What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl Who Is Assaulted in the Classroom

[JI7]

<Most whites I came in contact with at that time were committed to reminding me that I was “nothing but a n--ger”—yes, I was called n--ger every day in elementary school, and sometimes by my white neighbors while playing outside at home. Ms. S., who was white, was different. She was nice, gentle and patient. I felt like she was my friend.

If I became too unruly, she would gently place her hand on my shoulder and say, “Nsenga, please stop talking and do your work.” Guess what? I would stop talking and do my work because I wanted to make her happy. Ms. S. became pregnant and went on maternity leave to start a family, so we got a permanent substitute. I was a sensitive kid, so I really grieved losing her.

Ms. F. was nothing like Ms. S. She was mean and impatient and one of those white folks who took every opportunity to remind me that I was “nothing but a n--ger,” even though I was the smartest kid in the class. I knew this, and she knew this and hated it. How did I know that she hated it? Unlike Ms. S., who looked at me with kindness and spoke softly to me, Ms. F. looked at me with hate and spoke to me in harsh tones, berating me at every opportunity. Even though I was only 6 years old, I knew the difference between love and hate.

America has a problem with black women because we are truth tellers, self-reliant and resilient. The same sickness that made Ms. F. want to keep me in what she had determined was my place is the same sickness that makes a grown man beat up a teen girl on video and have other grown men and women support his actions. We are a violent, misogynistic culture that hates women and girls in general—and in the case of this country, black women and girls specifically.>


http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/10/what_it_s_like_to_be_a_black_girl_who_is_assaulted_in_the_classroom.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Like police, school administration and teachers have their authority

questioned for validity by African-Americans based on their experiences. When these children are directed or instructed, it's interpreted as "ordered" and/or commanded. After a while, that approach isn't going to be effective.

It's a bigger issue than teaching. I don't have an answer or even a suggestion. I wish I did.

[JI7]

2. I'm not really understanding what you are saying

Especially concerning the OP.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Personal observation from teaching at an inner city daycare kindergarten.

I was the only white in the building.

I recognized that while I was taking charge as a teacher, the parents were uneasy with a white "ordering" their children around. That was their perception of my teaching their children and exercising reasonable discipline.

It got to the point where a four year old boy would punch me, kick me, scratch me, even spit on me. I of course couldn't touch him or even restrain him because of fears of child abuse accusations. When the administration asked for help from his mother, she calmly opined that maybe my "whiteness provoked (him)".

Whether or not she had a point, her son remained defiant. While this situation didn't call for police or anything, I'm just saying it starts somewhere when the kids are younger.

What I was trying to articulate before was how "authority" is understood and either accepted or rejected in certain communities. Authority from the school, from the police, the city, the landlord, etc. When you have children and/or adolescents become defiant to all entreaties and/or commands, it's more than just about a cellphone. It's a much broader situation.

[JI7]

6. But that of behavior isn't just from black kids

[trusty elf]

4. Heartbreaking n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. K&R