Posted on 11/19/2009 5:32:28 AM PST by SolidWood
When she was helping her son with his homework Saturday night, a Central Bucks mother noticed something that surprised and shocked her.
"I couldn't understand what I was looking at," said the woman, whose identity the newspaper has agreed not to disclose.
It was a work sheet called "Solving Equations using Multiplication and Division!" and it featured a photo of a black man wearing a straw hat, shirt and suspenders, with his mostly toothless mouth wide open. As if to underscore the man's stupidity, at the bottom of the picture was written, "No wai!!!"
The mother learned that her son, the only black student in his eighth-grade pre-algebra class at Lenape Middle School, was teased by another student when the assignment was distributed.
"One of the kids in the classroom turned around and said, 'Is that your father?' " she said.
"We are highly insulted and offended. We sent him to school to learn pre-algebra. He should be protected from this stuff, not have it thrown in his face...He gets enough (racial slurs) and negativity from the kids. To have the teacher encourage it?"
[...]
The boy's mother said she spent much of the weekend angry and in tears.
"It's very stressful to be an African-American in the community and you want to fit in and you want to embrace all of the things Central Bucks offers you," she said. "Who's protecting us here?"
Monday night, after meeting with the boy's family, NAACP Bucks County President John Jordan issued a written statement denouncing the events.
[...]
She plans to keep her son home from school until she feels as though it's safe to send him again.
(Excerpt) Read more at phillyburbs.com ...
I agree with you two. If opposing Obama’s Marxism isn’t racist — and it isn’t — this picture, on an assignment in a school, is.
They spelled “Way” wrong...
I have to agree with the mother on this one - that’s offensive.
I live in the town of Farrakhan and Jackson so I am more than familiar with knee-jerk “RACIST!” outcries.
This was a bonehead move by the teacher. But I think it points out a difference in what is true racism versus what is perpetuating a nasty stereotype. Racism harbors intent/contempt. I don’t know the teacher or principal, but I doubt it was done with intent to harm.
Agreed.
If it were a white man, I'd still find it offensive on a class room paper.
In a magazine or whatever, no one is forced to look at it. In a classroom, the kids have no choice.
oh the agony!!! well i guess it's better to teach the kid to be a wimp than a gangsta.
She plans to keep her son home from school until she feels as though it's safe to send him again.
Great plan, I like it. Maybe she should move to a district friendlier to People of Color (tm), like Washington DC. They probably don't evev teach pre-algebra there so there won't be a problem like this in the future.
I agree. That is really offensive.
Absolutely right. I was expecting much ado about nothing. Putting this is in a school assignment was repulsive and thoroughly offensive. The product of an ugly mind.
It's about context.
If this was a mostly-white school and there was an offensive picture of a homeless white guy or a white crack whore, that would be racist.
It’s a stupid picture, black or white, and has no place in a math assignment. Why can’t they just do math without the distractions?
It's your lack of diversity.
I think the intent was to mock ignorance. I would have used Nancy Pelosi's picture.
Yeah, but does the “victim” deserve a million dollars for it?
Or should the teacher be punished?
You know where this is headed...to a trial lawyer.
It is a terrible picture, I have seen it posted here at FR. Why was a picture of a person of any race on a math paper?
I’m gonna back the mother on this one. It was an inappropriate pic to use.
Then you are saying it is NOT racist.
mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm
The article doesn’t say, was it his father?
Agreed. She's milking it. No one threatened the boy. The kids would have forgotten about the whole thing by their next class.
No, they spelled “way” incorrectly. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.