Wash Post: Michael Eric Dyson reports 6 yo grandson called a racial slur at Mann

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six years old.

People keep mentioning this. What is the cutoff age where you would be offended? How did you feel when you saw the DC police handcuff the 10 year old black boy the other week? At what age would you be outraged and not insinuate it was okay because of his age?

Emmett Till was 14 when he was wrongfully accused of a non crime and lynched. Let’s put things in perspective here.

Yes, let's put it in perpective. A SIX year old said a taboo extremely hurtful word, and made a threat. I have a six year old, and I feel confident that I don't think he (or his classmates) should be treated like 10 or 14 year olds. Certainly the media circus is totally worthless and counterproductlve.

Allegedly said a taboo word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six years old.

People keep mentioning this. What is the cutoff age where you would be offended? How did you feel when you saw the DC police handcuff the 10 year old black boy the other week? At what age would you be outraged and not insinuate it was okay because of his age?

Emmett Till was 14 when he was wrongfully accused of a non crime and lynched. Let’s put things in perspective here.

Yes, let's put it in perpective. A SIX year old said a taboo extremely hurtful word, and made a threat. I have a six year old, and I feel confident that I don't think he (or his classmates) should be treated like 10 or 14 year olds. Certainly the media circus is totally worthless and counterproductlve.

Keep in mind that the family said their older child was also called a racial slur at Mann last year, and they pulled him out. If they so dissatisfied with the school's handling of the incident last year that they removed their child, I could see that family being frustrated enough to pull in their famous relative to give the issue more attention this time, in the hopes that more attention would lead to systemic changes this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six years old.

People keep mentioning this. What is the cutoff age where you would be offended? How did you feel when you saw the DC police handcuff the 10 year old black boy the other week? At what age would you be outraged and not insinuate it was okay because of his age?

Emmett Till was 14 when he was wrongfully accused of a non crime and lynched. Let’s put things in perspective here.

Yes, let's put it in perpective. A SIX year old said a taboo extremely hurtful word, and made a threat. I have a six year old, and I feel confident that I don't think he (or his classmates) should be treated like 10 or 14 year olds. Certainly the media circus is totally worthless and counterproductlve.

So age 7 deserves handcuffs? 8? 9? What’s your age where they lose their innocence? Does race matters? What if my AA 8 year old son looks 11? What if he’s mature enough to know Santa doesn’t exist? Does that change anything for you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Update from the superintendent includes this statement: "At this time, we cannot affirm with confidence that no racial slur was used"

So all the racists trying to sweep it under the rug can go pound sand.

It's a six year old child. There is nothing to sweep under the rug - this should not be a news story.

About a year and a half ago a somewhat similar thing happened to my white third grader at a WOTP elementary, although no pizza was involved. So, we are talking about 8-9 year olds. In class one week they had discussed slavery in the U.S. Later that same week, a black boy in class got angry with my child and said "you owned slaves." My child responded, "what, I was not even alive then." The boy responded "I wish all white people were dead." Ouch. Upon hearing this story, we simply told our child that the other kid is young and still learning, and while what he said was not nice, its okay for young kids to make mistakes. We also told him that it was important to stay positive and friendly even when others are not.

We did not raise the incident with the teacher or principal because it was not a pattern of behavior with this child and the potential threat from a child so young is remote. In my opinion, this is how adults should act. In such situations, some parents might want to speak to the teacher and possibly the principal and seems fine to me as well. Talking to Twitter, however, and making real-time social commentary from the actions of very young children and using inflammatory language is just creepy, gross, counterproductive and anti-intellectual.

As a funny aside, I joked with my wife at the time that had the roles in the incident been reversed (i.e., that my child had said something bad) it probably would make the front page of the Washington Post. Damn, I called that one right.

[Anonymous]

Where are the parents of boys? My boys at 6 were fun obsessed. Everything became a gun. This is ridiculous. I was not talking to my 6 year old about Columbine. They grow out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a huge overreaction over an argument among six year olds. This should have been handled by the school and the childrens' parents.

