Are Georgia elementary schools just soaking in racism? Another elementary school is trying bring slavery in the mix, but this time, it's through a game.
Parents of students at Camp Creek Elementary School in Lilburn, Ga., are outraged after a 3rd-grader told her mother about a "slave game" students had been instructed to play.
"It was kind of like tag, but we were slaves and slave catchers," mother Ericka Lasley said her daughter told her, the station reports.
Another parent, Charvia Rivers, says her children reported the same thing, but Gwinnett County Schools spokesman Jorge Quintana told the station that a district investigation found that the teacher did not organize the game.
"The district determined that the activity was student-initiated and that allegations regarding the teacher’s involvement were unfounded," Quintana said in a statement to the station. Nevertheless, the district is planning to hold diversity training for teachers in light of the incident.
This district needs to be investigated because this mess is too much.
Georgia Schools are truly being a mess now! Beaver Ridge Elementary school used slavery in their math problems
A Georgia school insisted today there was no “maliciousness” intended when a third grade math quiz asked students to compute the number of beatings a slave got a week and to calculate how many baskets of cotton he picked.
But the Gwinnett County School District has launched an investigation to determine how the offending questions made it onto the students’ homework sheets.
The math homework assignment was given to more than 100 students at Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross, Ga., as part of a social studies lesson, Gwinnett County school officials said. The assignment outraged parents, community activists and members of the Georgia NAACP.
Sloan Roach, a Gwinnett County school district spokeswoman, told ABCNews.com that the students were studying famous Americans and as an attempt to create a cross-curricular worksheet, one teacher used Frederick Douglass and slavery beatings for two of the questions.
Although only one teacher wrote out the controversial questions, another teacher made copies of the assignment and it was distributed to four out of nine third grade classes at Beaver Ridge, Roach said. The school is not publicly naming any of the teachers who are suspected to be involved.
Somebody should be fired for this mess. Seriously, this is NOT okay.
After the new immigration law HB 87 passed in Georgia, many folks quickly came out against it, including the LGBT community.
In fact, several leaders of the LGBT community released statements supporting immigrant community and condemning the bill:
Paulina Hernandez, co-director, Southerners on New Ground: "The LGBTQ community has a lot to risk with the passage of HB-87 and we are outraged that the governor has chosen to ignore all the community outcry from citizens, legal residents and immigrant communities alike, his arrogance will mark a political moment we will not forget," she said.
Paris Hatcher, executive director, SPARK! Reproductive Justice NOW: "SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW stands in solidarity with SONG and other people of color and LGBTQ led organizations in the South for the July 2 Mass Mobilization. We share and echo the call for renewed commitment for justice for immigrants and other marginalized communities who are facing increased surveillance and profiling with the passage of HB87," she said. "As a community centered organization led by the experiences of women of color and LGBTQ people, we understand a temporary injunction is not enough, and only a full repeal of HB87 can mitigate the devastating impact of this racist bill on the lives, families, and communities of our people," she added.
Mary Anne Adams, board member and founder of ZAMI NOBLA, a national organization of black lesbians on aging: "This bill uses racial profiling as a tool of Georgia to police, detain, arrest and deport Latino immigrants. Moreover, it places all people of color in the cross-hairs of Police and ICE collaboration. As a black lesbian organization we are concerned that our base, our communities and our allies will be affected with its passing and implementation. We urge our comrades to build unity across communities that experience homophobia, sexism and racism …," she said.
Craig Washington, prevention programs manager at AID Atlanta: "As a black gay man who has been HIV positive for most of my life, I embody identities deemed as taboo, different, queer, those whose bodies are demonized, criminalized and imprisoned. I do not need to face the same pitfalls as an immigrant to recognize where our paths cross," he said. "Let our chants resound to claim freedom for all, to celebrate the contributions of immigrants throughout Georgia and the nation, to declare that we share the struggle, and that only when we are all free, can we proclaim the victory."
Here's some footage from the protest
The law took effect on Friday. On a quick note, I am happy the see the LGBT community come out and support other causes. This really speaks to the notion of power by numbers. I hope this is a continuing and growing trend.
"The Bible says it's a capital offense. You want someone with unrepentant criminal behavior? And it's not just that, neither should adulterers, neither should thieves, neither should a lot of things. The church is full of sinners, but we're told in 1st Corinthians it rattled off the homosexual, the adulterer, the thief, the liar, and such were some of you, but you've been washed, you've been justified and so forth. It's not what you were. You're not punishing a thought. But do you want an unrepentant drug dealer in the military? Same thing."
GA Rep. Bobby Franklin compares us to gypsies, tramps and thieves.
