KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Parents defend UK headmistress after she was forced to apologize for lesson on Black History Month, but won’t give their names

Parents defend UK headmistress after she was forced to apologize for lesson on Black History Month, but won’t give their names

Parents have stepped up to defend the head teacher of a Kent boarding school after her groveling apology for offending students by tracing the roots of the UK’s Black History Month to a 1926 US observance of ‘Negro History Week’.
Samantha Price, head teacher of Benenden girls’ school, “unreservedly” apologized for her use of the word “Negro” during the assembly, historically contextualized as it may have been, noting some pupils had complained the term was offensive and appeared to have confused it with a similar-sounding racial slur.

While several parents stepped up to back the headmistress, none who spoke to the Times of London on Monday were willing to give their names, suggesting they, too, might be afraid of backlash, whether against themselves or their children from others at the school.

Explaining she was trying to impart to the girls “how far language around black people has come” since 1926, when the US first set aside a week to commemorate black history, Price insisted it was “never my intention” to “have caused offense to some pupils” with the historically-accurate assembly address, framing her use of the offending word as an “error.”

“In hindsight, I recognize that it was not necessary to use the specific word,” she stated, though it’s not clear what she thinks she should have said instead.

While just a handful of parents were willing to speak up for Price to the Times, including one prominent surgeon of South Asian descent who called her a “wonderful headmistress” for trying to promote “education and debate,” none who were quoted were willing to give their real names.

This would suggest that the head teacher’s apology may have had less to do with a few pupils’ complaints and more to do with forces present outside the school environment.

“I believe her point was not only to explain the origins of Black History Month but also to demonstrate how language evolves and changes its meaning over time,” another parent told the outlet. This individual seemed relatively well-versed in the history of the observance, citing black historian Carter G Woodson’s decision to title it ‘Negro History Week’. Yet, the parent still wouldn’t go on the record with their name.

That parent blamed the students’ “rumor mill” for implying that Price had in fact said the “n-word” instead of its more innocuous cousin, which was still being used by some black people to describe themselves racially in the Civil Rights era of the 1960s.

Price had also questioned the continued relevance of Black History Month in 2020 during her speech to the pupils, given that “black history should be fully immersed in UK culture by now.” It’s not clear if any of the students (or their parents) took offense at this.

Student “outrage” over the mishandling of Black History Month has been heavily hyped in UK media this year as months of protests against racial inequality have roiled the US and trickled over to its political allies. “Dozens” of students at Nonsuch High School for Girls apparently staged a protest earlier this month, five months after a student allegedly “expressed racist views” during a Snapchat argument with another student in the aftermath of black Minneapolis man George Floyd’s death in police custody in May.

The school insisted it only learned of the conversation a week before the protest and has since disciplined the student.

In June, hundreds of former students at elite south London institution King’s College School Wimbledon reportedly signed a letter demanding the school “decolonize” its curriculum. A similar letter was also sent to Malvern College in Worcestershire, according to UK outlet iNews.

Meanwhile, numerous US colleges have been besieged by faculty demanding nothing short of a ‘woke’ return to segregation, with black faculty members to be given preferential hiring by committees of black administrators and subject only to review by members of their own race.
Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×