APS black student singled out to play cotton picking game

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Look, I'm not sure how I feel about the game and there's room to disagree there. But the admin's response is what gets me, it is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just ran the story on NBC4 and I still don’t get why the kid was so offended. It sounds like a money grab by the family. The family attorney said cotton should never be around black people because it is a trigger for slavery. Pretty sure 90% of his clothes were cotton.

Batsh!t crazy. Some people will begin avoiding interactions with black people if these crazy ideas rule the day.

They shouldn’t do that, they should just start respecting Black people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a AA APS parent and this seemed a bit blown out of portion to me too. Also, I should add I grew up in South Carolina so I think if anyone would be offended it would be me. I may have felt it was not an appropriate game to begin with, and advise the APS administration of the matter and then would have told my child they have a right to decline partipation any school activities that make them uncomfortable going forward. I think this was a case of bad choice in activity no different than the cotton planting activity at Campbell elementary a few years back, and it was buried quickly.

https://www.arlnow.com/2019/05/16/planting-of-cotton-at-arlington-elementary-school-prompts-discussion/

I'm actually offended that they stopped the Campbell project. Cotton is a major part of our country's history, including with slavery but also with the cotton gin. It's still a major crop. I don't understand why growing a few plants in pots is a problem. Show the kids what cotton looks like and how it grows. Don't put them to work in fields planting or picking it, but watching a few plants grow in pots seems entirely educational. Talk about the crop's impact on our country's history--the fact that it started as a labor intensive crop matters.

I have no idea if cotton is in the 4th or 5th grade sol standards, but if it is then growing a few plants to show kids seems fine. No one is making them plant or pick it. They're just learning about it.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I read 5 pp and no one else thinks-- apart from racist issues-- that it is nasty to put vaseline under a kids nose and ask them to pick up things? Didn't COVID teach us anything? Yucky..

[Anonymous]

Just opening your dresser drawer then and choosing today’s T-shirt is picking cotton. This is ridiculous. Setting up a minute game with affordable, disposable balls is what happened. Everyone is offended by anything and try to gain media attention and money. The poor teachers! It sounds impossible to be a teacher, if every activity needs approval by some diversity committee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just opening your dresser drawer then and choosing today’s T-shirt is picking cotton. This is ridiculous. Setting up a minute game with affordable, disposable balls is what happened. Everyone is offended by anything and try to gain media attention and money. The poor teachers! It sounds impossible to be a teacher, if every activity needs approval by some diversity committee.

lol excellent point. My dresser drawer committed a microaggression against me. I need some restorative justice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, I read 5 pp and no one else thinks-- apart from racist issues-- that it is nasty to put vaseline under a kids nose and ask them to pick up things? Didn't COVID teach us anything? Yucky..

This! It actually doesn't sounds like a cotton picking game. It sounds like a gross minute-to-win-it type of game. It could have easily been a tissue. I wouldn't play b/c it's nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just ran the story on NBC4 and I still don’t get why the kid was so offended. It sounds like a money grab by the family. The family attorney said cotton should never be around black people because it is a trigger for slavery. Pretty sure 90% of his clothes were cotton.

Batsh!t crazy. Some people will begin avoiding interactions with black people if these crazy ideas rule the day.

They shouldn’t do that, they should just start respecting Black people.

Respect them by what? Not wearing cotton? LOL.

[Anonymous]

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.

What would you have considered an appropriate response to the complaint?

[Anonymous]

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.

What would you have considered an appropriate response to the complaint?

It's entirely possible the teacher is racist and treated the student inappropriately without the game being racist. I think most are just annoyed by the click bait headline that the game was about picking cotton, when it was just a stupid game involving cotton balls.

[Anonymous]

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.

What would you have considered an appropriate response to the complaint?

It seems as though the school is in a catch-22 on this incident. If the initial response to the parent had been, "You are right, this game was racist and damage has been done to your child", APS would be sued with proof of guilt. The teacher initially denied that the activity was racist, and that was interpreted as "not being able to accept the wrongness". How COULD the school have responded to this to avoid a lawsuit? The only place where APS was truly wrong was with the student confronting the student after the fact. That should not have happened, but I can understand how this teacher, a foreign-born POC, was utterly baffled by the accusation.

[Anonymous]

that should have read, teacher confronting the student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the strangest story. It also evidence of why anti-racism curricula are helpful:

https://wjla.com/news/local/arlington-public-schools-gunston-middle-school-takes-cotton-picking-game-off-schools-list-family-demands-more-sidney-rousey-keisha-kirkland-naacp-francisco-durn

It also demonstrates what teacher shortages can lead to (side eye at long-term sub)…

I smell a #Jussie.

[Anonymous]

How does picking up cotton balls with their greased up noses have anything to do with learning French?

Honestly, this is why American public education is trash.