By Perry Stein Perry Stein Reporter covering D.C. education Email Bio Follow March 12 at 7:16 PM A racist slur hurled at three black children on a D.C. schoolyard has forced a public elementary school with a mostly white and affluent student body to address its discipline policies and examine whether the school is inclusive to families from all backgrounds.
“It is very hard, it is very draining, but it’s ultimately for the best. It’s bringing issues to the surface,” said Heather Schwager, who is a white parent of two children at the school. “Many white parents didn’t even realize how few black teachers are in the school because they didn’t see the world through that lens. It’s been a lesson in white privilege for all of us.”
The parents of the children involved in the episode declined to comment or could not be directly reached. The school has experienced increasing enrollment in recent years, with 428 students this academic year. “We need to know if it’s happening, and a lack of transparency denied us the right to talk to our son and see if maybe it happened to him and he never told us,” Glenn Spitzer said.
WHITE PEOPLE TEACH THEIR CHILDREN THIS BEHAVIOR AT AN EARLY AGE, BUT ITS NOTHING NEW THEY'VE HANDED DOWN THE TRADITION OF RACISM FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
Oh my God someone said a word that we don't like let's allow it to disrupt everything we do from now on. How about punish the kid and move on. Stop promoting racial differences and making amole out of an ant hill. stoppromotingracialhate
Ridiculous..
And yet they listen to rap all day with and average of 17 of the same racial slurs. Mmmm
😱😱😱😱
How many school-wide conversations took place before the incident? What classroom/school-wide structures were in place to reinforce respect for everyone? Everyone wants to talk AFTER.
Oh shut up
What did he call them?
I’m sure this story is helping
I hope that all children involved were brought together for a calm normal conversation explaining the reasons why not to say such things. I fear that inflating it beyond those involved gives too much power to a childhood learning experience.
This headline should read: A white child struggles to remove Size 7 sneaker from his anus after calling three black classmates a racial slur. No need to get the administrators involved.
is struggling to come up with original news. CovingtonLawsuit
Interesting. I attended a high school where whites were the minority. I was called every racist name in the book. No news stories. No outrage. Ignored. Move on.
Or maybe it was learned from one black child saying it to another black child or from some popular rap 'artist'. If your going to make it forbidden speach it needs to be across the board.
I wonder if this student has recovered from his experience at Frederick Douglas HS?
True values of US Blacklivesmatter
Why would there be a struggle if mechanisms of tolerance were put into place? And, was there a reprimand for the children who committed the race hatred? Is there counseling available for the child victim?
Heading back to civil rights divided schools....... the world is being more and more devisive, the longer the madness continues..
What the heck is wrong with educators? Educate teach civility morality teach that all humans are equal. Teach we all come from the first humans in Africa Teach kindness or close your school
Awww, they need a diaper pin and a safe space.
The whole World needs to rise above racism. Hate is a weak emotion
The kid learned from over hearing their parents!
National news
Good grief. How do these folks survive day to day?
Using a racial slur is not justifiable but there was nothing in the article about what had the 5th grader 'upset' enough to use one. I'd like to know a little more of the background leading up to it, but that would require actual reporting I guess.
Get over it.
Plz go to Greenfield Wi and see the kids that made YouTube videos about N****** and the school delayed to do anything. Plz nothing new no action
The WashingtonPost stoking the flames of racism when in fact these incidents are very rare. Idiot liberal sheep eat this up but this is not news.
This happened when the white kid got upset during a football game at recess? The smart move would have been for one of the black kids to flatten the white kid -accidentally-during the next football game. Help him up. THAT’s how you teach that kid.
Wth kind of news is this? Stop stirring the pot
Jussie smollett? I don't believe a word.
Can't delete systemic racism from 'MuriKKKa WhiteSupremacy WhitePrivilege WhitePower WhitePride WhiteFear JimKKKrowLegacy RacistKKKNaziInChief MAGA=MAWA=KKKNazis 'MuriKKKanEvangeliKKKalFamilyValues 'MuriKKKanGesKKKapo 'MuriKKKanMedia 'MuriKKKanLynching It's good to be white
Sad thing is by extracting that white child from the school, he will continue to harbor racist feelings. It is indicative of his household environment. These are the people who become black people managers. We Black folk need to nip this BS. We got $$$ too, deal with it.
Learned it from home I say .
deray I hate to sound like a broken record but... Black parents if you have any self-respect at all you will remove your children from these abusive schools and allow them to learn in a peaceful environment. Consider all options, try an online home school or set up a co-op.
deray The problem is these white privileged children are behaving the way their parents do and feel they can since as usual they don’t have consequences, so why change the behavior?
deray Struggling to move forward? Cause a child called other kids a name? Everyone. Grow up.
Most of the White parents teaches their kids at a young age to hate minorities. That’s why teaches my kids to hate whites too.
Did he use the same word they call themselves frequently? Hear the word in rap songs all the time.
Gee, I wonder why there's not similar reports of black kids calling 'a white child' a 'racial slur?' It just must never happen, huh?
Maybe the need to attend one of Starbucks coulture sensitive classes!
Once upon a time that behaviour would have earned a mouthful of soap and switch.
Why? The white child should be punished. Then move on. This is why we are where we are.
I had 3 black kids call me a racial slur and nobody cared.
I was called a honkey in my school. I found a way to cope and move on.
kind of like your paper subscriptions?
As their parents taught him...
Yeah....