Wypipo Held a Protest for White Teacher Who Slapped, Kicked and Pulled Locs of Sleeping Student

[Ms. Toad]

114. You're comparing apples to hockey pucks

In Starbucks the men involved (and others present) asserted the claims were racially motivated. My presumption in that incident, based on the perception of those present, is that it was racially motivated and I would need to be convinced otherwise.

(My opinion on whether it was racially motivated not change my perspective on the legal question of where the remedy lies - which is not at the arrest level, but via a civil rights complaint against Starbucks)

Here, police are not involved, so when you compare the teacher to the police, you're comparing apples to hockey pucks.

As to the racial animus of the person alleged to be directly discriminating (i.e. comparing the teacher to the analogous Starbucks manager) in each case, I am not basing my presumption on what blacks have NOT said. I am basing it on what those most directly involved have said: (the student, and his parent) and other black students, parents, friends, etc. who are speaking out in support of the teacher.

Sargent notes the administrative team at the school spoke with the student’s father, mother and student and none felt like there were “any abusive or ill motives.”

The following morning, Sargent contacted the student.

“The student told me that the teacher was 'playing' around with him trying to get him to wake up,” the report reads. “The student stressed that the teacher wasn’t angry, nor was she trying to hurt him.”

Sargent also met with the father of the student.

“He said that he felt like the incident was done in humor and not meant for ill intent,” the report reads.

http://www.wyff4.com/article/report-father-student-thought-teacher-standing-on-desk-trying-to-wake-student-was-done-in-humor/20430714

I have looked, and I have not found anyone present, who knows the teacher, or is familiar with how the student interacts with her students, who suggests there is a racial animus.

In any incident in which a minority appears to be targeted based on their minority status, my presumption about whether the incident was motivated because of bias starts with the perception of the person targeted, subject to being convinced that presumption is wrong by other members of that same minority involved in the incident (first), those who are familiar with the context or individual perpetrator (second), and those who have merely viewed an online video (last - especially those who do not appear to have made any inquiry beyond clicking play on a video).

An analogous question would have been, had there been an arrest, whether the police would need to interview other witnesses before arresting her . . . but even that is not entirely analogous because trespass is a crime that continues as long as one is on the property (so the police could actually witness it at the time of the arrest) as opposed to battery, which would have been in the past by the time police arrive).