Fake Hate: School Board Member Created Story About HS Football Coach - Took Years and $350k in Legal Fees for Truth to Surface
A race-hustling single black mom of three who falsely accused a white high school football coach of calling her son the N-word is backpedaling amid a damaging defamation lawsuit.
Keshia Thomas — a trustee with the Fresno (California) Unified School District — is facing calls to resign after the district shelled out almost $370,000 in legal fees to defend her four-year lawsuit filed by former Bullard High School coach and teacher Don Arax.
The Fresno Teachers Association, local chapter of the California Teachers’ Association, is also urging Thomas to leave the school board and end her campaign for a seat on the Fresno City Council amid questions over her dubious credibility, ABC News 30 in Fresno reported.
“How can we, as a community, trust that what she says is accurate, it’s true?” FTA President Manuel Bonilla told the outlet.
Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas says she will not resign after the Fresno Teachers Association called for her to step down amid new developments in a years-long defamation lawsuit involving a former Bullard High School football coach.
FULL STORY: https://t.co/1FPF0pTF5m pic.twitter.com/Fg9ofVleXI— FOX26 News (@KMPHFOX26) August 19, 2026
The race hoax unfolded in 2022, when Keshia Thomas claimed that Arax had called her son the N-word at football practice.
Thomas made the accusation on the May 17, 2022, episode of the GV Wire podcast “Unfiltered.”
Thomas claimed Arax had uttered the racial slur in 2013, when her son was in high school.
Arax filed a defamation lawsuit in 2022, shortly after Thomas made the allegation.
The Fresno Unified School District has been helping to pay Thomas’ legal bills for four years because she is a trustee, or school board member.
Last week, Thomas insisted she never said Arax had used a racial slur.
The school district responded by saying it will no longer pay for Thomas’ legal defense.
“FUSD agreed to help cover trustee Thomas’ legal fees at a time when we had no reason to question her account,” the district said in a statement to ABC 30 News.
“Since then, new information has come to light. In her deposition, Thomas acknowledged that some of her earlier statements were not accurate, and her son made a similar acknowledgment in his own declaration,” the district added.
“Through June 9, the district has paid $235,330 in defense fees for itself. It has also paid Thomas’ defense costs of $134,421,” the Fresno Bee reported.
The district added that Thomas will have to pay her own bills if she’s found guilty of defamation.
“FUSD has not agreed to indemnify Thomas should she be found liable for defamation,” the district said.
Making matters worse, Keshia Thomas’ own son — Albert Alford Jr. — filed a declaration on July 27 insisting Arax had never called him the N-word.
“At no time did Coach Don Arax ever call me the word “n***er,” ”n***a,” the “N-word,” or any other racial slur,” Alford wrote. “I never heard Coach Arax use any racial slur or make any derogatory or racially offensive remark about me.”
“At no time did I ever tell anyone, including [my mother] Keshia Thomas, that Coach Arax used a racial slur toward me,” he added.
Alford’s legal declaration contradicted the account he gave the Fresno Bee on Aug. 14.
“While at the [2013 football] camp, another player told me that Coach Arax used the N-word so I decided I didn’t want to play football at Bullard,” Alford told the outlet.
“When I got home from the camp, I told my mom that I heard Coach Arax use the N-word, not about me, just that I’d heard him say it, even though that wasn’t true.”
So a defamatory lie was spewed by an angry mom after her son lied about an incident. This disgusting web of deceit isn’t surprising since the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Only now are they coming forward to admit the truth, after the damage is done.
Arax’s attorney, Brian Whelan, told The Fresno Bee, “Coach Arax has lived with this false accusation for more than four years, while Fresno Unified republished it thousands of times to its own employees. The damage to Coach Arax’s name and reputation has been enormous. He is ready for his day in court — to clear his name and hold ALL responsible parties accountable.”
Sadly, this incident mirrors a similar race hoax involving a white youth who was falsely accused of committing a racial hate crime against his black classmate.
— I,Hypocrite (@lporiginalg) February 15, 2026
In February, a Texas jury awarded the plaintiff $3.2 million after concluding the incident was a hoax fabricated by his classmate’s money-grubbing mother and her race-hustling attorney.
Hopefully, race-hustling agitators will continue to face real accountability for their damning lies going forward.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
