It may be racist if there was racist INTENT on the part
of the teacher. Otherwise it shows startling bad taste.
Or, perhaps the teacher and her class is so integrated
in diversity that the thought never crossed her mind
and was just a funny picture, I seem to remember
Joe E. Brown doing that wide mouth bit and no one
even said it was in bad taste much less racist,
but of course anything tasteless about “white” folk
can’t BE racist because only “whites” are racists.
I side with the mother, but playing the drama queen
was not the way to deal with this. Maybe she was trying
for a spot on “Drama Queen for a Day”.
If there was racist INTENT, it’s pretty impossible to show and there’s too much assuming going on as it is today.
As far as the “startling bad taste” charge that too is pretty subjective especially in the world we subject children to these days. Bad taste is everywhere and some call it genius. You’ll never be able to eliminate “bad taste” anywhere.
And wouldn’t it be a GOOD thing if it didn’t cross the teacher’s mind that someone would flip out and deem a picture of an ignorant toothless person who happens to be black as racist? Aren’t we falling into the trap of lowered expectations if we must run everything we do or say through a racial filter lest someone, somewhere might be offended?