White teacher accused of classroom noose display claims she’s victim of racial discrimination
A white New York school teacher allegedly accused of putting up a racially offensive image in a classroom claims she was a victim of racial discrimination herself.
In 2019 an image circulated of a collage displayed in a classroom at Roosevelt Middle School in New York that sparked outrage among the community and school district officials.
The photo, part of a larger classroom display of teachers and students, showed a pair of nooses under a caption that said “back to school necklaces,” alongside the words, “Ha Ha,” “#YES” and a smiley face.
The school district blamed an “isolated group of teachers” for the collage and said “appropriate action” had been taken, according to The Daily Beast.
Years after the incident, Nancy Jones Doering filed a lawsuit against the school district, revealing herself as one of the teachers accused.
I might get downvoted to oblivion, but I'm open to discussion.
Firstly, having read the full article... IF (big if) she's telling the truth and it wasn't even her then its hard not to feel sympathy for her.
Secondly (more controversially), is a picture of a noose racist? I mean, it certainly has racist connotations and I personally wouldn't have used it, but (bear with me) I'm not sure racist is the concrete conclusion. Lots of people have been hung throughout history, if you're not viewing it through a racial lens then are you a racist or just very insensitive.
What about if it was a picture of a mastiff? Or a police officer? Both these things could symbolise the subjugation of slaves. Are we really gonna ban pictures of dogs or police?
Symbols mean different things to different people. Sometimes people just need to be told they've been insensitive and given the chance to apologise with promise of doing better in the future.
There is a scenario where whoever put that up was not invoking the lynchings of black people specifically.
Just my 2c.
In the US it automatically has racist connotations because of our history of lynching. That means outside of educational settings where the context can be explained, it is most likely going to be something racist.
Showing it as a back to school necklace is most likely racist, but even if it wasn't intended to be racist then it is a joke about teen suicide. Both are fucking terrible.
The United States was still using hanging as capital punishment until the early seventies.
And the US prison population is overly representative of…
You’re so close!
Drug users lol
I completely agree that both are terrible. However one probably doesn't get you ostracised from society forever but the other does. Being labelled as a racist in your community can ruin your life in a way that having some very questionable dark humor wouldn't.
I have no idea if the woman is a racist or not, but IF she isn't, her punishment from the school and the community seems quite harsh.
BTW I'm not from the US, but nooses still make me immediately think of Jim Crow or the KKK (and spaghetti westerns, but thats besides the point).
Bullshit. Anyone who fucks up once or twice is completely fine, it takes being consistently racist to even have the chance of any kind of negative outcome.
I hope so. Although, I can see the potential for a school community to essentially play a game of telephone over social media as well.
We don't know her priors. But if she has them, fair enough really.
James Franco racist confirmed
This is frankly a wild assumption to make without additional evidence.
Edit: FWIW, pinning up a reference to suicide in a school is moronic regardless
I see what you're saying... but it seems like a technicality that's not worth exploring here.
If instead it was a guillotine with a caption of "this year's detention activity"... it's really not any better. Like it's no longer racist but... now it's just purely about killing kids in a more equitable homicidal format. It's very dark humor in a very public place.
It's a lot of time and effort and argument to debate "yeah this was terrible but it might not have been racist". Does a definitive answer of "at least it wasn't racist" make this appreciably any better? Does it make them any more likely to get a teaching job after this?
It also doesn't change the core argument the teacher is making in the story. "You lumped me in with a bunch of racists because I was white. I took down the image because it was offensive. Obviously. Why would I leave it up if it was offensive?"
On the first question: yes, making a bad joke is better than being a racist. On the second: also probably... yes, tbh. Not saying it wouldn't harm her career but less that everyone thinking you're racist.
Completely agree. Claiming reverse racism is almost always shitty thing to do. I'll happily concede that it's even less likely the school is racist.
when one puts something up for public display, one's intent is only a small part of what should be considered; how it will be perceived by others is the primary concern, especially considering that it is a public display.
so, having read the article as well, let's take into consideration 3 facts pretty clearly laid out: the teacher's claims about the intent: the imagery was not intended to be racist... it was, in fact, referencing suicide (presumably as a response to returning to school). yikes. so, this isn't a great starting point, but let's deconstruct this:
The teacher claims that she genuinely intended this as, "ugh, returning to school sucks! let's hang ourselves with a noose! haha!" this is obviously highly problematic and offensive for its own reasons that, strangely, the article - nor anyone else - seems to have comment much upon.
Many others interpreted this for the much more culturally-prevalent and relevant (in the US) link to the lynchings of black people which took place here for hundreds of years. this image and symbol has been used for centuries as a hate-symbol and to spread hate and fear.
The teacher refuses to apologize for any offense caused by her intended and/or unintended meanings, whatever they may be, and considers all of the consequences of her actions to be a form of victimhood. Additionally,
oh, and another important couple of things to consider: she's a teacher, and this happened in a public school.
so, here, we have someone who did (or, at least participated) in creating and displaying a highly-offensive piece of art in a public school, initially lied about her role in creating/contributing to it, refused to apologize for the offense cause (regardless of whether it was intentional), and is claiming victimhood for the consequences she's facing. so, let's break the consequences down into 2 groups:
She was suspended after she deflected, lied, and obfuscated during the initial investigation into the offending display, only to be reinstated after an administrative hearing-- however only into restricted duty. for those not familiar with NYCDOT procedure, this is fairly typical when they can't outright fire a teacher, but don't have quite enough solid ground to suspend them indefinitely, which they also can't do. but they can keep them on administrative/restricted duty forever, hoping they quit. from this we can infer that, after the hearing, NYC DOT doesn't want to publicly admit that what she did was fucked up for they myriad political reasons it would ignite, but doesn't want to reinstate her as a teacher, so they're doing the "safe" thing by dropping her into a black hole.
problem here is that she she believes that this is somehow unfair, so she's suing.
obviously, and quite expectedly, the public and her colleagues, are outraged. they're outraged it happened, at how it was handled, and at the teacher's lack of remorse and consideration for others-- and, oh, boy, are they letting her know as often, as loudly, and in every way they can get that message to her. she is, undoubtedly, living through a hellstorm of online and in-person from these people. whether she deserves this or not is for each person to decide, and i'm not going to comment on this in this comment. however, it's hardly unexpected, and these people have legitimate grievances.
this teacher should have been fired outright for the offensive collage - either for its suicide reference, its racist imagery, or both - and she should have apologized for offending others, even if it was unintentional. instead, she lied, deflected, and obfuscated, and claims that facing the consequences of her actions is a state of victimhood, further angering everyone.
does she deserve this? some of it? all of it? none of it?
all things considered, i really have trouble feeling sorry for all of that harassment, and i certainly think she got off way too light by not getting fired on the spot.
I agree 100%. What you painstakingly wrote can be simplified into one sentence:
"Who thinks death by hanging is funny, and why isn't someone who is supposed to be a teacher smart enough not to do that?'