Page 31 - Florida Sentinel 5-31-19

Memoriams
National Crime
NY Private School Teacher Fired For Holding 'Slave Auction' With Black Students
Imagine sending your Black child to school, paying $14,000 annually to ensure they get quality, private educa- tion, only for them to be the subject of a horrific mock “slave auction” where their teacher pretended to shackle them?
This is what happened at the elite The Chapel School in Bronxville back in March – an incident that ultimately prompted the termination of the teacher.
According to The Hill, the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James got complaints and launched an investigation into the private Lutheran school about the slave auction that took place in fifth grade classes as part of a lesson on colonial America.
“Every young person — re- gardless of race — deserves the chance to attend school free of harassment, bias, and discrim- ination,” James said in a statement. “Lessons designed to separate children on the basis of race have no place in New York classrooms, or in classrooms throughout this country.”
The teacher reportedly asked all of the Black students in two separate fifth grade classes to raise their hands and go out into the hallway.
“The teacher then placed imaginary chains or ‘shackles,’ on these students’ necks, wrists, and ankles, and had them walk back into the class- room,” the office said in a statement. “The teacher then instructed the African-Ameri- can students to line up against the wall, and proceeded to con- duct a simulated auction of the African-American students in front of the rest of the class.”
Those students were then “sold” to their white school- mates.
Naturally, the attorney gen- eral’s office found that the les- sons had a “profoundly negative effect on all the stu- dents present – especially the African American students.”
For the last time, you do not have to traumatize chil- dren, particularly Black chil- dren, to reinforce the horrors of slavery.
Of course, the investigation also uncovered that this was not the first time that parents have complained about racial sensitivity at The Chapel School.
IN MEMORIAM
DAVID T. MYERS BOBBY SIMMONS, JR. 01/17/1955 —-05/31/2018 09/24/1969 —- 06/09/2018
“It’s been one year since God has called you both home. Although it’s been challenging without you, you will remain em- bedded in our hearts forever.
We will always love you and cherish every memory. You will never be forgotten.”
Loving, devoted wives, Maeola Myers, and Monya Simmons, children, grandkids, family and friends.
PAGE 22-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2019