Teacher lets students wear Klan outfits

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A history teacher in Dahlonega was placed on administrative leave Monday after she let four students wear Ku Klux Klan outfits in a historical reenactment.

"We determined, obviously, that she used extremely poor judgment," Lumpkin County Schools superintendent Dewey Moye told the AJC.

Catherine Ariemma, a 5-year veteran with the school system, teaches an advanced placement history class. Her students were filming reenactments of various historical periods, and four donned Klan outfits, Moye said.

Students from other classrooms saw them as they walked through a hallway Thursday while wearing the costumes to an outdoor shoot, he said. The parents of an African American child complained, Moye said.


Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/teacher-lets-students-wear-534319.html

[Taverner]

1. Context, context, context - what was the true context?

If they really were filming a reenactment of, say, the death of Medger Evers - then they are justified

[secondwind]

2. I, too, didn't see the problem here...........hmmmm..

[Fearless]

13. +1

[struggle4progress]

38. Here's some context: the Klan has a long history in Georgia and still holds rallies there

Feb 15, 2010 ... The Knight Riders of the Ku Klux Klan has a permit for a rally in Nahunta, about 35 miles east of Brunswick in Brantley County ... http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/15/ku-klux-klan-plans-rally-small-georgia-city/

KKK Rally Held In Southwest Georgia <2008> ... http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/31236209.html

ATLANTA, Jan. 22 <1987> — Two members of the Southern White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, wearing starched and pressed combat fatigues, sat in a restuarant Wednesday night in Cumming, Ga., and, as snow began to swirl outside, considered the likelihood of trouble when thousands of people gather this Saturday for a ''march against fear and intimidation'' in Forsyth County ... Both Mr. Eddington, a construction worker from adjacent Gwinnett County, and his colleague, Bobby Starnes, a welder from nearby Barrow County, said they expected members of Klan organizations from more than 20 states to be on hand for a counterdemonstration on Saturday. It was a similar crowd of Klan members and their friends and sympathizers that erupted into violence last Saturday when a small group of blacks and whites trying to stage a ''walk for brotherhood'' were driven back onto their bus by stones and bottles, threats and insults hurled from the crowd ... http://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/23/us/georgia-county-bracing-for-trouble.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

October 12, 1958 The Reform Jewish Temple in Atlanta is destroyed, dynamited by the Ku Klux Klan ... http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Ku_Klux_Klan_in_Georgia

... By September 29, 1956, Edwards was able to stage one of the largest Klan rallies in years, drawing a crowd of approximately 3,000 to Stone Mountain, Georgia, the site from which the Second Klan had been launched in 1915. The crowd came in more than 1,000 cars painted with KKK emblems and bearing license plates from seven states – Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, and Louisiana ... http://www.adl.org/issue_combating_hate/uka/rise.asp

The second Ku Klux Klan was founded at Stone Mountain, Georgia <1915> ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan

The Klan's organized terrorism began most notably on March 31, 1868, when Republican organizer George Ashburn was murdered in Columbus, Georgia ... http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-694

[virgogal]

3. Ridiculous-----an historical re-enactment needs the proper costumes.

[Arkana]

6. Right. Hell, in Civil War reenactments, does anyone squirm at the thought

of wearing a Confederate uniform?

[Xithras]

8. They should

They were hot, and the wool was itchy as hell!

But, yes, some do make that assumption. My dad was a Civil War reenactor for over 15 years, and there was more than one incident when I was a kid where some jack*** would come wandering through the Confederate camp trying to start trouble with a bunch of "racists". I remember one argument (I didn't reenact, but I was always there to watch) where a large and rather angry looking African American gentleman simply couldn't comprehend how people could play slave owning Confederates WITHOUT being racists themselves. He was really floored when three black Confederate soldiers (who played slaves conscripted to fight) walked up to him and tried to talk some sense into him. In the end, he was escorted out of the Confederate camp by one real-life Sheriff's deputy.

Some people just don't get it.

[LibertyLover]

27. I understand what you mean - especially about the wool

My husband was a Civil War reenactor for years and he is no racist at all. He had to give up reenacting Civil War because the group he had belonged to years ago had changed ownership, so to speak. Many of the old members he knew had left and a new group had taken over. They were conservative buffoons and he couldn't take their stupidity on politics and other social issues. So now we both do medieval reenacting. But oh my Gods, his uniform! The only thing worse was the World War II British Guards unit uniform he used to wear when reenacting the 2nd World War.

