NY middle school teacher fired over ‘racist’ joke allegedly made to two students about slavery

Outrage from the mother of an eighth-grade student at a New York middle school has led to a teacher being fired over a “racist” joke he made about slavery.

Dorothy Hall went to the media and demanded action be taken against the teacher from Gaskill Preparatory School, a public middle school in Niagara Falls, New York. She said her son is scared of returning to school out of fear of retaliation.

‘Invoking the suffering of enslaved people to entertain oneself is a blatant violation of dignity and a direct assault on the humanity of African American students.’

“He’s afraid of being retaliated against,” she said to WKBW-TV. “And I’m asking for the community to come together with me and my son, as well as the other student, because she absolutely didn’t have to deal with that either as a child. Nobody should have to deal with it, but especially as a child.”

Hall initially said her complaint was not taken seriously by the district.

“I’m reaching out to my community because I need for the science teacher, first of all, to be terminated. As of today, he’s only suspended with pay,” she said.

The Niagara Falls branch of the NAACP released a lengthy statement in support of her cause.

“Let’s be clear: This is not a joke. This is a racist insult rooted in the brutal history of slavery, inflicted on children by someone entrusted to educate them. It is harmful. And it is absolutely unacceptable,” reads the NAACP statement in part.

“This was an act of racial degradation directed at children who should never be forced to carry the weight of America’s most violent history within the walls of their classroom,” the organization added. “Invoking the suffering of enslaved people to entertain oneself is a blatant violation of dignity and a direct assault on the humanity of African-American students. It reveals a mindset that devalues African-American life, ignores historical trauma, and undermines any trust that families place in our public school system.”