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Monday, June 02, 2014

Middle School Teacher Suspended For Showing Video About White Actors Wearing Blackface

A middle school history teacher in small-town southeastern Michigan has been placed on paid administrative leave because he informed students that white entertainers used to paint their faces black to imitate black people and showed kids a video about it.

The teacher is Alan Barron, reports the Monroe News. The 59-year-old teacher has taught in the local school district for well over three decades and is retiring in just two weeks.

The suspension occurred after an assistant principal observed Barron teaching an eighth-grade class. Barron’s topic for the day was racial segregation laws during the Jim Crow era. The lesson included a video which showed how white actors commonly used theatrical makeup known as blackface — a practice which began in the nineteenth century and lasted over 100 years.

The unidentified assistant principal concluded that Barron’s lesson about how entertainers used to be racist was itself racist, according to the local paper. The assistant principal also apparently ordered that Barron stop the video as it was being played.

Parents with kids at the school have overwhelmingly opposed the suspension.

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13 comments:

lmclain said...

On the job for THIRTY YEARS and could easily lose everything.
That's a teacher's daily fear.
Too bad they don't get to investigate themselves.
Say something to a cop and he can KILL YOU for it (he was afraid).
Curse a teacher with every curse word known, threaten to kill her, stand 3 inches from her face and scream at her, and all that happens is the student is "counseled" and SENT BACK TO CLASS. The teacher will likely be questioned about HER ROLE in the incident. Did she touch him? Did she make any threatening gestures? Did she hurt his feelings? Is she racist?
This happens EVERY day in every public school in every county in the nation. Think about THAT next time you want to whine about teachers.
Tear the heads off their superintendents who seem to think that the public tax money is their personal treasury, but God bless the teachers.

Anonymous said...

You can not gum up education with relevant facts and history. The world was has been, and will always be, a perfect place kiddies, let no one tell you different.
And in Germany’s consentration camps they had woundeful smelling body washes and shampoos in the showers.
These kids are learning NOTHING about life.

Anonymous said...

This is how they will change history... UFB. We must stop the transformation of America.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone else getting sick and tired of this reverse discrimination.

A white man can't say or do anything about a black person or they will automatically found guilty.

A black person can rape, beat up, gang up, play knock out and they only just having fun. They are the biggest racists in the world and get away with murder.

Anonymous said...

So, now the teaching of the history of racism is racist?
We are in dangerous times if this is the example set and supported by school administrators.

This teacher should be returned to the classroom, the movie restarted, the lesson continued and the vice-principal sat in a corner with a dunce cap.

Anonymous said...

Tell him not to waste his time by applying to a Maryland school system!

Anonymous said...

How else are these kids going to learn about history? They have to know these things in order to understand what the word means!

Anonymous said...

This is an outrage!

Anonymous said...

lmclain, youre an idiot. why do you have to bash police in everything you say, even in an article that has nothing to do with police? must be your napoleon complex. are you afraid of police for some reason? maybe because youre just a short bit of a man? yes, i have met you, you 5 foot seven dwarf. just keep selling your couches furniture boy, and try to keep the comments to a minimum please.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
lmclain, youre an idiot. why do you have to bash police in everything you say, even in an article that has nothing to do with police? must be your napoleon complex. are you afraid of police for some reason? maybe because youre just a short bit of a man? yes, i have met you, you 5 foot seven dwarf. just keep selling your couches furniture boy, and try to keep the comments to a minimum please.

June 2, 2014 at 4:23 PM

I think he got busted for breaking the law. I think he is a criminal.

Anonymous said...

5:20 you may be right, either that or his wife cheated on him with a cop.

Anonymous said...

Discrimination is discrimination.

Anonymous said...

I remember the days of Minstrels that were held at Wi Middle School.
It was a great show and everyone enjoyed it, and no one got mad or called the police. It was just good clean fun back then.