Now, before anyone actually applauds the fact that the teacher was suspended; the teacher was suspended while he was doing a lecture on Jim Crow and the fact that Blackface was used as a means of satire against black people during that time period. He showed a video of blackface being used and ended up getting suspended for it by the assistant principal. It was a historical lesson, that was entirely relevant to the time period and had nothing whatsoever to do with racism which is why the assistant principal suspended him.

link

There has to be more to it than that. At the same time though...this quote infuriates me: "The unidentified assistant principal concluded that Barron’s lesson about how entertainers used to be racist was itself racist, according to the local paper."

Racist by association, that's unfortunately not so new. If it's theatrical makeup, let it be. If it's historic, teach about it so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

Easy peasy.

What? Are we supposed to sanitize history, not mention these things that happened?

Damn right its offensive, that's why kids need to know about it.

And this is why racism will just continue--because adults try too hard to shield children away from the truth and reality of life.

Seriously?

This teacher was trying to show how awful we humans were back then just so his students could make an effort to be better people. The assistant principal is a spineless wimp, crying "RACIST" and trying to uphold political correctness. Another person silenced because they wanted to show the unpleasant truth we deserved to know. We make the same mistakes over and over again because we deny the horrors around us.

Cute. -rolls eyes-

"We make the same mistakes over and over again because we deny the horrors around us. "

Cliche yet it seems nobody likes to listen to this gem. So many people don't know what blackface truly means. I mean look at the Germans doing black face out the rear. I don't watch the world cup for a multitude of reasons, but this stuff was brought to my attention. You know, just silly little 'playfulness'. Making fun of an oppressed group. 'Playfulness'. Making fun of them with a joke that was used (and still is used) to dehumanize them. 'Playfulness'. 'Joke'. 'Ha-Has'

We need to show people why certain things are wrong. When people don't know the roots they can't fathom why it's immoral.

Just...just...you can't cover your ears and eyes to the past. The past isn't always pretty and you shouldn't try to make it pleasant if it isn't.

Some people just seem to think if they act like nothing is wrong, all the problems of the world will go away.

"Calling out white people on an oppressive practice that dehumanized black people makes me feel uncomfortable! Racism!"

Props to the teacher, this sort of thing needs to be in classrooms. Students need to understand their country's full history, and that includes the institutionalization of racism and how it still affects us all today.

And this is why I can't ever teach history in public school... I'd teach too much about what really happened and not the glorified, sanitized shit of US history kids are taught.

{Seriously, don't even get me started on what really happened in the Civil War...