Residents of Wisconsin town near Kenosha in uproar over teacher's racism lesson

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In late August, during the second week of school in Burlington, Wisconsin, Melissa Statz heard children in her fourth grade class talking about Kenosha.

A couple of students had seen burned and boarded-up buildings in the nearby city, but they didn’t know the details of the protests that filled the streets after a police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back on Aug. 23. One student asked Statz, 30, if she knew what was going on in Kenosha, which is a half-hour drive from Burlington, a town of 11,000 that is 89 percent white.

Statz thought this could be a teachable moment, so that week she used a children’s book, an educational video and a worksheet to lead a discussion on racism and why people were protesting. She considered the materials neutral. The worksheet posed questions like, “What is the Black Lives Matter Movement trying to do?” and “How Do We Stop Systemic Racism?” The students seemed engaged, and asked a lot of questions, she said.

“One of the Black girls in my class came up to me and said, ‘Thank you so much for teaching our class about racism,’” Statz, who is white, said. Another Black child — one of fewer than 50 Black students in a district of more than 3,000 — gave her a hug after the lesson, she said.

Later that night, a colleague told Statz to look at a private community Facebook group with more than 40,000 members called “Burlington, WI, buy sell & trade.” Her stomach dropped.

A parent had posted photos of the worksheet Statz used and slammed it as an attempt to “indoctrinate our kids.” Like-minded community members were outraged and demanded that the school district discipline Statz.

-more-

https://www.yahoo.com/news/she-taught-fourth-graders-black-083013464.html

[ProfessorGAC]

1. A Teacher Teaching?

How dare she?
What does she think she is, an educator or something?
I'm not at all surprised at this ridiculous "outrage".
Also, why does a town of 11,000 have 40,000 people on that Facebook page? There's only 170k in the whole county. Bots?

[pat_k]

2. Posted this earlier, but I think it is relevant here. . .

Posted in general discussion: Recommended reading: White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo + other recs

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If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend it.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
Buy it at The Strand and help save an NY institution.

We brand those who engage in overt acts of prejudice as "racist" -- and they are. But the lesson of "White Fragility" is that whites have all been socialized to keep the white supremist system we live in (and have exported across the globe) in place. The "knee jerk" reaction of many progressives to that sociological generalization is "not me". -- my experience and awareness exempts me. The truth is that none of us is except. It takes effort to recognize and look at ourselves with brutal honesty. And we must if we are to begin to address the countless insidious ways the system perpetuates itself.

And another:
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America
Not just relevant to parents. Messages we all need (us white people, anyway).
At The Strand

Also
WATCH: Full episodes of ‘Facing Race’
here