A mother from Virginia is furious over her son's history class. The boy and the rest of his African-American classmates, who are sixth graders attending Shelburne Middle School, were told to act like slaves in a skit by their teacher.
Mom Tamika Derozen learned of the incident from her son. The students were studying about the Louisiana Purchase and the teacher, who has not been identified, wanted them to do participate in a skit.
But when the teacher told all the students who are African-American to "pick up cotton and dig up coal" for the skit, some of the kids refused. Derozen's son told his mother that he also wanted to walk out of class but he was afraid he would get in trouble for it, WHSV reports.
The teacher then asked the Caucasian students in her class to pretend that they were the noblemen. "Why would she not have included any student of any race to just go up in front of the class and play pretend?" Derozen wondered.
Derozen complained to the school's principal about the teacher. The principal apologized and talked to the concerned educator but the offense didn't stop there.
The teacher, who apparently wanted to emphasize on slave rebellion, made her class watch clips from the TV series "Roots" to show why she was right to make the African-American students be the workers in her skit.
"You better fit the role as a slave," the teacher said. "Roots" is an award-winning miniseries about the history of American slavery.
The mom was supposed to discuss with the teacher but after learning of the next incident, she decided to report what happened to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also sought the support of the kids' other parents in her complaint.
Staunton City School Board superintendent Linda G. Reviea released a statement on its official site, citing they will be doing an investigation. "If such behavior occurred, it is grossly inappropriate, insensitive and contradictory to the values of our school division and will not be tolerated," Reviea said.
