I protest.: Racist teacher reprimanded, resigns.

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May 23, 2003

Bigotry

Racist teacher reprimanded, resigns.

The racist teacher in Seattle of whom I wrote a few days ago has resigned, according to J. at Silver Rights, after receiving a written reprimand from the school district. Of course, in his letter of resignation, he claimed that others misinterpreted his actions. 'Tain't so, though; when a white person uses the word "nigger" in reference to a person with dark skin, it's never anything other than racist. I certainly agree with J. that it's good that he was reprimanded and resigned, though. As I said before, he has no business whatsoever teaching children. It's just too bad it took public embarassment to force the school district to give him that reprimand. One would hope that they learned something from this incident.

If there can be said to be a good aspect of this story, it is that the children involved have had it demonstrated to them very graphically that what their teacher did was absolutely unacceptable and that such behavior will result in pretty dire consequences. Hopefully they learned something from this, as well, something that will stick with them as they grow up.

Quick update: In my entry of May 18, 2003, "A Nasty Little Bigot," I said

Even I, who am not around adolescents at all, know that a teenager calling something "gay" is hardly worth consideration, much less punishment.

Trish Wilson, who is around adolescents quite a lot, points out the problem with the term as used by teenagers. In particular, she says,

One thing critics of the slur "gay" do not always consider is that the word debases the feminine. Not only is it offensive to gays, it negatively impacts girls. Anything "girly" is also likely to be viewed as "gay," and not in a good way. I believe the use of that word encourages those who use it (and those who suffer at the receiving end of it) to devalue girls and women.

After consideration, I believe that she's right. I stand corrected.

Posted by Frank at May 23, 2003 8:18 PM