This is not a huge overreaction. Imagine if this was your 6 year old? I would be livid. Imagine a slur that is so hurtful that it remains with you for life. This is not a small deal. I've been called racial slurs and believe me, I remember every instance. Parents need to do a better job of talking about race with their children and that this is not OK. I talk to my son often and tell him that racial slurs, hurtful language against physically disabled and others are things that I will not tolerate. Don't sweep this under the rug. It needs to be discussed early and often. We are at an EOTR Title I school, and they do an excellent job of promoting cultural awareness and kindness. I have no experience with schools in the upper NW, but do they do the same? And I'm not talking about just during Black History Month but throughout the year.

Of course the schools WOTP do that too!

No, they don’t. We are in a WOTP school and I was told by the principal that she didn’t want to encourage discussions of race and tolerance at our school because the parents are her constituents and a number of them might object.

This is not the case at Mann. In fact, this very topic was discussed during the March PTA meeting. The school talked about what happened elsewhere, the training and steps they've already taken in preparation for something similar happening at Mann, and what Mann would do when/if such an incident occurs. It was known by all that Mann would communicate to the entire school population immediately upon an incident, which the principal did within the day.

It sounds like the school was prepared and did everything right. I think it's super weird to tweet on the way to a disciplinary meeting where facts are about to be established. If I were the other parents, I would be annoyed by that violation.

[Anonymous]

I’m so happy I didn’t take a job at Mann! Not because of the incident between the 6 year olds, but the wonky adults! Ya’ll are nuts!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a huge overreaction over an argument among six year olds. This should have been handled by the school and the childrens' parents.

This is not a huge overreaction. Imagine if this was your 6 year old? I would be livid. Imagine a slur that is so hurtful that it remains with you for life. This is not a small deal. I've been called racial slurs and believe me, I remember every instance. Parents need to do a better job of talking about race with their children and that this is not OK. I talk to my son often and tell him that racial slurs, hurtful language against physically disabled and others are things that I will not tolerate. Don't sweep this under the rug. It needs to be discussed early and often. We are at an EOTR Title I school, and they do an excellent job of promoting cultural awareness and kindness. I have no experience with schools in the upper NW, but do they do the same? And I'm not talking about just during Black History Month but throughout the year.

Of course the schools WOTP do that too!

No, they don’t. We are in a WOTP school and I was told by the principal that she didn’t want to encourage discussions of race and tolerance at our school because the parents are her constituents and a number of them might object.

This is not the case at Mann. In fact, this very topic was discussed during the March PTA meeting. The school talked about what happened elsewhere, the training and steps they've already taken in preparation for something similar happening at Mann, and what Mann would do when/if such an incident occurs. It was known by all that Mann would communicate to the entire school population immediately upon an incident, which the principal did within the day.

It sounds like the school was prepared and did everything right. I think it's super weird to tweet on the way to a disciplinary meeting where facts are about to be established. If I were the other parents, I would be annoyed by that violation.

I wonder if they have grounds for lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a huge overreaction over an argument among six year olds. This should have been handled by the school and the childrens' parents.

This is not a huge overreaction. Imagine if this was your 6 year old? I would be livid. Imagine a slur that is so hurtful that it remains with you for life. This is not a small deal. I've been called racial slurs and believe me, I remember every instance. Parents need to do a better job of talking about race with their children and that this is not OK. I talk to my son often and tell him that racial slurs, hurtful language against physically disabled and others are things that I will not tolerate. Don't sweep this under the rug. It needs to be discussed early and often. We are at an EOTR Title I school, and they do an excellent job of promoting cultural awareness and kindness. I have no experience with schools in the upper NW, but do they do the same? And I'm not talking about just during Black History Month but throughout the year.

Of course the schools WOTP do that too!

No, they don’t. We are in a WOTP school and I was told by the principal that she didn’t want to encourage discussions of race and tolerance at our school because the parents are her constituents and a number of them might object.

This is not the case at Mann. In fact, this very topic was discussed during the March PTA meeting. The school talked about what happened elsewhere, the training and steps they've already taken in preparation for something similar happening at Mann, and what Mann would do when/if such an incident occurs. It was known by all that Mann would communicate to the entire school population immediately upon an incident, which the principal did within the day.

