Black Spokane twins say they were humiliated by middle school lesson asking them to clean cotton

[TexasTowelie]

In their eighth-grade social studies class at Sacajawea Middle School, twins Emzayia and Zyeshauwne Feazell couldn't believe what was happening. Their teacher said the class was going to do a "fun activity," Emzayia recalls. Then the teacher brought out some freshly picked cotton for the entire class.

"When she gave it to us, I was like, 'This is not right,'" Emzayia tells the Inlander.

All of the students were asked to clean cotton as part of an assignment on May 3. Spokane Public Schools spokesperson Sandra Jarrard says the lesson was about the Industrial Revolution and discussed the cotton gin, but the school district has refused to offer any more information about the lesson. She says a third party is conducting an investigation into the incident.

The 14-year-old twin girls, meanwhile, say they felt alienated and humiliated. They were two of three Black students in the entire class, and they say they were uncomfortable by other students making remarks that they couldn't believe Black people had to clean cotton as slaves.

The controversy comes at a time when Spokane Public Schools is working on its "equity policy," stemming from a racial equity resolution passed last year by the school board.

Read more: https://www.inlander.com/spokane/black-spokane-twins-say-they-were-humiliated-by-middle-school-lesson-asking-them-to-clean-cotton/Content?oid=21778801

[ExciteBike66]

1. I wonder how my Jewish friends felt during lessons on the pyramids...

To me, it seems like a good idea to show white kids what black people had to do during slavery. If the kids were uncomfortable, maybe next time they will just have a discussion instead of a demonstration.

[Darwins_Retriever]

2. Why? Pyramids being built by Jewish slave labor is a myth

The pyramids were not built by slaves. They were built by Egyptians and others, and were paid. Typically the building was done between harvest and planting. It was sort of a public works program.

[Scrivener7]

3. Since it was given to the whole class in a lesson on the Industrial Revolution, and it gave

the kids a sense of the kind of backbreaking work routinely demanded of slaves, I don't see a problem with this. In fact, it seems to me to be a good lesson.