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Even when we’re the victims of racism, we’re somehow still at fault…
According to a LATimes report, a Black 15-year-old student at Glendale High School in Springfield, Missouri named Mary Walton has been suspended for putting her teacher on blast for using the n-word multiple times. Walton pulled out her cell phone and recorded her math teacher as he butted in on a conversation that some of his Black students were having in which the n-word was being used. This yet-to-be-identified man, in all his pasty privilege, thought it appropriate to challenge the youths on their use of the word as if he has any say-so in the matter.
The teacher used the word four times while demanding to know why Black people use it. Sufficed to say, the video is now SUPER viral…
The teacher is no longer employed by the school district, however, Mary Walton was suspended for three days for her use of her cell phone in the classroom. When Mary returned to school, she arrived alongside a lawyer named Natalie Hull who is challenging the school’s disciplinary action. Let the school tell it, Mary violated policy when she recorded the video in class. This couldn’t possibly make less sense. The teacher probably wouldn’t be fired if the video never existed so clearly Mary’s evidence was important. Beyond that, what if a crime was taking place? What if a student recorded a teacher assaulting a student or worse? Would THAT student also be subject to punishment? If the answer is “yes”, then fired every administrator in the district and start over. Mary and her mother want the suspension expunged from her record.
“We are hoping the school district will change their stance on refusing to expunge the suspension and issue her an apology,” Hull said.
“We’re hoping that the school district … will take this opportunity to show their students how to acknowledge when they’ve made a mistake and how to apologize for it,” Hull said. “There’s absolutely no embarrassment in that. Admit that you were wrong, apologize, and then it can help make things better in the long run.”
We’re gonna keep an eye on this one…
