Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 04:19 AM Feb 2023

California Substitute Fired For Slamming Student To Ground After Being Called The N-Word

The teacher believed the student’s prior use of the derogatory word was disrespectful. During the confrontation, you can also overhear a student asking the teacher, “you’re going to fight with a student?” It’s unclear whether the teenager himself or one of his classmates posed the question. The educator insisted that he wasn’t trying to fight and that his hands were behind his back.

While shoving the teacher twice, the student can be heard saying, “I’m not playing with you, Bro,” before the instructor loses his temper. The teacher aggressively grabbed the student and threw him to the floor, demanding him to “Say it again."

According to reports, the instructor was fired on the spot. The following day, hundreds of students participated in a peaceful protest organized by the Black Student Union. Their demonstration was in response to the prevalence of the N-word on campus.

According to Markeith Anderson, a junior at the high school, the term is frequently used there.

https://sports.yahoo.com/california-substitute-fired-slamming-student-220836329.html



21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
California Substitute Fired For Slamming Student To Ground After Being Called The N-Word (Original Post) SunSeeker Feb 2023 OP
Looks to me like the kid got what he was begging for. Demobrat Feb 2023 #1
This message was self-deleted by its author SunSeeker Feb 2023 #2
Looks like the teacher will get charged with felony assault and will be unemployable. SunSeeker Feb 2023 #3
I hope he's not unemployable. Demobrat Feb 2023 #5
Employable, maybe, after he gets out of jail ashredux Feb 2023 #10
If Im on the jury it's a NOT Guilty ZonkerHarris Feb 2023 #17
No, he was not correct this land a kid to the floor. He could've told the kid to leave the classroom ashredux Feb 2023 #8
Yup, it's assualt and if a few more wannabe Nazi racist kids get beat down maybe ZonkerHarris Feb 2023 #18
You are sadly, amazingly incorrect. ashredux Feb 2023 #9
It is a word. Bootlace Feb 2023 #4
This! nightwing1240 Feb 2023 #6
Robinson was made to promise not to respond to the slurs as a condition of his employment. SunSeeker Feb 2023 #14
Yes, I am well aware of all that nightwing1240 Feb 2023 #20
I'm not sure Jackie Robinson would have remained stoic if he was called the n-word today. SunSeeker Feb 2023 #21
It's not just a word. SunSeeker Feb 2023 #12
He has a future as a new police officer ashredux Feb 2023 #7
No, he does not have a future as a police officer. SunSeeker Feb 2023 #11
Apparently my sarcasm did not come through properly. My bad ashredux Feb 2023 #19
"Substitute" or "Teacher"? RSherman Feb 2023 #13
He was a substitute. nt SunSeeker Feb 2023 #15
--- he has a reasonable defense of "self defense." He was shoved twice. 3Hotdogs Feb 2023 #16

Demobrat

(9,755 posts)
1. Looks to me like the kid got what he was begging for.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 04:28 AM
Feb 2023

Terrible that teachers are expected to deal with that kind of behavior. That kid could have had a weapon. The teacher was right to put him down.

Response to Demobrat (Reply #1)

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
3. Looks like the teacher will get charged with felony assault and will be unemployable.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 04:38 AM
Feb 2023

The student who shoved the teacher and called him the n-word is not facing any discipline or charges as far as I am aware of.

The incident transpired in a freshman-level introduction to ethnic studies class. In October 2021, the Legislature passed and Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 101 – a historic bill which made California the first state to require Ethnic Studies as a high school graduation requirement. Right wingers in California have been fighting it vociferously. You can bet they will use this incident as fresh ammo against such courses.

Demobrat

(9,755 posts)
5. I hope he's not unemployable.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:31 AM
Feb 2023

He was provoked. Anyway he could probably make more money as a security guard or a bouncer. Kidding, not kidding.

ashredux

(2,698 posts)
8. No, he was not correct this land a kid to the floor. He could've told the kid to leave the classroom
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:53 AM
Feb 2023

No, he was not correct to slam the kid to the floor. He could’ve told the kid to leave the classroom, and if the young man did not, he should have gotten school authorities in on this.

Physical violence by the teacher was totally unacceptable. That was an Assault

ZonkerHarris

(25,235 posts)
18. Yup, it's assualt and if a few more wannabe Nazi racist kids get beat down maybe
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 11:50 AM
Feb 2023

it's a good thing in the long term.
Maybe not a few more
maybe ALL
You want to be a fucking racist shit be prepared to get punched in the head.

&t=2s

ashredux

(2,698 posts)
9. You are sadly, amazingly incorrect.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:54 AM
Feb 2023

You are sadly, amazingly incorrect.

The teacher had no right to assault student. The teacher will be charged with a crime, as he should be

 

Bootlace

(55 posts)
4. It is a word.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:11 AM
Feb 2023

That has no more power than the person hearing it allows it to have. Kid was a jackass and needs some discipline at home, but we don't need teachers losing their shit over a word.

nightwing1240

(1,996 posts)
6. This!
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:45 AM
Feb 2023

Just imagine Jackie Robinson climbing into the bleachers and attacking a baseball fan for calling him that. Robinson was the first black player in baseball and had to endure a lot worse than this teacher.

