White Fragility Digest #4: 16 May 2018 [View all]

[MrScorpio]

Florida Teacher Under Fire for Distasteful Rant Against Haitian Student ‘Let Me Show You What It’s Like In America’

By Tanasia Kenney -May 15, 2018

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A high school teacher in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. has been removed from the classroom pending an investigation into disparaging remarks he made to a Haitian student, in which he referred to the teen’s native home as “some third-world island country.”

A high school teacher in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. has been removed from the classroom pending an investigation into disparaging remarks he made to a Haitian student, in which he referred to the teen’s native home as “some third-world island country.”

Palm Beach High School officials said they’re investigating the incident after video of the tense exchange was shared on Facebook, Newsweek reported. A relative of the student said the video has been viewed more than 26,000 times since Friday.

In the clip, the unnamed teacher can be heard berating the student in front of his classmates.

“It’s called a door, let me show you how it works,” he says. “I don’t know how it works where you’re from, down in some third-world island country, where they don’t got them. Let me show you what it’s like in America.”

Radio host and Haitian activist James Leger said the teacher’s comment was undoubtedly racist.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/05/15/florida-teacher-fire-distasteful-rant-haitian-student-let-show-like-america/

"White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility. White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium."

Robin DiAngelo, Ph.D

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