George Rogers Clark student receives racial note

A 16-year-old black student at George Rogers Clark High School says he received a threatening, racially-charged note at school two weeks ago, and four white students were arrested Wednesday, charged with terroristic threatening in the incident, according to one of their mothers.

Ronda Hopewell, the mother of the black student, Deonte Skinner, says she is shocked something like that would happen in 2007.

“I can’t believe there is still prejudice around here,” Hopewell said. “I saw on the news where a student got a threatening letter, but here in Winchester? I couldn’t believe that.”

In the note were two crude drawings that depicted someone, possibly Deonte, being whipped and lynched, an image of the Confederate flag, and a scribble that his mother says is his grave.
The note also includes the phrases “The south will rize again” and “I had a dream white power.”
But Lois Cotton, mother of one of the boys charged with the crime, said her son was arrested over a drawing that was altered. She said all four boys admitted to drawing the pictures, but names and words were added later.

They were suspended for three days. Cotton said Winchester Police arrested the boys during school Wednesday.

“I agree that they did need (to be) suspended for the drawings,” Cotton said. “I didn’t complain one bit about that, and I wouldn’t have complained if they got the full 10 days (suspension).”
Cotton also said her son and the others were questioned without their parents present. She said she is considering a civil suit against school administrators...

This from the Winchester Sun.

Racial Slur Offends, No Matter the Context

Montgomery County (MD) educators are replacing a lesson that called for students to read about and discuss a racial epithet against African Americans as a precursor to reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" in ninth-grade English classes.

The lesson, called "Questionable Words," focused on two reading selections, an essay and a poem, each dealing with the epithet and how the author was hurt by its use. Curriculum officials reexamined the lesson after an African American student told the school board in the fall that the class had upset her.

"What we heard from enough community members and some teachers is that it's sensitive, it's emotionally charged," said Betsy Brown, curriculum director for Montgomery schools. "And if we have a lesson that could be misused and cause real hurt to a few or to a whole classroom of kids, then maybe we need to change it."

The complaint from Maya Jean-Baptiste, a 15-year-old at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, marks a departure from the usual protest of racially insensitive language in classroom literature. Most often, someone seeks to ban a book; Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a perennial target. In this case, the student objected to an introductory lesson whose purpose was to prepare her for the racist language in the book...

This from the Washington Post.

Teacher suspended for his "lesson" on racial slurs

Last month, Stephen Henry, a sixth-grade teacher at Creswell Arts Magnet School in Nashville, overheard a female student describe something as "gay."

He felt compelled to use the "teachable moment" as a way to educate students about offensive words.

Henry told the student that regardless of what one means, when emotionally-charged words are used, the intent of the speaker is often never heard or understood.

Then to demonstrate his point, he then asked the student how she would feel if he called her "the n-word."

The student responded by saying, "How would you feel if I called you a cracker?"

Oops.

In that moment, Mr. Henry's point was made, but he was about to get a lesson himself.

The student told her mother. Anzora Lee-Starks, the child's mother, told the principal. The principal told Mr Henry she thought a three-day unpaid suspension ought to be a pretty good lesson too.

In addition to being a teacher, Henry is a professional actor who has won numerous awards as a human rights activist and serves as vice president of the Tennessee Equality Project, a group dedicated to advancing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

"I don't think he meant it to come out the way it did, but I think my daughter was very hurt, and I was very upset about it," Lee-Starks said. "I teach my children not to use that word. I think he made a very poor choice in trying to explain something that is over their heads and using the n-word in the way he did."

Lee-Starks said her daughter was bothered because she felt the teacher was using the "what-if" scenario as an excuse to call her the racial slur.

Lee-Starks said Henry apologized for the incident, and she felt his apology was sincere. But, she said, she doesn't believe he should have been explaining such a sensitive topic to sixth-graders by using such a racially charged word.

This from the Nashville Tennessean.