[Xithras]

7. Yep. Decades ago my dad was a Confederate reenactor.

He had no love for Confederate positions on politics and slavery, but he was a history buff and knew that you couldn't have a reenactment without both sides being present.

After the reenactment, the two sides would return to their camps to continue the reenactment, and the public could walk through and visit it like a living museum. He was always floored by the number of people who assumed that he was a genuine racist simply because he was playing a role.

If you want to reenact an event with good guys and bad guys, someone has to play the bad guys.

That said, the teacher showed poor common sense skills. She should have kept them out of costume until they reached the filming location. Walking students though campus in full KKK regalia was asking for trouble.

[madrchsod]

4. when in doubt throw the teacher out....

no wonder kids do`t take shit seriously

[Arkana]

5. In the context of a historical reenactment, I don't see the problem.

However, I understand the "ick" factor totally.

[Odin2005]

9. BAN ALL REENACTMENTS lest they offend somebody! /sarcasm

[activa8tr]

10. How about checking this out beforehand, having some school-wide

announcement of what is about to happen, minimize exposure or surprises?

All techniques used often when doing re-enactments, class projects, filming or video at schools.

What was missing here was good judgment and planning!

[RamboLiberal]

11. They were doing a film on the history of racism

DAHLONEGA - A Lumpkin county teacher is on administrative leave after some of her students came to school and wore Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods. It was part of an Advanced Placement History class on the negative effects of racism.

Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye says that Catherine Ariemma's history class was preparing to do a film on the history of racism in the United States.

Part of the wardrobe for that film included KKK robes.

The class is a part of the school's regular curriculum, but the administration did not know the specifics of the project.

Moye said that the students did not come to school wearing the robes, but donned them prior to heading to the filming area. In so doing the students needed to walk through the school's public areas

http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=229575

I think a bit of an overreaction on this one. As others have pointed out there are historical reenactments of the Civil War where reenactors wear Confederate Uniforms. I've also seen WWII reenactments with German/Nazi uniforms being worn. Only mistake here is they should've waited till they got to the filming site to don the robes.

I'd sure love to hear more exactly what was being reenacted and what time period.

[RamboLiberal]

12. From AJC: If the Klan robes are revealing our sordid history, what’s the problem with historical re-

6:08 pm May 24, 2010, by Maureen Downey

Without knowing the exact context of the school assignment, it is hard for me to get worked up over the four Lumpkin County students wearing Klan costumes. If the purpose of the class assignment was to show how cowardly, hateful and pathetic the Klan was, then I have no objections to the historic re-enactment. I want students to see what guises hate has taken historically so they can recognize it today.

I would have asked the principal beforehand and likely sent a note home to parents, but that all that may have happened. It is not surprising that the sight of students in white robes would be startling, but I want to see the finished product and whether it contributed to students learning about this dreadful part of American history.

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/05/24/if-the-klan-robes-are-revealing-our-sordid-history-whats-the-problem/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog

[Socal31]

14. Reminds me of some guys that got arrested at my High School in history.

They decided to do the Rodney King beating scene, and went out to the 91 freeway here in Orange County. They started fake-beating a student...boy oh boy did the crap hit the fan when the cops rolled up with guns out. :)

[Riftaxe]

16. In solidarity i think we should protest not only this

but civil war and revolutionary reenactments! I mean obviously the participants of these mock conflicts fail to take history seriously!! :sarcasm:

Context is key, but it's always nice to see the rubber knee gang out in force.

[marshall]

15. I don't think you can teach Georgia history without mentioning the KKK

I lived in Dahlonega. Even if they don't want their dirty laundry aired, it's part of their history.

[timtom]

17. Preposterous!!!

Schools are looking more and more like anti-education parlors for all their "zero tolerance!"

[kas125]

18. About twenty years ago, my brother in law, who isn't the

brightest crayon in the box, wore one to an outdoor Halloween party at his house. I asked him where he got it and he said it had belonged to a friend's grandfather long ago. Then I told him that it gave me the creeps even standing next to it not knowing where that thing had been or what had been done in its presence and I was getting away from him. I said that I didn't know how he could wear it on his body or think it's an appropriate costume. He laughed at me. But as the night went on and more people made comments, he said he felt creeped out by the thing, too, and took it off.

