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Black Spanish teacher claims she was fired for using the word ‘negro’ in class
yahoo.com | May 24, 2013

Posted on 05/24/2013 9:14:06 PM PDT by grundle

In the annals of political correctness run amok in American schools, this story — if true — is easily an all-timer.

A junior-high school Spanish teacher has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was fired from P.S. 211 in the Bronx in March 2012 because of a misunderstanding over the word “negro.”

The non-tenured teacher, 65-year-old Petrona Smith, maintains that she was instructing her class about how to say the various basic colors in Spanish, reports the New York Post. The word “negro” naturally came up because “negro” is the Spanish word for “black.”

A seventh-grade student in the class took offense at the term, however, believing the word to be a racial slur. It’s not clear if Smith directed the term at the student. Whatever the case, he reported the incident to school officials.

But, wait. It gets better. Smith, a native of the West Indies, is black. And to top it all off, P.S. 211 is bilingual.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: negro; vanity; zerotolerance
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1 posted on 05/24/2013 9:14:06 PM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle

The police state speech police in this country can get pretty rough.


2 posted on 05/24/2013 9:15:31 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (If you think ObamaCare is a train wreck, wait until you see the amnesty bill.)
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To: grundle
Oops! Forgot the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/black-spanish-teacher-claims-she-fired-using-word-141803930.html

3 posted on 05/24/2013 9:15:47 PM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle

4 posted on 05/24/2013 9:17:13 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement ("World Peace 1.20.09.")
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To: grundle

Where I used to work years ago, I walked up to a table full of my black friends to sit during a lunch break. One of them asked, “How’d you find us?” I replied, pulling out my phone, “I used my negro detector.” They got a good laugh out of it, though apparently they informed me it could be taken as racist by the wrong people. I had no clue. They still use it as an example of my insanity whenever they talk about me.


5 posted on 05/24/2013 9:17:24 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans
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To: grundle

Blanco=white
Negro=black
Rojo=red
Amarillo=yellow
Verde=green

and so on.


6 posted on 05/24/2013 9:18:22 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
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To: grundle

So.... Technically then , the United Negro Colege Fund is actually a racist orginazation.

I’m gonna need a program to keep up


7 posted on 05/24/2013 9:18:31 PM PDT by DanielRedfoot
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To: grundle

El gato N-palabra.

8 posted on 05/24/2013 9:20:56 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Choose one: the yellow and black flag of the Tea Party or the white flag of the Republican Party.)
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To: KarlInOhio

LOL!


9 posted on 05/24/2013 9:29:12 PM PDT by Rocky (Obama is pure evil.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Even funnier would have been your sampling everyones’ lunches, and then saying:
“Hey, let’s not be niggardly with the fries!”
No? Welcome to FR, etc., btw.


10 posted on 05/24/2013 9:39:59 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: grundle

That was a niggardly reason to fire her.


11 posted on 05/24/2013 9:43:28 PM PDT by Mark (Obama is more confused than a hungry baby in a topless bar)
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To: tumblindice

“Even funnier would have been your sampling everyones’ lunches, and then saying:
“Hey, let’s not be niggardly with the fries!”
No? Welcome to FR, etc., btw.”


lol, pretty sure that wouldn’t have worked for me.


12 posted on 05/24/2013 9:46:47 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans
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To: grundle

#1. The word ”negro” in English is not a slur.
#2. The word ”negro”/”negra” in Spanish (pronounced NAY grow; NAY grah) means black as in the color (un sombrero negro, a black hat; tinta negra, black ink). It is also a term of endearment. It also refers to Black people.
#3. There is no perjorative racial word or slur for Black people in Spanish. There is no ”n word”. To make a racial slur, you’d have to add an adjective, like ugly, evil, etc.
#4. The administrators at this school are illiterate and should be fired.


13 posted on 05/24/2013 9:56:38 PM PDT by kabumpo (Kabumpo)
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To: kabumpo

There certainly is a derogatory term for blacks in Spanish America..the word is mayate.


14 posted on 05/24/2013 10:00:05 PM PDT by aft_lizard
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Search: ‘Lenny Bruce and the word nigger’. He tried to argue that if we used the word like socialists (over) used the word ‘fascist’ it would lose its ability to hurt others.
George Orwell wrote that eventually fascist lost any real meaning among some groups and eventually came to mean something unpleasant or undesirable, e.g. “That fascist waiter stuck his thumb in my soup!”
Of course, Bruce died with his pants around his ankles and a needle in his arm. So never mind.


15 posted on 05/24/2013 10:05:04 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

Wow....you have black friends you get to call negro?

How cool is that?

Sure beats wazzup my ni$$as!

That would be more accurate

Negro should not be considered offensive....


16 posted on 05/24/2013 10:09:11 PM PDT by wardaddy (wanna know how my kin felt during Reconstruction in Mississippi, you fixin to find out firsthand)
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To: grundle

>>The word “negro” naturally came up because “negro” is the Spanish word for “black.”

Lucky for her she wasn’t teaching Latin, then she’d REALLY be in trouble. In Latin, ‘black’ = ‘niger’


17 posted on 05/24/2013 10:15:32 PM PDT by vikingd00d (nulla seruitus turpior quam uoluntaria -- Seneca)
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To: grundle

NUTS

ComDem Insanity.


18 posted on 05/24/2013 10:26:59 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
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To: wardaddy

“Negro should not be considered offensive....”


I’m still not exactly sure WHY or HOW it’s offensive. That’s why I was quite dumbfounded when they warned me afterwards to be careful saying that amongst non-friends. It’s still used as an example, like I said, of my alleged audacity. Whether it’s actually audacious or not... who knows?


19 posted on 05/24/2013 10:31:09 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans
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To: grundle

Hey, at least she didn’t say “Macaca”.


20 posted on 05/24/2013 10:56:44 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Arguing with a marxist is like playing Chess with a Pigeon.)
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