The student deserves punishment but that teacher crossed a line that should not be crossed by any teacher.

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
14. Robinson was made to promise not to respond to the slurs as a condition of his employment.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 08:52 AM
Feb 2023

Robinson promised Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey, who recruited and signed him, that:

– at least during his rookie year – he wouldn’t respond to the verbal barbs from fans, managers and other players he would face on a daily basis.

His first test took place a week after he joined the Dodgers, during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Phillies manager Ben Chapman called Robinson the n-word and shouted, “Go back to the cotton field where you belong.”

Though Robinson seethed with anger, he kept his promise to Rickey, enduring the abuse without retaliating.
https://theconversation.com/jackie-robinson-was-a-radical-dont-listen-to-the-sanitized-version-of-history-179732


Although he did not respond to the slurs, the slurs deeply wounded him.

In his 1972 memoir, “I Never Had It Made,” he wrote: “I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a white world.” https://theconversation.com/jackie-robinson-was-a-radical-dont-listen-to-the-sanitized-version-of-history-179732

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
21. I'm not sure Jackie Robinson would have remained stoic if he was called the n-word today.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 11:03 PM
Feb 2023

What was accepted 70 years ago is not tolerated now.

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
12. It's not just a word.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 08:30 AM
Feb 2023

Like yelling fire in a crowded theater is not just words. It's an attack.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a writer and a prominent expert on race in the United States. “If you could choose one word to represent the centuries of bondage, the decades of terrorism, the long days of mass rape, the totality of white violence that birthed the black race in America, it would be” the N-word, Coates wrote in the New York Times.

Neal Lester, a Foundation Professor of English and founding director of Project Humanities at ASU, has taught classes on "Straight Talk about the N-Word."

“Nothing is 'just a word'. There’s no such thing as ‘just a word.’ Every word has a function,” he said. “Words become a reflection of people’s thinking – or unthinking … Words express our realities.”
“The people who say ‘It’s just a word’ really know nothing about its history … they have no idea what this word means,” Lester said.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/ahwatukee/2016/01/28/top-questions-answers-comments-desert-vista-n-word/79421996/

When I was a kid growing up in the south, I used to think that it was "just a word" and couldn't understand why it was such a big deal to black people. But I am white, I've never been called the n-word. I have since left the south, grown up and learned how deeply the n-word wounds and dehumanizes black people on so many levels. It not only wounds the black person called that by a white person, but it wounds all black people. White people using the n-word dehumanize and stigmatize all black people in our society.

Of course the substitute was wrong to assault the kid. Violence is never the correct answer. He was punished and that punishment is just beginning. He lost his job, will never be able to teach again, and will likely be criminally prosecuted. But it is very unlikely the kid will face any consequences, even though it's pretty obvious the kid was trying to provoke his black substitute teacher in an ethnic studies class by hurling the n-word. You can bet the kid first heard this word at home, so there is zero chance he will get "some discipline at home." On the contrary, his parents will probably sue the school and the substitute.

If that high school in Richmond wanted to stop kids from using the n-word in school, it would suspend or expel kids who did. But it obviously doesn't have the guts to do that. The black students at that school held a protest the next day, decrying how the n-word is allowed to be thrown around in that school. I hope the school listens and does something, but I doubt it will, sadly.

ashredux

(2,698 posts)
7. He has a future as a new police officer
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:51 AM
Feb 2023

He has a future as a new police officer.

And regardless of what the student said, physical violence by the teacher is unacceptable. That was assault. He should be arrested.

SunSeeker

(53,581 posts)
11. No, he does not have a future as a police officer.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 07:06 AM
Feb 2023

Looks like he will be charged with assault, the only question is whether it will be felony or misdemeanor assault. Either way, prior assault convictions like this make it pretty impossible to get into a police academy. https://golawenforcement.com/articles/need-know-police-background-check-common-disqualifiers/#:~:text=Here%20is%20a%20list%20of,use%20or%20past%20drug%20abuse

And in general, whether a misdemeanor or felony, assault convictions will disqualify you as a candidate for the police force. https://www.zippia.com/answers/can-you-become-a-police-officer-with-a-misdemeanor/

RSherman

(576 posts)
13. "Substitute" or "Teacher"?
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 08:40 AM
Feb 2023

The headline refers to the adult as a "substitute", then the article goes on to refer to the person as a "teacher".

Which is it?

I taught high school for 33 years in NYS. I was required to earn a Master's Degree and obtain 175 hours of continued education every 5 years in order to retain certification. We had further trainings during faculty meetings and superintendent's conference days.

A substitute is anyone 18 or over who gets fingerprinted. ZERO training requirements. Maybe a high school diploma.

I had really good subs (of all ages) and some who did really zany things (again, all ages).

If this person was a substitute, he may not have had the training as to how to de-escalate. He may not have had a relationship with the student. I found relationship building to go a long way in preventing bad situations, even with disrespectful students.

3Hotdogs

(13,363 posts)
16. --- he has a reasonable defense of "self defense." He was shoved twice.
Fri Feb 3, 2023, 09:32 AM
Feb 2023

Does a punch from the kid, follow the shove?

"Flooring" the kid, takes the sub out of danger. If he had punched the kid, different charge.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»California»California Substitute Fir...