It sounds like the school was prepared and did everything right. I think it's super weird to tweet on the way to a disciplinary meeting where facts are about to be established. If I were the other parents, I would be annoyed by that violation.

I wonder if they have grounds for lawsuits.

If the parents even think about suing Dyson, he will destroy them in the court of public opinion. He has a much larger platform than the parents. Plus, the racial dynamics and optics involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is a huge overreaction over an argument among six year olds. This should have been handled by the school and the childrens' parents.

This is not a huge overreaction. Imagine if this was your 6 year old? I would be livid. Imagine a slur that is so hurtful that it remains with you for life. This is not a small deal. I've been called racial slurs and believe me, I remember every instance. Parents need to do a better job of talking about race with their children and that this is not OK. I talk to my son often and tell him that racial slurs, hurtful language against physically disabled and others are things that I will not tolerate. Don't sweep this under the rug. It needs to be discussed early and often. We are at an EOTR Title I school, and they do an excellent job of promoting cultural awareness and kindness. I have no experience with schools in the upper NW, but do they do the same? And I'm not talking about just during Black History Month but throughout the year.

Of course the schools WOTP do that too!

No, they don’t. We are in a WOTP school and I was told by the principal that she didn’t want to encourage discussions of race and tolerance at our school because the parents are her constituents and a number of them might object.

This is not the case at Mann. In fact, this very topic was discussed during the March PTA meeting. The school talked about what happened elsewhere, the training and steps they've already taken in preparation for something similar happening at Mann, and what Mann would do when/if such an incident occurs. It was known by all that Mann would communicate to the entire school population immediately upon an incident, which the principal did within the day.

It sounds like the school was prepared and did everything right. I think it's super weird to tweet on the way to a disciplinary meeting where facts are about to be established. If I were the other parents, I would be annoyed by that violation.

I wonder if they have grounds for lawsuits.

If the parents even think about suing Dyson, he will destroy them in the court of public opinion. He has a much larger platform than the parents. Plus, the racial dynamics and optics involved.

There’s no cause of action. He’s behaving perfectly appropriately as an advocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe racism and disproportionate discipline in schools are real and present. And we should all do everything we can to correct the issues.

However, I also believe that Dyson is using a story he embellished about a fight among 6 year old boys where his grandson and another child were the initial aggressors to score political points. He isn’t helping anyone.

There are enough legitimate stories for him to tell without dragging these children into it.

Exactly. It's a real issue but just not present in this incident. This crying wolf is very damaging on so many levels.

It's going to be hard for everyone to come together if some segments insist on unjustly harming this 6 year old.

[Anonymous]

It's a great story if you're thirsty for attention: privileged white kid in a DCPS uses N-word against another 6 year old. This problem seems to be happening a lot recently, oddly enough. And it actually MIGHT have really happened that way!! There were no voice recordings, after all. With no live receipts, Dyson & family get the spotlight, with no worries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe racism and disproportionate discipline in schools are real and present. And we should all do everything we can to correct the issues.

However, I also believe that Dyson is using a story he embellished about a fight among 6 year old boys where his grandson and another child were the initial aggressors to score political points. He isn’t helping anyone.

There are enough legitimate stories for him to tell without dragging these children into it.

Exactly. It's a real issue but just not present in this incident. This crying wolf is very damaging on so many levels.

It's going to be hard for everyone to come together if some segments insist on unjustly harming this 6 year old.

Indeed.

Many people have been losing credibility rapidly.

[Anonymous]

I feel bad for both kids involved, honestly. I feel bad for Dyson's grandson for having to be on the receiving end of the comment (regardless of whether it involved only a threat or also the N word), and for having a bunch of media attention focused on him. I feel bad for the other kid, because as a 6 year old, he likely had no idea of the gravity of what he said (regardless of whether it involved only a threat or also the N word), and for having a bunch of negative media attention focused on him.

[Anonymous]

Were there any witnesses? There should definitely be a professional investigation, with interviews of all onlookers. Apparently there were more than a couple kids a few feet away when the incident happened.