Teacher has black students pretend to be slaves, pick cotton

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A history lesson at a Virginia school went awry when a teacher called up only African-American students to take part in a skit that was meant to talk about a slave rebellion during a lesson on the Louisiana purchase.

Tamika Derozen said that her son, who is in sixth grade, wanted to walk out of class when the teacher asked the students who had come up to act like slaves and pretend to pick cotton, then called up a few white students to pretend to be noblemen.

“He said, ‘Mom, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to walk out of the class, but I didn’t want to get in trouble,'” Derozen told WHSV.

Derozen then contacted the school about the lesson and got a response: “The principal apologized. She explained to me that she told the teacher you can’t single out a group of children based on their race.”

But then on Monday, the teacher tried to explain herself, and the students walked into class to see the show “Roots” on the projector. The teacher then asked if it would have been right to have a white actor play one of the slaves.

“She went on to say, ‘exactly my point. For those of you that I offended, I apologize. But I want you to understand my reason for calling you up as African-Americans is because you better fit the role as a slave,” said Derozen. “She still wanted to make herself right. You can’t right your wrong.”

Derozen is now encouraging other parents whose kids were in that class to come forward and intends to meet with the NAACP.

Staunton City Schools Superintendent Linda Reviea, Ed.D., issued the following statement concerning the lesson:

“We were just recently made aware of the incident at Shelburne Middle School and are investigating the information we received. The matter will be handled swiftly and fairly according with School Board policy.

“If such behavior occurred, it is grossly inappropriate, insensitive and contradictory to the values of our school division and will not be tolerated. At all times we expect our teachers and staff to be positive role models and demonstrate sound judgment.

“I want to emphasize that in no way does Staunton City Schools condone or encourage instruction that deliberately singles out a person or group because of race and subjects them to disparagement or humiliation.”