Representative-elect Tim Hernández recently appeared on 9News for an interview with Kyle Clark. During the interview, Hernández, who identifies as a "progressive democrat," was asked a series of easy questions, typical for the show, without any challenging follow-ups. However, one particular answer stood out and demanded further scrutiny.

 “Are you a Marxist,” asked Clark.

“Ah, I’m not a Marxist. I’m against oppression. Right and I think there’s a variety of political ideologies that align with that. Right. But that is also a democratic value. That we are against oppressive policy. That we are in favor lifting the oppressed and building conditions where the oppressed are not oppressed any more. Right.”

But even a cursory look at Representative-elect Tim Hernández’s social media accounts, past speeches or even a sign in his classroom called for “Dismantl[ing] White systems” says something different.

It appears that he not only preached communist theory while teaching but also aimed to put it into practice. According to Hernández, it is essential to understand theory but also engage in practical actions, such as taking to the streets, workplaces, and families to effect change.

“Yes, it’s important to know theory. But you have to do some practices, you have to get out into the streets. You have to get into your workplace. You have to go to your families. If we are just sitting, talking in an ideological circle, our kids are still going to schools that are underfunded where they are investing more in their failure than in their success.”

“Your [communist] theory will not save you. The revolution… will happen in the hood. It will not be led by who understand Lenin best, it will not be led by the deepest Marxists. The revolution will be led by the people. … And I say all of this because I’m a teacher.”

Hernández's statements and actions have raised concerns among some individuals. He has expressed a desire to “dismantle systems of White supremacy” and believes that individuals play a role in upholding such systems.

“If White people spent HALF of the time they spend trying to distance themselves from their Whiteness and instead spent it actually deconstructing systems of White supremacy, where would we be?” he asked. “[S]ystems of white supremacy are upheld by individuals— to remove individuality from this conversation is unproductive… I am absolutely advocating for a Cultural Revolution where we dismantle individual and systemic White supremacy,” he said in January 2021.

“We’re talking about Whiteness and White supremacy. And I’m willing to advocate for any form of disruption to it and every manifestation it has,” Hernández said.

Following his firing from Denver Public Schools, after being called “aggressive, divisive and attacking” by a school’s administrator, Hernández said White people need to be subject to re-education.

“How long are we going to have to wait for White people to ‘grow’ and ‘unlearn?’” Hernández said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Because [to be honest], having to wait for the group in our society that has the slightest education levels, most economic power, and highest political capital to ‘grow’ seems like bulls–t to me.”