Teacher's Alleged Mock Slave Auction In 5th-Grade Class Prompts AG Response

[appalachiablue]

Source: NBC News

A fifth-grade teacher accused of holding a mock slave auction last week in which white students at a private school in Bronxville, New York, were urged to bid on their black classmates has been placed on indefinite leave.

The principal of the Chapel School told NBC News on Monday that a third party is conducting an independent review. “On behalf of The Chapel School, I extend my sincerest apologies to our students, their families and the community," Michael Schultz said. "The reported racial insensitivity is unacceptable, and we do not condone any action that demeans anyone. "

Cuddy and Feder, a law firm representing the teacher, said a slave auction never took place. "To the extent anyone took offense to a small portion of the overall lesson that day that was used solely to emphasize the tragic injustice of slavery, it certainly was never intended," a partner at the firm told NBC News. "She looks forward to continuing teaching with the same dedication, sensitivity, and passion that she has always shown."

The allegations have prompted a response from New York Attorney General Letitia James. “The reports of racist ‘lessons’ by a teacher at The Chapel School are deeply troubling,” James told NBC News on Monday in an emailed statement. “My office is monitoring this matter closely.” Vernex Harding, the mother of a student at the school in Westchester County, about 15 miles north of Manhattan, told media outlets that the white teacher recently allowed white students to bid on and "buy" black students, who were to pretend to be slaves. -More...


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teacher-s-alleged-mock-slave-auction-5th-grade-class-prompts-n981886

[pazzyanne]

1. As a former elementary teacher, I am appalled at what this teacher did!

The statement by her attorneys leaves me cold! AT N0 TIME EVER IS IT OKAY TO PUT CHILDREN IN THIS TYPE OF SITUATION! Placing white students in power and black students in the slave role is disgusting. This "lesson" using color of shirts or drawing slips of paper with an X or O would have demonstrated the "lesson" without making it a racial travesty. That teacher has a real problem and needs to go through sensitivity training at the very least. More to the point, that person should not be in a classroom! What else is being done in that classroom that is discriminatory?

[Charlie G]

2. I grew up in this area and this would have never happened then

It was 60 years ago and there were no Black children in my school. In fact, there were no Black children in the town. There were no Black families in this town. The first Black person of my age, I ever met was once I could drive a car at 16. The first time I interacted with a Black person enough to know their name was when I was in college. Bronxville, New York, was a very wealthy community with no overt racism. As young people, we did not hate POC, we just did not know any.

[appalachiablue]

3. THE ROOT, "NY School Holds Mock Slave Auction Selling Black Students"

Last edited Tue Mar 12, 2019, 04:03 PM - Edit history (1)

Michael Harriot, 'What The Hell Were They Thinking' March 11, 1019. After an apparent celebration kicking off the return to 11 White History Months in a row, administrators at an exclusive private school in New York are scrambling to explain reports that a teacher held a series of mock slave auctions in which white students bid on their black classmates.

According to WPIX, Rebecca Antinozzi, a white fifth-grade social studies teacher at Chapel School in Bronxville, N.Y., reportedly organized a mock slave auction where the teacher took the black students into the hall, put “imaginary chains” on their necks and wrists and shackled their ankles before parading them in front of their white classmates who posed as wealthy slave owners playing the original version of The Price Is Right’s showcase showdown.

And, apparently, this went so well Massa Becky tried the exercise again with another fifth-grade class, reports the Daily News. Through her lawyer, Antinozzi issued a statement explaining that it didn’t happen quite that way. “The portrayal of the history lesson that has been reported is inaccurate, out of context, contains false facts and ignores the overwhelming support of Ms. Antinozzi from dozens of parents at the school,” Slavemaster Antinozzi’s attorney said. “To the extent anyone took offense to a small portion of the overall lesson that day, it certainly was never intended.”

The only thing that could be gleaned from this non-denial denial is that there was definitely a slave auction. While I haven’t thought of the exact wording, if someone wrongfully accused me of hosting a slave auction and subjecting children to the irreversible trauma of the worst kind of racism that ever existed on earth..
Also, what exactly was the point of this role-playing exercise? Was this teacher trying to show that slavery was bad? Does she do this with every historical era? Will she take the white students’ lunch money when they get to the Great Depression? I imagine things will get very intense when the school’s basketball team suffers a string of losses during the chapters on segregation...

More, - South Carolina School Celebrates Black History Month By Having 5th Graders Pick Cotton to 'Slavery Songs'... No, Really. -Elementary School Celebrates Black History Month by Having Kids Play Runaway Slave ‘Game’
- Elementary School Staff Dresses Up as Mexicans and MAGA Border Wall for Halloween

https://www.theroot.com/ny-school-holds-mock-slave-auction-selling-black-studen-1833205430

[Chemisse]

4. Anytime some children are held up as inferior, it's hurtful to the kids, no matter if it is mock.

And for those to be put in that position to be the very children who have slavery in their family history, who see racism in their daily lives and who face uncertain futures because of the color of their skin is absolutely horrific.

[The Wizard]

5. It illustrates

the immorality of slavery. Students should be exposed to our flawed history. How do you make a more perfect union as prescribed in the Constitution's preamble without examining past failures?

[LanternWaste]

6. There are more effective ways to examine history other than mere role-play.

Reading, for example.

[Igel]

9. To which the reply is "learning styles."

Of course, there's little research showing that this works, apart from mostly flawed conclusion-affirming education research, but it's still there as a teacher expectation.

[DrToast]

8. Should they whip the black students, too?

That's part of our flawed history, too.

[The Wizard]

11. Maybe you can help me out

Where did you see any reports of black students being whipped?

[DrToast]

12. I'm asking you if they should, as that is part of our history.

[Blue_Tires]

7. For fuck's sake...

[Politicub]

10. "Gather round, children."

"Here's how you strip people of their freedom, dignity and agency. This will be on the test."