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In today's episode of Did That Really Just Happen, there are reports that a teacher in North Carolina is accused of telling students that they would be her "field slaves" if it were not for the U.S. Constitution.
As reported by The Daily Beast, the incident in question took place in September at Winterville Charter School. While studying American history, a teacher had Black students raise their hands and tell them that they'd be her "field slaves" if it were not for the U.S. Constitution. After the incident, parents began to engage in a back-and-forth on social media. Then, Winterville Charter School Principal Annastasia Ryan issued a statement to parents on October 5.
“As soon as we were made aware...we immediately took action,” Ryan wrote, according to WITN.
“The result was a teacher resignation.”
Ryan did not identify the teacher by name, but she did mention that "culturally sensitive training" would be made available to all current and former teachers at Winterville Charter School.
“Our school culture is built on one of acceptance, love, and respect to serve all children and their families,” Ryan continued.
“The inner workings of our school are surrounded by intentional effort to eliminate implicit and explicit bias.”
While Ryan did let go of the teacher, several parents felt that the educator's termination was the result of public backlash and not the action itself. Moreover, several reports have suggested that this is "one of several racist incidents" to take place at the school.
“A white student had called a Black student a monkey,” parent Kanisha Tillman told the Associated Press.
“When the Black student educated him on that being racist and him not liking it and not to call him that and asked the teacher for support, the teacher turned around and said to him, ‘Oh, it’s OK. We're all a little bit racist.'"
Amid the backlash from the "field slaves" incident, Tillman and several other parents were reportedly set to met with Ryan. However, ABC News reports that the school's doors were locked when parents arrived for the meeting and the meeting was canceled. Given the school's alleged track record regarding racist incidents, Tillman doesn't believe that the school was unaware of the "field slaves" comment before this month.
“I don't believe the school had no idea before Sept. 20,” Tillman commented.
“I believe that the school was aware of it and they decided just to keep brushing it off.”
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