I work in education policy, and I teach at a University–there’s something called “best practices” and trying a crying girl up ain’t any where near “best practices” let alone ethical conduct. Jesus, just wait, I bet this lady gets transferred to the alternative school or day treatment. So often the worst of the worst go into the alternative education programs or mental health day treatment education programs…because those kids of “throw-away”‘s. I work on behalf of at-risk youth and I’ve been part of monitoring visits of these schools and education programs and jewels like Ms. Bernstein are often “not fired” by being transferred to those types of schools. Which means that she’ll be in contact with more children of color (who are disproportionately placed in alt programs DUE to racism), those that come from poor or dysfunctional families, and those with mental health problems.

I’m not trying to rant on my personal headache and make it relevant, I swear. After working in education policy, you start to get a sense of how these things “work out.” And the solution to overt racism in a standard school is often allow less publicized racism to worsen in the alt schools.

Okay, off of that bit of the response and onto those who want to give the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s my thing, perhaps she was trying to illustrate the horrors of slavery. She’s against slavery, great.

But, she obviously hasn’t done much self-reflection. I bet she doesn’t even acknowledge that as a human being living in a racist society, she’s racist. I mean, I can be racist. Much of my deep self-reflection started when my biracial niece was born. I started to think, privately and unsaid, about hair. What her hair would be like and I had to admit that I hoped it wouldn’t be as curly as most African American women’s hair because I knew how hard it was to “manage” (by “manage” I meant caucasianize–I had a roommate my freshman year in college whose hair I helped straighten with a perm and another friend works in a very conservative field and “needs” to get her hair done weekly in order to maintain her white hairdo). Anyway, that really hit me in the gut. I wanted my niece to have non-kinky hair. I realized, even though I was an anthropology major, traveled the world, did aid work, was raised Unitarian Universalist in the San Francisco Bay Area–I realized I was a racist! Anyway, we all are, but we need to confront and challenges ourselves as a practice–explaining or discovering racism is not something that black people or brown people are put on earth to explain to white people. I need to take responsibility myself. So, I try. But this lady? She thinks that disapproving of slavery means that she’s not a racist. Even if you (Ms. Bernstein) hadn’t done such a crazy, abusive thing as this “lesson” YOU ARE A RACIST AND YOU NEED TO DEAL.

Now, if this teacher were found to be tying up adults in her free time, she would be immediately discharged because parents would be outraged that a pervert was teaching at their school — but over this she doesn’t even get reprimanded? No administrative leave? Nothing? Come on. Even as someone who is into bondage (and totally would have volunteered to be tied up), this is completely unacceptable to me. What the fuck?

First, as a commentator called Karak said at Renee’s post: how does staring at two tied up black girls tell white students what it was like to be a slave? The lesson only makes sense in its own terms if all the students (or at least all who volunteered, or a large proportion, and certainly not just the black ones) suffer this.

Second of course, it’s flat out child-abuse, so I what I said in the previous paragraph would be no better than what this teacher did. And that’s enough that the teacher should be fired even without the racial aspect.

Third, I’d actually say “but oh, I was teaching about slavery so of course I had to use black students” (even one who didn’t volunteer) far from excusing any racism, demonstrates it. Why else could this teacher conclude that only those already more likely to be familiar and traumatised by this subject should be subjected to physical showings of it?

Fourth, I can’t help wondering if doing this only to black girls carries a subtext of “Look how bad your ancestors had it, not shut up about today’s trivial racism.”

The phrase “bad decision” is generally used to mean foolish or stupid. But “bad” means many more things than that – ineffective, morally wrong, callous, destructive – and this one hits all of those.

And it strike me as arrogant, wanting to be next Jane Elliot.