A teacher of Prince George’s high school, BC, is licensed after he used the word N several times in the presence of two black students.
Two uses of the word were captured in video by one of the students, and the other published it on Instagram. The video was also shared on Facebook by a father of another student who attends school.
The Superintendent of School District 57, Jameel Aziz, confirmed that the incident had taken place on February 24 and that an investigation was underway. He also said that he had communicated with the affected students and their families and that he would meet with them on Thursday.
“I hope that this will be an isolated incident,” he said. “Actually, I am very disappointed that this has happened and that our students and other staff were exposed.”
Marisa Alexander, an anti -racism consultant in the city, said it is an example of the types of problems faced by black people, often to receive the denial of her white companions.
“There are still people to this day, in Prince George, who do not believe, one, that the black community is even here or that they deserve education or support,” he said. “Bringing this to the public eye reminds people of this.”
CBC News arrived at the teacher on the phone, who declined to comment, instead of directing questions to the Association of Masters of Prince George district, who could not answer immediately.
The president of the BC Masters Federation, Clint Johnston, said the union takes its responsibilities to its members and students and has a long history of promoting the policies and the anti -racist curriculum.
Aziz said he expected the investigation to last until the end of the week, and that the district’s human resources department was carried out with contributions from the teacher’s union.
While the teacher was licensed, Aziz said he could not confirm whether he was paid or not paid.
He said that the video has circulated widely throughout the district, and expected there to be discussions within schools about their implications.
“It has had an impact on all our secondary schools by Prince George,” he said. “Therefore, it will be our school administration and our teachers who will take the initiative, you know, addressing some of the questions or concerns to get out of that.”
But, he said, the matter would be addressed as fast and completely as possible.
“I want to assure our community and our parents that we take these matters very seriously.”
Word used several times by the teacher
The video, which has been seen by CBC News, is divided into three different parts that have been published together.
It begins with the camera, who is in the hands of a student, told the teacher in what the teacher identifies as the “public office” of the school.
The student begins the exchange counting an interaction that the couple had had in the hall.
“Let’s say the word n that you just told me. Say again,” says the student.
“What word did you say in the hall?” The teacher asks.
“I said N —- because I am a black man,” replies the student, responding the camera to himself before redirecting her to the teacher.
“Let’s say the word n again.”
“I don’t need to do it,” replies the teacher.
“You just said the word N four times, hard-r, to my face,” says the student.
Then, the teacher tells the student that he is “quite harassing” and that he will not talk to him in the camera.
At that time, the video is cut and jump to a second conversation.
In this video, you can see the teacher sitting in an administrative space, speaking with an unidentified third party that seems to be an adult man.
The video begins in the middle of the conversation, since the teacher seems to have a previous conversation with the student, and it is not clear if the teacher is considered to be filmed.
“It was not that word, but it was the fact that you said: ‘Ah, shit n —-‘”, says the teacher.
The student begins to laugh outside the camera, which leads the teacher to look at him, saying: “That is what you said; those were your words.”
“Yes, I did,” says a voice behind the camera.
The video then jumps back again, with the teacher again speaking in the middle of the prayer.
“I was thinking, so I made myself available, and his first question was: ‘What did you tell me?’ And I said, calmly, I said the word ‘N —–‘ and that was the problem ‘, and then began to put the phone on my face. “
The student exhales audibably, and the teacher uses the student and says’ ok, sorry, but I have to say what I said, “and the video cuts again and ends.
CBC News has communicated with the student who published the video through social networks. He confirmed that he witnessed both exchanges, and that the other student was the one who filmed and could be heard in the video. He said that other students, who were white, had witnessed the initial exchange.
Alexander said he was “terrifying” and “desalitional” listening to the word used by a teacher in a position of power over black students.
He also said that it seemed that the teacher was “out of their depth” when it came to understanding the context of the word, and its use was a demonstration of why the educational system must take serious measures to address the breed problems with all staff members, especially at a time when there has been a greater setback against initiatives focused on diversity, education and inclusion.
“This is a clear example of why it is so important,” he said.
Racism report
The district has been forced to face racism problems before. In 2021, he apologized for a school task that told students to list the ‘positive’ impacts of the colonies on indigenous people.
That same year, two members of the School Board resigned after the province commissioned an investigation into indigenous relations and anti-indigenous racism within the district, both in schools and within the administration.
The subsequent report found examples of systemic anti-indigenous racism and a “substantial fear culture” within the district. The report declared that SD57 was behind other school districts in the best practices and took note of the fact that the district did not have an explicit policy against racism to support students and Bipoc staff (black, indigenous, people of color). The report also found that “acts of racism and microst remain unanswered due to lack of responsibility measures.”
Aziz did not denied the work that should be done in this front, describing schools as a “microcosm of the general society, in general” and that the breed problems “are dropped”, even so that he did not always know at an administrative level.
He said that work had been done following the report, including the adoption of a Antiracism Action Plan. He also said he did not feel that the district was unique by having problems around the race, after having heard of similar problems of his counterparts around the province.
And he said that, in general, the problems are taken seriously by staff and administrators.
“We are working very hard around diversity, equity and inclusion programs,” he said. “But you know, do these events still arise? They certainly do it.”
