In this week’s episode of “Everything Is Stupid,” we have a story about a North Carolina school that came under fire after white students held a mock slave auction. Yes, that’s right. While singing the nword, white students made black students slaves.
The Daily Mail reported:
An outraged mom condemned her black son’s school after white students held a mock slave auction and pretended to sell him for $350 while singing the n-word.
Staff and faculty from the J.S. hosted the mock auction this month. Waters School, Raleigh was the location and it was also recorded by Chatham Organizing For Racial Equity.
Ashley Palmer, the mother to a former student at the school, posted her disgust on Facebook. Jeremiah Palmer, her son was among the victims of the fake auction. Palmer’s anger was heightened by the fact the black students in the fake auction were expelled for one day, after parents reacted negatively to the situation.
“HUG YOUR BABIES! You never know what they may be going through,” Palmer wrote on Facebook. “To say we have had a rough week is an understatement. Our son experienced a slave auction by his classmates and when he opened up we were made aware that this type of stuff seems to be the norm so much that he didn’t think it was worth sharing.”
The mother kept going:
His friend ‘went for $350’ and another student was the Slavemaster because he ‘knew how to handle them.’ We even have a video of students harmonizing the N word. How could children be so racist since when? This culture is acceptable.
Palmer wrote on Facebook, after discovering that the students of color were receiving only a handshake.
Students received 1 day suspension for the “slave auction.” No action taken yet pertaining to the video. Today at recess the “slavemaster” “accidentally” hit my son with a baseball 4 times upon his return to school.
She added: “Now he has decided to retaliate by making up things that Jeremiah didn’t say to attempt to get him into trouble. No further action from the school at this point.”
On its Facebook page, Chatham County Schools said they “are taking this very seriously and have taken steps to ensure this won’t happen again.”
The Daily Mail reported that “[a]A coalition of local organizations called upon the board to resolve the J.S. situation. Waters School in Goldston and require the instigators to apologize.” The group explained: “These students were emboldened to not only commit brazen and overt acts of racism but to retaliate further and continue their aggression after serving a perfunctory one-day suspension.”
The coalition is also urging the district to increase the penalties for employees who engage in racist behaviors — up to making it a fireable offense.
The superintendent apologized to students and parents Monday morning.
“I want to offer an apology…to every single student who has ever felt unsafe while in our care, to every student who has ever felt demeaned, disrespected or marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, sex, gender, religion or disability.”
He added: “Actions such as these, they just do not reflect who we are as a school system. And I say, unapologetically, will not be tolerated in the school system.”
The superintendent also vowed that anyone who engages in behaviors that “demean any person are acting outside the values of our school system and will be held accountable using every means at our disposal.”
He said the district will “take stronger disciplinary actions” against students who engage in bigoted behavior and will employ “sensitivity training” for staff.
Palmer and the other parents voiced their concerns before the meeting. “The acts committed towards our son and other classmates were extremely disturbing, however, not surprising since this isn’t the first time our family has had to deal with racist acts towards one of our children,” she said.
She went on:
“This is not diversity and inclusion. This isn’t equity. This behavior is racist and should be punished accordingly. …Racist acts shouldn’t be disciplined on the same level as someone pulling another student’s hair with a one-day suspension. It should have its own designation reportable at the county level and handled with the significant consequences it deserves.”
Christy Wagner explained to another parent that she learned about the mock auction through another parent and was worried about what this behavior might do for her son, a biracial boy.
“Over the past week, I have experienced every possible emotion there is over the events of nearly two weeks ago,” she said. “Some days I feel guilty and questioned if I’m doing a good job raising my son. I never thought in a million years I’d be standing up here talking about my son experiencing racism in middle school.”
The school board unanimously approved Superintendent Jackson’s proposed changes to deal with racist behavior, according to The Daily Mail
This kind of event raises a number of interesting questions. What made these white students comfortable enough to hold a fake slave sale? The black student agreed to it. Is he being bullied or thinking it was a joke? Furthermore, how could staff members not do anything to stop the bullying while it was taking place?
I’ve heard other stories in which white students held fake slave auctions – and some of these were even facilitated by educators. It is amazing to me that anyone would assume that this conduct would be acceptable, but even further, I have no idea why they would think word wouldn’t get out about it. It is not 1980, but 2022. Cameras are common among people. The internet is available to us all. There are social media. It is difficult to fathom the level of ignorance that would make anyone – students or faculty – believe this type of exercise is appropriate.
But in these times, I remind myself of what a very wise man once said: “Stupid is as stupid does.” Even though we are in 2022, we cannot discount the prevalence of stupid in our society. When stupid is combined with racism, we get stories like this that make us say “what the hell?”
Let’s just hope Don Lemon and Joy Reid don’t find out about this. If they do, we can expect a series of reports suggesting this happens in most of America’s schools and that black students are being subject to racism on a daily basis. We already have enough race-baiting as it is, don’t we?
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