Texas teacher who said his race was ‘superior’ no longer employed; school apologizes
Bohls Middle School eighth-grader Rhema Benjamin said the incident began when he entered the classroom wearing a Black Lives Matter sticker on his shirt.
A Texas middle school teacher is now off the job permanently after being placed on administrative leave for telling students his race “is the superior one.”
According to KXAN News, Pflugerville Independent School District superintendent Dr. Douglas Killian said in a letter that as of Monday morning, the unidentified Bohls Middle School teacher is “no longer employed” there due to the “inappropriate conversation.”
Killian acknowledged that a video, which went viral, had been circulated on social media and had attracted local and national media attention. He also apologized to parents whose children were “included in the video without their knowledge.”
Shortly after the video of his interaction with students went viral, administrators at Bohls Middle School in Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb of Austin, placed the teacher on leave, theGrio previously reported.
“Deep down in my heart, I am ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one,” the unnamed teacher is heard saying in the video to a group of students.
He added: “Let me finish … I think everybody thinks that; they’re just not honest about it,” KXAN reported.
Millicent Benjamin said she was floored and confused when she saw the video. Her son, Rhema Benjamin, an eighth-grader at Bohls, was in the classroom when the teacher made the comments.
The teen claimed the incident began when he entered the classroom wearing a Black Lives Matter sticker on his shirt.
“It was my first time seeing, hearing someone say they were racist and admitting to it,” the young Benjamin said, according to KXAN.
It allegedly escalated when the teacher made him remove the sticker.
“And then a student threw a pencil across the room, and me and my friend said if that were us we would have gotten in trouble,” he contended, according to KXAN, “so we asked him if he was racist.”
Joshua Howard Luellen, better known as the record producer Southside, posted a video of the incident to his Instagram page, according to theGrio.
“I don’t understand how we’re still in a world where I kno I am probably more intelligent I have accomplished way more in life than this guy,” he wrote, adding, “legally my son Wants a education and he is being denied that this s–t is sad.”
According to KXAN, in a statement, Killian previously apologized for “any undue stress or concern” the situation had caused and said the teacher’s “inappropriate conversation” did not reflect the district’s core values.
In the subsequent letter, he restated his stance, noting that the teacher had been fired.
“We want to reiterate that this conversation does not align with our core beliefs and is not a reflection of our district or our culture at Bohls Middle School,” the letter reads, KXAN reported. “Pflugerville ISD and Bohls MS staff work together to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our students. The advisory discussion was inappropriate, inaccurate, and unacceptable; and this type of interaction will not be tolerated in any PfISD schools.”
Benjamin’s father, Andy Benjamin, admitted to the outlet that he took pride in his son’s actions.
“We believe in equality for everybody, and my son is an example of that,” said the parent, “and I am very proud of what he did.”
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