CPS Board president candidate asks for support, defends himself amid abuse allegations
'If and when they (my children) need to be disciplined in an age-appropriate way with love, then I'm going to do that'
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A candidate for the first fully elected Chicago Public Schools Board is publicly responding for the first time to allegations from old divorce records that have become a central issue in his campaign.
Attorney Victor Henderson, who is running for CPS Board president, spoke Thursday at a luncheon with a group of Black pastors, invoking biblical references and asking for support as he confronted accusations raised by his ex-wife in court filings from 2011.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Henderson acknowledged the political fallout from the documents, which detail allegations of child abuse involving his older son 15 years ago.
"There's danger along this road that I'm traveling because I know I'm going to be attacked. It has already started," he said.
Court documents from Henderson's divorce and custody battle included statements from his ex-wife alleging physical abuse.
One filing stated: "Victor proceeded to take (their older son) into the garage and beat him repeatedly with the wooden handle of a garden hoe."
Another read: "Victor will sometimes come into his bedroom in the middle of the night and whip him with a belt while he is asleep under the covers."
Henderson suggested that the accusations were false and the incidents amounted to disciplining his son.
"My children are happy. They're healthy. They're grown, and I'm going to love my children as a father, as a Black father, as the African American father," he said. "I'm not stepping down from raising my children. That's not going to happen. And if and when they need to be disciplined in an age-appropriate way with love, then I'm going to do that."
Top Stories
Pastor Marvin Hunter, who led the breakfast, defended Henderson's parenting.
"His children are doing well. He just gave it to you. So send that out, so that they'll understand that his method of raising a child must work because his son is well," Hunter said.
But Henderson's opponents offered sharply different reactions.
"These revelations are deeply disturbing. Someone with a history of domestic violence and corporal punishment should not be in a leadership position, especially not for children," Candidate Jessica Biggs said.
"Voters want a Board of Education president who they can trust to focus on our kids' success. A board candidate who is busy defending themselves from allegation of inappropriate conduct is not going to be positioned to do that work for hundreds of thousands of kids in Chicago," candidate Sendhil Revuluri said.
Henderson said he would not be shamed by the resurfaced allegations.
"So I'm not going to be embarrassed and let anybody try to embarrass me that I love my children, that I attempted to raise my children," he said.
In a statement earlier this week, Henderson noted, "There were no criminal charges, no arrests, and no findings by any court establishing those allegations as fact."
He added, "I'm not going to let this political process take me back 15 or 20 years to something that happened within my family. I'm going to look forward for the children."
Henderson said he intends to remain in the race, calling the campaign a fight for Chicago's children. His past - now a central issue - will be weighed by voters deciding his future with CPS.
