After accusing a former Bullard High School football coach of calling her son the N-word, Fresno Unified trustee Keshia Thomas tried to walk back that claim against Don Arax in a legal deposition.

“I never said he called my son the N-word,” Thomas said, according to a transcript of an April deposition in Arax’s defamation lawsuit against her and the district acquired by GV Wire.

Arax’s attorney, Brian Whelan, then followed with a question.

“You’re sure about that?” Whelan asked.

“I’m pretty sure,” responded Thomas, who is a 2026 Fresno City Council candidate.

In 2022, Thomas said on the “Unfiltered” podcast hosted by GV Wire Publisher Darius Assemi that Arax used the racial slur against her middle son when he was a Bullard student and football player.

Arax was removed as head coach in September 2023 by Fresno Unified without explanation but remained at the school as a teacher. He had coached there for more than 20 years. In 2024, he became the head football coach at Central Valley Christian in Visalia.

Calls and emails made by GV Wire to Thomas were not returned.

Related Story: Bullard Coach Calls Trustee a ‘Liar’ on Racial Slur Accusation, ...

“I haven’t been to Bullard High School as a student in 30 years,” Thomas said on the podcast. “But 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, however, said in a 2024 court document that her middle son never attended Bullard High nor did he play football for the school.

Arax declined to comment on the story. Fresno Unified told GV Wire that it does not comment on litigation.

Arax Called for an Investigation into Himself

Thomas appeared on the “Unfiltered” podcast in May 2022, discussing racism after a social media image showed a Bullard student wearing a white T-shirt on his head in the style of a Ku Klux Klan hood. Another student held the shirt in an upward position.

After the image circulated, Thomas — the Edison High trustee — attended a Bullard High staff meeting, something “highly irregular,” according to Arax’s lawsuit.

At that meeting, she accused “white” coaches of using the N-word on campus against African-American students, the lawsuit stated.

On the podcast, Thomas specifically named Arax.

Arax denied those accusations after the podcast, calling for a “thorough” investigation into himself.

Thomas Says Arax Used N-Word at 2013 Football Camp. Arax Tells Court He Wasn’t There.

Thomas, however, stood by her accusations at the time.

“First and foremost I have no reason to lie,” Thomas told GV Wire in May 2022. “I’m sure my son and his friends who were on the team would be willing to make a statement seeing as they are graduates and he is no longer a threat to their education.”

In a later court declaration, Thomas tried to explain her accusations against Arax. She said that Arax invited her middle son, then a student at Tenaya Middle School, to attend a football camp in 2013. Arax waived fees for him to attend, she said.

Thomas also said in that declaration that she had expected her son to go to Bullard until he said Arax used the N-word then in reference to Black football players.

In a sworn declaration, Arax said he could never find a record of her son attending the 2013 camp. He also testified that he didn’t coach the 2013 summer camp. Instead that camp was run by by the head coach of Bullard’s freshman and junior varsity football teams and two assistant coaches.

Those coaches — two of whom are Black — declared to the court that they participated in the camp and denied knowledge of any coach using a racial slur toward camp participants. In addition, the coaches said they’d never hear Arax use the N-word.

Fresno Unified Covers Thomas’ Legal Fees

Thomas said in the April deposition that Fresno Unified is covering her legal costs in the lawsuit filed by Arax.

Thomas previously argued that because she was speaking as a trustee, her speech was protected. Court records show that Fresno Unified previously tried to distance itself from her claims, saying Thomas was not speaking on behalf of the board or the district.