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Why would you call on anyone by their skin colorin the first place?
I suspect we're not getting the whole story here.
Well they do in Brazil, although it's much more an affectionate term...
"Preto" is "black" in Portuguese.
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com
A Bronx teacher fired after a student complained about her use of a racial slur says the whole thing is just a ridiculous case of meaning lost -- literally -- in translation.
Petrona Smith, 65, was a non-tenured teacher at the bilingual school PS 211 until March 2012, when she was fired after a student complained of being called "negro" and "a failure."
But Smith, who is black and a native of the West Indies, said the student misunderstood her meaning: she was using the word "negro," the word for the color black in Spanish, not an outmoded reference to an person of African descent.
“They haven’t even accounted for how absurd it is for someone who’s black to be using a racial slur to a student,” Shaun Reid, Smith’s attorney, told the New York Post. “Talk about context! There’s a lot of things wrong here.”
In court papers, Smith said she was teaching students how to say different colors, and even explained that the a black person in Spanish is called "moreno," not "negro." She also said she asked students who had failed a test to move to the back of the class, but had never called them failures.
Smith detailed the abuse she claims she often suffered at the hands of her students, who, according to her claims filed in court, called her "f***ing monkey," "cockroach" and "n****r." Smith said she had always risen above their insults.
The investigation leading to her termination relied on the word of four 7th-grade students, even though one of the student's parents admitted he had lied.Smith, who has been unable to to find work since she was fired, has sued for wrongful termination. The school district has so far refused to comment on the case.
Why would you call on anyone by their skin colorin the first place?
I suspect we're not getting the whole story here.
Well they do in Brazil, although it's much more an affectionate term...
Brazilians speak Portuguese. What is the word for black in that language? Another thing. Brazilians are so racially mixed it's hard to tell where one race ends and another begins. I doubt if the word "black" spoken by a Brazilian will have the same connotation as "black" does in North America.
Caveat: the source is the New York Post, not always a paragon of objectivity...
>> A Bronx teacher says her language lesson was lost in translation when she was fired for calling a student Negro though she claims she was simply using the Spanish word for the color black at the time, according to a new lawsuit.
The non-tenured junior high instructor, Petrona Smith, 65, was booted from the bilingual PS 211 in March 2012 after a seventh-grader reported the alleged insult.
Smith, who is black and a native of the West Indies, has been unemployed since her ouster.
... In court papers, Smith said she was teaching students how to say different colors, and even explained that the a black person in Spanish is called "moreno," not "negro." She also said she asked students who had failed a test to move to the back of the class, but had never called them failures.
Smith detailed the abuse she claims she often suffered at the hands of her students, who, according to her claims filed in court, called her "f***ing monkey," "cockroach" and "n****r." Smith said she had always risen above their insults. The investigation leading to her termination relied on the word of four 7th-grade students, even though one of the student's parents admitted he had lied. <<
Now appearing in the latest "PC-itis Gone Wild" video...
Anyone remember this incident?
Speech Nazis must go. That's all there is to it.
Interesting that the arabic word for negro is Abed.. it also means slave in Arabic. Has anyone pointed out that PC error to them yet?
Caveat: the source is the New York Post, not always a paragon of objectivity...
>> A Bronx teacher says her language lesson was lost in translation when she was fired for calling a student Negro though she claims she was simply using the Spanish word for the color black at the time, according to a new lawsuit.
The non-tenured junior high instructor, Petrona Smith, 65, was booted from the bilingual PS 211 in March 2012 after a seventh-grader reported the alleged insult.
Smith, who is black and a native of the West Indies, has been unemployed since her ouster.
... In court papers, Smith said she was teaching students how to say different colors, and even explained that the a black person in Spanish is called "moreno," not "negro." She also said she asked students who had failed a test to move to the back of the class, but had never called them failures.
Smith detailed the abuse she claims she often suffered at the hands of her students, who, according to her claims filed in court, called her "f***ing monkey," "cockroach" and "n****r." Smith said she had always risen above their insults. The investigation leading to her termination relied on the word of four 7th-grade students, even though one of the student's parents admitted he had lied. <<
Now appearing in the latest "PC-itis Gone Wild" video...
Anyone remember this incident?
Speech Nazis must go. That's all there is to it.
Caveat: the source is the New York Post, not always a paragon of objectivity...
>> A Bronx teacher says her language lesson was lost in translation when she was fired for calling a student Negro though she claims she was simply using the Spanish word for the color black at the time, according to a new lawsuit.
The non-tenured junior high instructor, Petrona Smith, 65, was booted from the bilingual PS 211 in March 2012 after a seventh-grader reported the alleged insult.
Smith, who is black and a native of the West Indies, has been unemployed since her ouster.
... In court papers, Smith said she was teaching students how to say different colors, and even explained that the a black person in Spanish is called "moreno," not "negro." She also said she asked students who had failed a test to move to the back of the class, but had never called them failures.
Smith detailed the abuse she claims she often suffered at the hands of her students, who, according to her claims filed in court, called her "f***ing monkey," "cockroach" and "n****r." Smith said she had always risen above their insults. The investigation leading to her termination relied on the word of four 7th-grade students, even though one of the student's parents admitted he had lied. <<
Now appearing in the latest "PC-itis Gone Wild" video...
Anyone remember this incident?
Speech Nazis must go. That's all there is to it.
As far as this teacher, sometimes/often, things are not as simple as they seem. Usually, in this kind of situation, the teacher does not get fired for just that one incident. Based on the fact she says her students insult her with derogatory names, that indicates she does not have good class management and control strategies; she has allowed her students to disrespect her and she has not earned their respect. When a teacher fails to gain control of her class, she cannot teach them and is an ineffective teacher. This is now near the end of the school year. If she has been teaching there all year and still is unable to control her class and has not earned their respect, it is indicative that she is not competent. I'll bet there have been problems and issues all year long. Seventh grade is middle school, a very, very difficult age group to work with and one that takes a teacher who is good with kids at that level. I doubt this is just about the misunderstanding over the word negro. If she were a competent teacher, her student would have understood that it is a word in Spanish for black. She would have been able to convey her point to them. They would not be calling her names. I'd say she probably has a lot of problems and the school just wants to get rid of her.
Caveat: the source is the New York Post, not always a paragon of objectivity...
>> A Bronx teacher says her language lesson was lost in translation when she was fired for calling a student Negro though she claims she was simply using the Spanish word for the color black at the time, according to a new lawsuit.
The non-tenured junior high instructor, Petrona Smith, 65, was booted from the bilingual PS 211 in March 2012 after a seventh-grader reported the alleged insult.
Smith, who is black and a native of the West Indies, has been unemployed since her ouster.
... In court papers, Smith said she was teaching students how to say different colors, and even explained that the a black person in Spanish is called "moreno," not "negro." She also said she asked students who had failed a test to move to the back of the class, but had never called them failures.
Smith detailed the abuse she claims she often suffered at the hands of her students, who, according to her claims filed in court, called her "f***ing monkey," "cockroach" and "n****r." Smith said she had always risen above their insults. The investigation leading to her termination relied on the word of four 7th-grade students, even though one of the student's parents admitted he had lied. <<
Now appearing in the latest "PC-itis Gone Wild" video...
Anyone remember this incident?
Speech Nazis must go. That's all there is to it.
Interesting that the arabic word for negro is Abed.. it also means slave in Arabic. Has anyone pointed out that PC error to them yet?
If it's Arabs, especially Muslims, they're allowed to say what they want
