Racist Comments in the Classroom
I feel like a question that isn’t common, but people should be asking is: “How should racist slurs be handed in the classroom, and what should people do about it?” So, I’m going to be writing about racist slurs and how they affect people.
I think students should NOT be allowed to use racist slurs in the classroom. Other students have found that the use of these words are offensive and can see it as bullying.
If you hear racist slurs, you should spread awareness by telling a teacher. This is important because other people may feel attacked and might get upset if they get called something. Most of the time, the person saying the racist stuff won’t get in trouble. More than five million students aged 12 to 18 were bullied in the 2018–2019 school year, and one in four of them experienced bullying related to their race, national origin, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation. It proves that this is happening a lot, and people need to bring attention to it. Teachers should help and try to stop this from happening.
Even if you aren’t directing it at someone, if you say a racist slur, someone else may hear you say it and feel like they don’t belong or they may feel like they’re not in a safe environment.
People just blurt out racial slurs without even knowing the backstory of the words that they use. One example is the use of the n-word. To build understanding of its origin, here is a little backstory of where the n-word came from. Why teachers should try to look out for people who do.
In the summer of 1619, a ship arrived in a port in Virginia carrying around 20 Africans who were chained up to be sold as slaves. It was the first documented arrival of slaves in the U.S., and the Africans were referred to using the Spanish and Portuguese words for black–which is where the word comes from. Basically, when the n-word is used, it’s essentially giving the idea that African people aren’t really human beings.
This is why I think students should NOT be allowed to use racist slurs in the classroom, and why teachers should try to look out for people who do.
