A 15-year-old student was suspended in Springfield, Missouri, after she recorded her teacher using a racial slur in class.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Mary Walton was suspended after making the recording on May 12 at Glendale High School.
Walton used her smartphone to record her teacher repeatedly using the racial slur during a class discussion at around 11 a.m. The teacher is heard saying he did not like the N-word before saying, “I don’t know. It feels like when a Black person is using it towards another Black person, it’s the same. How is it not still a derogatory word?”
After a Black student warned him not to actually use the word again if he wanted to keep his job, the teacher responded by using the word twice more. “But I am not calling anyone a N-word,” said the teacher. “I can say the word.”
The exchange was recorded by Walton, who is a sophomore at the high school. She was later suspended for three days by the school for violating school policy for using an electronic device in class.
“I wanted proof that he said it so I could give it to the office and hold him accountable for what he said,” Walton recalled. “I don’t think what he did was right.”
Walton also said that the unidentified teacher used the word at least six times, two of which were recorded. One student is seen gasping on the video after hearing the teacher say the word and asking, “Why are you saying it?”
Once the teacher saw Walton recording the discussion, he told her to put her phone away but she refused. He then told her to go to the principal’s office, prompting Walton to text the video to her mother. Walton added that she thinks the teacher knew he’d be in trouble once he saw he was being recorded.
“I first sent it to my mom because he threatened to send me to the office. Personally, I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong and I feel like he only threatened to send me there because he knew he was in…
Read the full article here
