A white New York school teacher allegedly accused of putting up a racially offensive image in a classroom claims she was a victim of racial discrimination herself.
In 2019 an image circulated of a collage displayed in a classroom at Roosevelt Middle School in New York that sparked outrage among the community and school district officials.
The photo, part of a larger classroom display of teachers and students, showed a pair of nooses under a caption that said “back to school necklaces,” alongside the words, “Ha Ha,” “#YES” and a smiley face.
The school district blamed an “isolated group of teachers” for the collage and said “appropriate action” had been taken, according to The Daily Beast.
Years after the incident, Nancy Jones Doering filed a lawsuit against the school district, revealing herself as one of the teachers accused.
Secondly (more controversially), is a picture of a noose racist? I mean, it certainly has racist connotations and I personally wouldn’t have used it, but (bear with me) I’m not sure racist is the concrete conclusion. Lots of people have been hung throughout history, if you’re not viewing it through a racial lens then are you a racist or just very insensitive.
I see what you’re saying… but it seems like a technicality that’s not worth exploring here.
If instead it was a guillotine with a caption of “this year’s detention activity”… it’s really not any better. Like it’s no longer racist but… now it’s just purely about killing kids in a more equitable homicidal format. It’s very dark humor in a very public place.
It’s a lot of time and effort and argument to debate “yeah this was terrible but it might not have been racist”. Does a definitive answer of “at least it wasn’t racist” make this appreciably any better? Does it make them any more likely to get a teaching job after this?
It also doesn’t change the core argument the teacher is making in the story. “You lumped me in with a bunch of racists because I was white. I took down the image because it was offensive. Obviously. Why would I leave it up if it was offensive?”
Does a definitive answer of “at least it wasn’t racist” make this appreciably any better? Does it make them any more likely to get a teaching job after this?<
On the first question: yes, making a bad joke is better than being a racist. On the second: also probably… yes, tbh. Not saying it wouldn’t harm her career but less that everyone thinking you’re racist.
It also doesn’t change the core argument the teacher is making in the story. “You lumped me in with a bunch of racists because I was white. I took down the image because it was offensive. Obviously. Why would I leave it up if it was offensive?”<
Completely agree. Claiming reverse racism is almost always shitty thing to do. I’ll happily concede that it’s even less likely the school is racist.
