Don't know if anyone saw this on the main board but I thought it would be good to post it here.
http://www.whas11.com/
Scroll down to most emailed stories
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Jefferson County public school teacher was suspended for using a racial epithet toward a student. Now the community is talking about the teacher, the issue and the word itself.
Ninth-grade English teacher Paul Dawson is back in class at Valley Traditional High School. He was not fired; he did not lose his job, although he was suspended for 10 days in January.
In class Friday, Dawson’s students are writing essays on the subject and discussing whether the word should be used at all.
Dawson says that it wasn’t a racial slur at all, saying he called the student “nigga” rather than “******.” Dawson says he hears black students refer to each other in the manner all the time. He says he felt comfortable enough with that student to use the word.
“That’s the problem, is nigga is getting worse and worse and worse. And older blacks don’t understand it, teachers don’t understand it, but we have to deal with it,” Dawson says.
Dawson is appealing his suspension. He wants it stricken from his record. The school district says Paul Dawson acted alone and that this was an isolated incident.
Valley High’s principal would not let WHAS11 News cameras into the school Friday, saying he is trying to run a smooth school and he did not want “a dog and pony show.”
But the story doesn’t end there. A group of African American community activists are holding a press conference Friday at the Louisville Urban League.
“If Howard Cossell and Jimmy the Greek can get terminated for not even saying the word on national television, certainly a punishment more in line with what he said should be, should occur. And I agree with the parent, I agree with the son, that there should be termination,” says activist Reverend Louis Coleman of the Justice Resource Center.
http://www.whas11.com/
Scroll down to most emailed stories
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Jefferson County public school teacher was suspended for using a racial epithet toward a student. Now the community is talking about the teacher, the issue and the word itself.
Ninth-grade English teacher Paul Dawson is back in class at Valley Traditional High School. He was not fired; he did not lose his job, although he was suspended for 10 days in January.
In class Friday, Dawson’s students are writing essays on the subject and discussing whether the word should be used at all.
Dawson says that it wasn’t a racial slur at all, saying he called the student “nigga” rather than “******.” Dawson says he hears black students refer to each other in the manner all the time. He says he felt comfortable enough with that student to use the word.
“That’s the problem, is nigga is getting worse and worse and worse. And older blacks don’t understand it, teachers don’t understand it, but we have to deal with it,” Dawson says.
Dawson is appealing his suspension. He wants it stricken from his record. The school district says Paul Dawson acted alone and that this was an isolated incident.
Valley High’s principal would not let WHAS11 News cameras into the school Friday, saying he is trying to run a smooth school and he did not want “a dog and pony show.”
But the story doesn’t end there. A group of African American community activists are holding a press conference Friday at the Louisville Urban League.
“If Howard Cossell and Jimmy the Greek can get terminated for not even saying the word on national television, certainly a punishment more in line with what he said should be, should occur. And I agree with the parent, I agree with the son, that there should be termination,” says activist Reverend Louis Coleman of the Justice Resource Center.
