Video shows black teen confronting white teacher who insists on using the N-word

May 7, 2017

Ben Franklin High, which is Lousiana’s top public school, has responded after a teacher was caught using a racial slur on video on Thursday.

Principal Patrick Widhalm confirmed that several videos that had been posted to social media were indeed authentic and that the school is investigating the matter. The teacher involved is reportedly a permanent substitute teacher and was no on campus after 3:30 p.m.

In the video, the teacher in question claimed that the N-word was “commoditized” and that it had been “used by everyone” so often that it no longer held its original meaning.

“Nobody uses that word,” the teacher said just before using it himself, later telling the student asking him not to use it, “You cannot go through life and act like a word can affect you.”

“Why can’t you understand that —- is racist for a white man to say to a black man?” the student asked.

— Preschool teacher fired after photo shows her dragging child by the arm —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmtZR0eRFms

At one point, a different male student stepped in as well. “When you’re black, it changes the whole way people perceive you and people look at you,” he said, noting that it was the same for women and gay people.

“Realize that it’s not just a word when you say stuff like that. Realize all the charges and all the connotations it has in it,” he said, as the other students applauded. “And just make responsible choices. If you’re a teacher and you don’t want to get fired, maybe you don’t want to say this.”

After class, students went to the principal’s office to stage a sit-in, which turned into an impromptu assembly in the auditorium that lasted for an hour.

Widhalm said that the assembly proved to be “a very good dialogue about the difficulties and the issues that still exist around race, around identity, around the things that aren’t resolved.”

“The school has a strong, diverse population but like society today, we’re still coming to grips with how we do that in a way that is … empowering for everyone,” Widhalm said. “These are students who want to be part of a better school, a better society.”