An English teacher at Sequoia Middle School in Fontana, California, faces backlash from parents after a Black student filmed her repeatedly saying the N-word during a presentation.
The teacher, who has not been identified, was discussing Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” with her class, and one of the 219 utterances of the racial slur came up in their discussion, according to the students.
A student who refused to repeat after the teacher reportedly asked the teacher the correct spelling of the word.
“You asked me how to spell it, so go ahead and pronounce it after me,” the teacher is heard saying in the video.
A Black student, who wants their identity to remain anonymous, filmed the encounter in class and said that the teacher kept repeating the word. The student also said that the teacher was trying to “force” one student to repeat the word as well.
“The teacher got in front of the class, and she was saying that the word is just an English word and everybody can say it if she wants to, it’s in the dictionary, and people are oversensitive over the word,” said the student who shot the video on her phone to ABC 7 News.
“She was trying to force him to say the word, and she repeatedly kept saying it, and she had a smirk on her face,” recalled the student, who’s African-American. “I was just thinking, ‘Dang, this teacher is out of her mind.'”
The students claimed that the teacher repeated the word approximately 15 times.
A parent reshared the video on her Facebook page.
“This took place at my Daughters school in Fontana at Sequoia Middle School teacher,” Bianca Gibbons wrote on her Facebook page. “Repost, please stop racism and verbal violence, bullying. This teacher should be fired. Please help share this.”
“Not acceptable,” said Caroline Rivera to ABC 7 News, a mother who has two students enrolled at the school. “Pulling the teacher out? Maybe going through training again?”
The Fontana School District did not comment on whether the teacher was disciplined or not but did release the following statement:
“While the use of the word was in connection to its use in a historical literary work, there was a lack of understanding regarding the emotional impact of using this word could have on our students. As a District, we take such incidents very seriously and we are committed to ensuring that our learning environment is inclusive and welcoming for all students. We understand that such incidents can be hurtful and upsetting, especially for students who come from diverse backgrounds. We want to assure you that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination or prejudice in our school, and we are taking steps to address this issue and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Going forward, we will continue to provide training and support to our administrators, teachers, and staff to ensure that they understand the importance of creating an inclusive and respectful learning environment.”
The teacher involved told ABC 7 News that she did not want to comment on the video. She has since been allowed back in the classroom, according to KTLA News.