[happyslug]

19. When I was in High School in the 1970s, our teacher told us we could NOT...

Wait out side the class room and yell "2, 4, 6. 8 we will not integrate" just before our Calculus class (For people who did NOT take Calculus, one part of Calculus is called "Integration", thus the teacher's fear that we will do it, as one of his previous Calculus Classes had).

On on Integration and Calculus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral

[jberryhill]

21. That's not original... It is simply derivative humor

Most would have considered you to be irrational. Without setting some boundary conditions, calculus students think their limits are infinite.

[Robb]

30. Zing!

Geeky zing, but zing nonetheless. :D

[Dr. Strange]

32. Wow, that's sum good humor.

When it comes to the area of funny math, your sense of humor is very countable. I hope I'm not coming across as obtuse, I really mean that as a complement.

[jberryhill]

33. This could easily become an infinite series /nt

[Sabriel]

36. It's a fraction of the possible puns. n/t

[MadMaddie]

20. If the teacher and the school would have used a bit of common

sense and communicated to all of the students and parents in the school due to the sensitiviy of the subject.

As a African American if I (didn't have context) and I saw people walking around in Klan uniforms I would be thinking WTF? I would feel threatened.

Poor communication management by the teacher.

[DeSwiss]

23. Precisely. n/t

[RamboLiberal]

22. Huffington Post has explanation from teacher

She told The Associated Press Monday that students were covering an important and sensitive topic – but one that she might handle differently in the future.

"It was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school," Ariemma said. "... That was a hard lesson learned."

The incident happened at Lumpkin County High School. Ariemma said her students spend the year viewing films and later create their own films to watch in class. She said the students brainstorm and pick topics to cover. This particular class decided to trace the history of racism in America.

She said the class has 15 students of multiple races, but no blacks.

A group of five students took on the subject, which included covering the history of the notorious white supremacist group which had large chapters in Stone Mountain, Ga. and Tuscaloosa, Ala. One student filmed and did not wear sheets, she said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/catherine-ariemma-students-klan-outfits-video_n_588065.html

[marions ghost]

26. Maybe the problem is...

it's not really a historical reenactment?

Try it in the next century. Hopefully.

I don't blame the parents for protesting AT ALL. Very bad taste. Yuk.

[slackmaster]

24. Were they doing a school play production of Blazing Saddles?

[Evasporque]

25. was the "Minstrel Show" cancelled too...?? nt

[Bill McBlueState]

28. think of it this way

"A history teacher in Munich was placed on administrative leave Monday after she let four students wear Nazi outfits in a historical reenactment."

Would people be using "context" as an excuse for that? They certainly wouldn't in Germany. The teacher would be facing something a little more significant than administrative leave.

[Hoyt]

29. Sadly, the Klan robes were probably in some of the parents' closets.

Lumpkin and surrounding counties have some pretty seedy history.

On the other hand, there are benefits if the reenactment helped some kids understand the history/crimes of the Klan and similar groups.

[AlphaCentauri]

31. gang outfits should be prohibit too

if they prohibit a custom in a history enactment why not prohibit gang outfits in classes?

[crim son]

34. What's the problem?

No doubt the students in their clan outfits were acutely aware of how ridiculous and detestable were their costumes. A good experience, not a bad.

[RobinA]

35. The Problem Is

if you don't see a thing it means it never happened, don't you know that? I never get why people want to bury negative things, which makes them more powerful than ever. My solution? Everybody parade around in Klan outfits. Take away the damn thing's power. Nazi stuff too. Out of the closet in the basement and into the daylight. Nothing ruins emotional force like ubiguity.

[crim son]

39. You've nailed it.

Sort of like Texas textbooks and the U.S. history of slavery.

[struggle4progress]

37. There's no good reason to put kids in Klan uniforms. Plenty of

people still alive remember various periods of Klan terror, and even more people have heard first-hand stories about the terror. An older friend of mine once described to me her reactions, as an African-American child, to seeing a lynched body hanging in a public place. People can't be expected to simply ignore their visceral reactions when they see Klan hoods on kids: the hoods represent a history that is too vicious and too recent

The teacher may not have had inappropriate motives but the insensitivity and poor judgment is real. More awareness of and concern for other people's feelings, could have produced a more creative approach to the artistic problems associated with representing the era