the people who you know who are over there, your freaking stupid uncle Louis or whatever; they’re dumbshits. They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people, they’re the freaking lowest of our low. Not morally, I’m not saying they make bad moral decisions, they’re not talented people.” – Gregory Salcido
The rant occurred sometime in January and began after Salcido saw a student wearing a Marines sweatshirt in class. His rant was not limited to recent or current conflicts; he also disparaged veterans of the Vietnam War. He went on to compare military recruiters to pimps, implying that they should not be allowed on school grounds.
“We all have night-vision goggles, all that kind of stuff, and we can’t freakin’ control these dudes wearing freakin’ robes and chanclas [flip-flops] because we have a bunch of dumb shits over there.” – Gregory Salcido
The Saturday following the video going viral, the El Rancho High School bulletin contained a ‘Saturday Word of the Day’ which read: “Censure (v. blame; criticize). He was censured for his inappropriate behavior.” On January 27th, El Rancho Unified School District officials confirmed that it was Salcido in the video and that it had been recorded in his classroom during school. District superintendent Karling Aguilera-Fort said that “our first priority is to assure the community that what was said does not reflect the values of the El Rancho community and the El Rancho board.”
.@gregorysalcido I'm respectfully requesting a meeting with you @ArlingtonNatl Section 60, Grave 9927. I will pay all of your expenses. You and I should begin a conversation for the sake of all that's good. This is my son Aaron. KIA 6 AUG 2011. If not us, who? If not now, when? pic.twitter.com/xYWBrKxK2G
— Karen Vaughn (@KarenVaughn_GSM) January 28, 2018
“If you join the military, it’s because you have no other options, because you didn’t take care of business academically because your parents didn’t love you enough to push you, and you didn’t love yourself enough to push yourself.” – Gregory Salcido
Between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Mr. Salcido deactivated his Twitter account. At the time of this writing, it remains deactivated; his Instagram and his Facebook accounts have also been made private. Before the Facebook account was made private, Salcido stated on Friday, “The Salcido 3 just got out of an excellent musical, ‘The Band’s Arrival.’ I turned my phone back on to unexpectedly see a storm. I don’t think it’s wise for me to make any specific comments, but I want my friends, family, and students to know we are fine and we respect the rights of free expression for all individuals.”
I’d like you to know that my late husband was a Yale graduate English major, he served in Special Forces, volunteered for Vietnam. Served proudly. Was reviled & spit upon by people like you. He was an award winning journalist until his death in 1984. Not “the lowest of low”.
— Linda Army Brat Patriot (@linda_ates) January 28, 2018
This is not Salcido’s first brush with controversy. First elected to the city council in 1999, Salcido drew attention by refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with his colleagues during council meetings. While acting as mayor in 2010, Salcido was placed on administrative leave by the school district after threatening a female 16-year-old student and making racist comments in class. In May of 2012, he was again placed on administrative leave after he admitted to physically assaulting a 15-year-old student in class.
“Well, I think the guy ought to go to Hell. I just hope he enjoys the liberties and the lifestyles we fought for.” – GEN(R) John F. Kelly, White House Chief of Staff
Salcido has been placed on administrative leave again by the school district, while being reportedly removed from all city council committees. Local law enforcement has taken extra measures to protect Salcido and his family from any potential threats.
