California English teacher is filmed repeating n-word and urging student to repeat it during lesson
California English teacher is filmed repeating the n-word and urging student to repeat it during class on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer “where she saw that slur is just an English word anyone can say”
- The teacher reviewed Mark Twain’s groundbreaking work with a student
- A student who recorded the incident said she tried to get him to repeat the slur
- The teacher repeats the word about 15 times in a row as the class starts laughing
An English teacher in California is facing backlash after repeatedly using the n-word and urging a student to do the same during a class on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The Sequoia Middle School language arts teacher – who has not been identified – was discussing Mark Twain’s famous novel when one of the 219 utterances of the racial slur came up.
A black student who filmed the encounter – who remains anonymous – said the teacher then “tried to force” a student to repeat the word.
“The teacher came to the front of the class and she said the word is just an English word and anyone can say it if they want, it’s in the dictionary and people are hypersensitive to the word,” they said.
The video shows how the teacher lures the student: ‘Just say it. N****r’ and then starts grinning. ‘Why? You’re asking me, so go ahead and pronounce it: n****r.’
An English teacher in California faces backlash after repeatedly using the n-word and urging a student to do the same during a lesson on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The student could do nothing but hang his head and remain silent. His classmates even start chuckling.
“She tried to force him to say the word and she kept saying it repeatedly and she had a grin on her face,” the film student added. “I was just thinking, ‘Damn, this teacher is crazy.”
The student claims that the teacher repeated the slur about 15 times.
A parent shared the video on March 31 on a local Facebook page.
“This took place at my daughters’ school in Fontana with the Sequoia Middle School teacher,” Bianca Gibbons wrote. ‘Repost[,] please stop racism and verbal abuse[,] bullying[.] this teacher should be fired[.] please help share this.”
The school district responded with a statement that didn’t seem clear about the context in which the teacher ranted.
“While we recognize that this derogatory language comes from a novel first published in the late 1800s, and that historical context is important to consider when discussing literature, the District approves of the language used in the video or the use of that language outside the country. the context of discussing the novel,” they said.
The teacher did not comment when contacted by ABC7 Wednesday. Sequoia Middle School has yet to return requests for comment.
“She tried to force him to say the word and she kept saying it repeatedly and she had a grin on her face,” the film student said. “I was just thinking, ‘Damn, this teacher is crazy'”
The school district responded with a statement that didn’t seem clear about the context in which the teacher ranted
Caroline Rivera, a mother of two students at the school, called the comments “unacceptable.”
She wasn’t sure what the school district should do to punish the teacher.
‘Get the teacher out? Maybe follow another training?’ suggested Rivera.
It comes during a series of debates in America and the UK over censorship of decades and centuries-old books.
The Agatha Christie novels are the latest works to be rewritten to eliminate vocabulary that has been deemed insensitive or inappropriate, it has emerged.
Sequoia Middle School language arts teacher – who has not been identified – was discussing Mark Twain’s famous novel when one of the 219 utterances of the racial slur emerged
Twain’s book is considered a groundbreaking classic, but often causes controversy for its use of the n-word
Several passages in the author’s Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries have reportedly been reworked or removed altogether from new editions of the books.
Publisher HarperCollins removed text containing “insults or references to ethnicity,” as well as descriptions of certain characters’ physiques. The Telegraph reported.
Christie’s works are the last to be politically correct rewritten. It comes after books by Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and Enid Blyton were edited due to sensitivity issues.