APS black student singled out to play cotton picking game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Now on AEM you have a poster saying it’s not a cotton picking game, and a response using the hashtag whitesplaining. We can’t have a civilized conversation about this because to call it just a stupid game is being branded racist. I’m sure not going to voice my view over there. Can’t it be true that the game was racially insensitive and also be true that a demand letter for $10 million is offensive and completely disproportionate to whatever responsibility APS may have for how the child was left feeling? Asserting a claim for harm to the tune of $10 million removes any nuance from the dialogue. I was originally sympathetic to the child and was ready to hear how APS was prepared to do better going forward, but my sympathy is entirely with APS now that it’s become a blatant money grab. They don’t think they think they’re going to get this money - they’ve likely been advised to over-ask in order to extract a lucrative settlement to make the problem go away. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and all. Hopefully APS recognizes that this would open the door to other frivolous claims and will choose instead to invest in defending against this type of extortion.

God forbid if someone replied #blacksplaining.

Please someone with more cajones than me do just this! We need common sense to re-enter the room!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm still having a hard time with the "only black student in the class" part of the story. Gunston is 20 percent black--one out of five students there is black. The chance of a kid being the only black student in any class, even French, seems very weird. Plus the detail about all the kids "turning to look" at the "one black kid" when the teacher asked for a volunteer--because it involved cotton? As the parent of two teenagers, that sounds.....far-fetched. If the kids turned to look at him, it was probably because he scoffed or mocked the sub.

I would guess that virtually no (non-black, at least?) middle schooler is going to make a connection between a cotton ball in this context and slavery or race. My non-black Gunston kid knows a lot about slavery, civil rights, prejudice, etc and was totally baffled when he heard this story. So yeah, I do not believe the kids were “looking at him” to play the game due to race at all.

[Anonymous]

May God give me (or better yet someone else) the strength to call out the BS on AEM right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May God give me (or better yet someone else) the strength to call out the BS on AEM right now.

There's no point arguing with a person who thinks it is hurtful to black children to make "snowmen" by pasting cotton balls onto construction paper

[Anonymous]

AEM is not a reflection of reality. The people who post often are whack-a-doos. The rest of us are just there to get reminders on the school calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May God give me (or better yet someone else) the strength to call out the BS on AEM right now.

You could get really obnoxious and point out that the biggest cash crop in Virginia was tobacco anyhow. Emphasizing the cotton connection isn't really historically accurate for this part of the country, that is a Deep South thing, and also something that happened long after slavery was introduced in the colonies (because of the need to staff tobacco plantations).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Sidney Rousey, an 8th-grade student at Gunston Middle School, told 7News earlier this week he was forced by the long-term substitute teacher in his French class on February 8 to play the game requiring him to try picking up cotton balls from his desk with his face after applying Vaseline under his nose. As he put it, the teacher called for volunteers to go first and immediately singled him out. He is the only Black student in that particular class."

Why in the world would they be playing this game in French class? Are there any subject areas left that don't require an "honest discussion" about US race relations and the history of enslaved people? Is it too much to ask for 8th grade students to just learn French in French class?

Substitute teachers can be horrible. I filed complaints against one who substituted as a special ed teacher and she had no qualifications. She followed my child around the school abusing them an entire day. No one was overseeing this horrible woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sidney Rousey, an 8th-grade student at Gunston Middle School, told 7News earlier this week he was forced by the long-term substitute teacher in his French class on February 8 to play the game requiring him to try picking up cotton balls from his desk with his face after applying Vaseline under his nose. As he put it, the teacher called for volunteers to go first and immediately singled him out. He is the only Black student in that particular class."

Why in the world would they be playing this game in French class? Are there any subject areas left that don't require an "honest discussion" about US race relations and the history of enslaved people? Is it too much to ask for 8th grade students to just learn French in French class?

Substitute teachers can be horrible. I filed complaints against one who substituted as a special ed teacher and she had no qualifications. She followed my child around the school abusing them an entire day. No one was overseeing this horrible woman.

It was a half day and the whole school was engaged in "team building" games. Also this was a long term sub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to Gunston and on all the half day Wednesdays they play these kinds of games instead of teaching the kids anything academic. I wish the NAACP would get upset about that. A lot of these kids are way behind due to a variety of factors including COVID. I realize the half days are tough but there has to be something more constructive the school could be doing.

The stupidity of having to put vaseline on your face to pick them up bothers me. Forcing them to do that is gross and I know a lot of kids would not want to participate. They should never force something like that on a kid. I have a kid with sensory issues who would have been upset by this. It is one of the most stupid activities I have ever heard of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sidney Rousey, an 8th-grade student at Gunston Middle School, told 7News earlier this week he was forced by the long-term substitute teacher in his French class on February 8 to play the game requiring him to try picking up cotton balls from his desk with his face after applying Vaseline under his nose. As he put it, the teacher called for volunteers to go first and immediately singled him out. He is the only Black student in that particular class."

