California middle schoolers allegedly said an assignment surrounding a Huffington Post op-ed made them “uncomfortable.”
Earlier this year, students at Oak Middle School in Orange County, California, were instructed to analyze a 2017 op-ed from The Huffington Post, titled “Why I’m a Racist.” The assignment immediately drew backlash from parents, Fox News reports. The teacher told students to break down several points and ideas from Huffington Post contributor Jeff Cook.
“It was an uncomfortable situation,” Marshal Violia, a father of a seventh-grade student who was given the assignment, said. “A lot of parents were in agreement.” The article begins with the author describing his life as a white American male.
“I am a white American male. I’m married to a beautiful blond-haired green-eyed woman and have two amazing blond-haired, blue-eyed boys. I was a blond-haired blue-eyed child who grew up in suburban New Jersey in a solid family with a mother, a father, a brother, and two dogs.” Cook addresses how his white privilege has contributed to his inherent racism, unbeknownst to him or not.
He says he is not racist, but that he is “uncomfortable with, ignorant of and distant from racial inequalities that exist in” the U.S., He adds that he is “okay” with admitting he is a racist and that doing so did not make him “evil.” Violia says his son told him the assignment made him “uncomfortable.” Educators say that feeling is normal when discussing race-related issues.
“Learning about racial inequality and how it persists can benefit all because it is a first step to identifying ways to eliminate racial inequality,” she continued. “I also think that it is important for educators to have the kinds of support and services that they need to teach about issues of racial inequality in age-appropriate ways.”
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