Thinking back to JR High I had a young teacher that used to always joke around with the black kids saying they had “soul” and he said I had “soul” but basically not enough because I am mixed, not his exact words but that was his point that my “soul” was watered down but I still had more than him…and every P.E. he would say “how are my strong brothas?” Always with the stereotyping jokes, back then I suppose because of his popularity people thought it was funny and I never thought about it one way or another. He was just the crazy white P.E. teacher.
I guess he never offended anybody because when I left JR High School he was still there…thought about this because he is on Public Access right now coaching a baseball game.
The fact that he hasn’t been fired is a miracle.
Really?
Was he a racist teacher? Do you think that he actually meant to express a racist attitude?
Everyone says hindsight is 20/20 but looking back at the past you always miss the feeling that goes with it. From the sounds of it he was a good teacher, who was taken to be a bit of a clown. The message he was giving out may have been wrong and that makes him a prat. But you all took it to be a joke and no harm was done, was it?
If he was a bad teacher then he should have been fired. If he was a racist then he should have been fired. If he was a idiot who thought he was funny, then he should be told to quit it, not fired.
If he acted on racist feelings he should have been fired. He should not have been fired simply for being a racist.
The questions is not whether or not he acted on racist beliefs. He has already demonstrated racist actions. It is whether or not those actions were designed to be racist. So in fact he should be fired for being a racist.
*The question is not…
Damn stupid brain not seeing mistakes :smack:
Did you ever feel uncomforable or offended by any of it back then?
It’s certainly dangerous behavior for a teacher, in a career sense, but I think it’s only borderline on the racist issue. It’s possible that he has simply developed a good relationship with teh black kids in his classes and jokes with them in such a way that it’s not seen as offensive by the majority of students.
I’ve said some things to black friends that would have gotten me shot in Harlem if nobody knew who I was, but when people know you, and tehy know you’re ok, and not some weird racist, they tend to be very accepting of it.
At my old job for example, a black co-worker and I used to greet each other with “Sup, my nigga”. Friendship tends to make it innocuous.
Although, FTR, I didn’t say it to him first. He started it. 
A friend of mine was in high school during the '70s. She told me that one of her teacher’s referred to black people as “niggeroids”. :eek: He actually thought this was a proper term.
Was it “niggeroids”, like asteroids, or was it “negroids” because the latter is an anthropological term. Even so the fact that it was thought to have been true just goes to show how much of an effect teachers have on the minds of students and how lucky it appears that no-one took START’s teacher seriously.
He probably meant negroids, but he pronounced it niggeroids.
You didn’t mention if anyone had ever filed a complaint against this teacher. Or did anyone ask the teacher to refrain from making sport of race?
Also, teachers, as with other career, are usually given a chance to make changes if they are doing something that is offensive. That teacher probably spent five years preparing to become a teacher and good teachers who will stay with the profession longer than five or six years are hard to come by these days.
It really is possible that the teacher was teasing and didn’t know that he was out of line. If he is really a racist, he won’t be able to hide it for long. Take some comfort in that.
Honestly, I can’t see a single thing wrong with what the P.E. teacher said or did. But in this crazy PC world, I completely agree with the final assessment, “the fact that he hasn’t been fired is a miracle.”
This guy still having his job doesn’t sound all that far fetched to me.
…but then I had a math teacher who would occasionally slap the behinds of her female students. Her teaching method consisted of making potty humor jokes with the jocks in the class.
Then there was the science teacher whose teaching method consisted of showing his students “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or a video of a woman giving birth… Every class period, every day.
…I guess in my case it’s a matter of perspective?
Not back then but if I had a teacher like that now I would be offended, I realize now that I should have been offended.
I have no idea if anything ever happened to him but he is still teaching and coaching so I doubt it.
Not saying he was a bad teacher but that his joking around was a bad thing.