Why in the world would they be playing this game in French class? Are there any subject areas left that don't require an "honest discussion" about US race relations and the history of enslaved people? Is it too much to ask for 8th grade students to just learn French in French class?

Substitute teachers can be horrible. I filed complaints against one who substituted as a special ed teacher and she had no qualifications. She followed my child around the school abusing them an entire day. No one was overseeing this horrible woman.

It was a half day and the whole school was engaged in "team building" games. Also this was a long term sub.

Like any of that makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Re: AEM discussion... Unless Symone personally knows the man she accuses of whitesplaining (which I doubt), her comment with the eyeroll about how his view was so unsurprising is a prime example of how discourse on issues involving race is shut down. Basicslly she's saying that it's ok to assume that all people who look like him (a cis white guy in his profile pic but I don't know him either) have a particular--specifically, racist--opinion. Change comes from dialogue, sharing opinions, and shifting minds, not shutting people down with comments tinged with unfounded accusations of racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is now that the child is being forced to segregate and take the class by himself in the Library while the long term sub still teaches the others. And he’s being bullied by other students because of the fallout.

Gunston/APS could have found a better solution. I know teachers are hard to find (particularly foreign language ones), but it’s not his fault that he found himself in a racist game. It’s not fair, but can he go to another MS?

The blamed falls 100% here on the adults who acted ridiculously by blowing this out of proportion. It’s fine for kids to feel and express that something impacted them or was “racist.” It’s up to the ADULTS to keep things in their proper perspective. I also lay the blame on internet cancel culture, which force people wrongfully accused of racism into extremely defensive postures.

You are correct, I blame the adults.

I blame the adult sub who confronted the student in class the next day in front of his peers. She could have diffused the situation but she chose to escalate it. That's not a mature adult response.

I blame the school administration that put the student in a room by himself with a video screen to learn.

I blame the school administration for not addressing the harassment this student has endured after this situation.

What the heck is going on at Gunston?

Exactly. I do think the parents have misrepresented what went on here but the game itself is offensive and they should not make students participate. The school's response to the child and the family seem retaliatory. That's worth filing a civil rights complaint. All the adults need to put the kid first. They aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that you put racist in quotes tells me exactly who you are.

DP, but no. The game is not “picking cotton” and is not racist. Unless anything having to do with cotton is considered racist, how could a sub from another country, or this one for that matter, ever think that pushing around cotton balls with your nose is racist and resembles picking cotton? Was it a waste of time and not what should be happening in school? Yes. Was it handled poorly by a clueless but needed sun? Seems like it. But this family is the reason the kid is now in the library and they clearly want money or for APS to foot the bill for a private placement.

He felt uncomfortable and told his teacher so. The mom thinks it's racist. The NAACP got involved. I don't know what else to tell you. If a Black person tells you something's racist, I'm going to listen to them, not some anonymous person.

But when they say that everything is racist, including cotton, they lose all credibility.

exactly. there has to be a reasonable middle ground where we are allowed to discuss the fact that actions/words that may be subjectively experienced as racist are not actually racist. the subjective feeling should be sensitively addressed (especially for kids) but the people with authority must take care not to fan the flames or punish unjustly.

Clueless person white people have been doing this forever and talking over and deciding what is racist and what is not. You think you are the boss of everyone and decide what is based on your self interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is now that the child is being forced to segregate and take the class by himself in the Library while the long term sub still teaches the others. And he’s being bullied by other students because of the fallout.

Gunston/APS could have found a better solution. I know teachers are hard to find (particularly foreign language ones), but it’s not his fault that he found himself in a racist game. It’s not fair, but can he go to another MS?

The blamed falls 100% here on the adults who acted ridiculously by blowing this out of proportion. It’s fine for kids to feel and express that something impacted them or was “racist.” It’s up to the ADULTS to keep things in their proper perspective. I also lay the blame on internet cancel culture, which force people wrongfully accused of racism into extremely defensive postures.

You are correct, I blame the adults.

I blame the adult sub who confronted the student in class the next day in front of his peers. She could have diffused the situation but she chose to escalate it. That's not a mature adult response.

I blame the school administration that put the student in a room by himself with a video screen to learn.

I blame the school administration for not addressing the harassment this student has endured after this situation.

What the heck is going on at Gunston?

Exactly. I do think the parents have misrepresented what went on here but the game itself is offensive and they should not make students participate. The school's response to the child and the family seem retaliatory. That's worth filing a civil rights complaint. All the adults need to put the kid first. They aren't.

The game was stupid and a waste of time, but it wasn’t racist.

How have the school’s actions been retaliatory?

News flash: they’re struggling for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:May God give me (or better yet someone else) the strength to call out the BS on AEM right now.

No one is going to say anything b/c no one wants to face S. It's crazy how different AEM is now from when it first started.