A LONDON mother has accused her son’s school of racism after his teacher allegedly defended the use of the N-word.
June Durant, from Walthamstow, east London, was furious when her 14-year-old son returned home and told her his teacher had ‘justified’ black people being called the N-word during class.
Ms Durant claims before the start of the summer holidays last year, her son’s class were watching a film called The Trap, which featured the N-word.
The class teacher, who is not black, said the use of the word was okay because black people “played up to the stereotypes of thugs and criminals.”
Following a complaint, the board of governors at the Holy Family Catholic School in Walthamstow, east London, ruled that the school had acted appropriately. The matter is now the subject of an investigation by the Teachers Regulatory Authority and the school said as a result they cannot comment.
Speaking exclusively to The Voice Ms Durant said: “The teacher put on a film called The Trap, which had the N-word in it and instead of stopping the film and apologising for the word being in the film, he proceeds to tell them that he had the right to use the N-word because black people played up to the stereotypes of thugs and criminals.
“In short, he was saying it is our fault and it is something that we have warranted and it is attributed to us because of the way we are as a monolith.”
Ms Durant told said her son, who has dual heritage, challenged the teacher and said it will always be deemed as a racial slur because the teacher in question is not black, but the teacher continued to say they could use the word.
“I don’t send my son to school for teachers to remind him that no matter what he does, no matter what his attainment is, no matter what he achieves in school, that he is black and society will deem him in particular way only,” she added.
Ms Durant said she is alarmed that the teacher justified the use of the word, in front of a class of almost 30 pupils from black, mixed race, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.
She said she raised the complaint with the school and described their response as “slow-moving.”
After the summer holidays in 2021, she says her complaint was lodged as a “maths incident”, which she says downplays the serious nature and racial element of the matter.
Ms Durant said the school addressed the matter with the teacher, but failed to speak to her, other parents, and pupils in the class who witnessed the incident.
“The school never asked us how we feel, what our opinion is and how we want to deal with it as parents,” she added.
She initially contacted the school’s Welfare Officer, who referred her to the headteacher.
Ms Durant claims it look less than two days for the governing body to come back and tell her there was ‘no wrongdoing’ on the part of the school.
In November, last year, Ms Durant attended a stage four governors meeting, where the governors found that the school has acted appropriately, however, she was given details of how to escalate her complaint.
She said: “I was not advised by the school what took place and when or what questioning of the students took place, where it is recorded or how we as parents could safeguard our children who were exposed to racism and racist language by their teacher.”
RESPONSE
A spokesperson from the Holy Cross Family School said: “The school takes this matter extremely seriously.
“The headteacher and the Board of Governors have investigated the matter and spoken to the teacher about his conduct following a complaint.
“The matter is currently being investigated by the Teachers Regulatory Authority and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Ms Durant says she has been left with “no option but to escalate this matter further to the Department of Education, Ofsted, Waltham Forest Council and the police.”
Ms Durant contacted the Department for Education (DfE) and lodged a teacher misconduct report to the Teachers Regulation Authority.
POLICE
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “Racism of any kind is unacceptable in schools and other education settings, and we expect schools as employers to take action to investigate and address incidents if and when they occur.
“The Teaching Regulation Agency takes additional action to investigate serious teacher misconduct, which can result in a teacher being prohibited from teaching, if proven.”
Ms Durant also reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police because she believes it is a “racist incident” but says she is disappointed with their decision to take no further action.
In a statement released to The Voice, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “On 30 November 2021, police received a report from a concerned parent relating to language used by a teacher at a school in Waltham Forest.
“It was alleged that following the classroom screening of a film in July 2021, the teacher used racist language and made comments which caused alarm and upset to some of the students.
“Officers from the Walthamstow Safer Schools team opened an investigation and worked closely with the school who had also conducted enquiries into the incident.
“The teacher was interviewed under caution at a police station on 18 January 2022. He was not arrested.
“At the end of their investigation, officers sought the advice of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) whose role is to provide advice and guidance to organisations in relation to concerns about the interaction of adults with children. Advice was also sought from within the police.
“It was determined that while the incident presented opportunities to learn lessons and improve the way the interaction with students was handled, the threshold for a criminal offence was not met and therefore no further police action should be taken.
“The complainant was informed of the decision.”
CULTURES
According to Ms Durant, the teacher in question is still currently teaching at the school. She called for the teacher to be sacked.
“I would like to see him out of the school and restricted from teaching other children, because ultimately he will come into contact with other ethnic minority children, my son is of dual heritage and that what he said in front of him, how does he feel about children who have both black parents?,” Ms Durant added.
The Holy Family School is part of a Catholic school that says on their website: “We are a family of many cultures sharing one faith. We exist to educate all young people towards excellence in all dimensions of their lives, recognising the uniqueness of each and the equality of all.”
But for Ms Durant, she said she feels “let down by the school” and said: “I feel that the outcome of the complaints procedure was predetermined to down play and conceal what had taken place at the school regarding their staff and the children that we leave in their care.
“This is unacceptable and not dealt with appropriately considering that it is a matter of public interest.”
Ms Durant revealed to The Voice, she had several talks with her son in order to prepare him for racism and bigoted attitudes, but never imagined he would be exposed to it so young.
She added: “I’m always talking about equality and racism and I have encouraged my son to take Sociology as a GSCE to have an opinion because he is a child with dual heritage.
“I have told him his lived-experience may not be like mine, because he is a lighter skinned brown person, but you still have a black mother and systemically he will be classified as a black.
“He will experience all the inequalities that the system will lay upon you because you are seen as black, your white heritage doesn’t play a part in it, except for the lightness of your brown skin.”
Holy family is a Catholic school governed by the Diocese of Brentwood, whose school provision consists of 78 primary schools and 18 secondary schools. The Voice contacted the Diocese of Brentwood for comment.
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8 Comments
As alumni to that school it speaks very true the calibre and characters of certain teachers at that school. Not a progressive school at all.
This sounds like many schools in Hackney like Mossbourne Victoria park where my son was suspended for 3 days because he told a teacher when he was stopped on the road 5:30 after school his own time that my son was looking suspicious and the teacher said he was wearing a balaclava when he wasn’t but had a head rap to protect his cane crowns (Microaggressive)
The amount of time that has been taken up by community workers over hundreds of years to have our fellow man appropriate the most obvious basic civiliarity towards us has given inordinate shelf life to whatever poliltical or economic agenda it has always served. Talk is so cheap its disposable and that’s the only tool we’ve been deceptively allowed to acquire whilst the agenda remains ultimately unhinged
How can a teacher be punished for allowing her pupils to hear an unpleasant historic linguistic idiom? This teacher should be supported for allowing her pupils to accurately hear and read historic words that would not be used by most writers today. This teacher should not be punished and the police should not be involved in any way.
Yes, “nigger” and “negro” were used to debase African-heritage men and women by Caucasian slave holders and Caucasian people generally during the era of English and American slavery. Surprisingly today, a significant percentage of African-heritage youth in England and America have reclaimed the word “nigger.”
The word “Nigger” no-longer has the power to hurt African-heritage youth when used by fellow African-heritage people.
The most successful Hip Hop artists Rap about being “niggers in the hood” including Tupac and Biggie.
London is the home of Grime. Grime is all about using insulting; intimidating words in reference to Her Majesty’s Subjects of African-heritage. Grime could correctly be defined as a vehicle for the word “nigger” and other insulting slurs.
American people of African-heritage and Her Majesty’s youth of African-heritage regularly use the word “nigger” amongst themselves.
I recently noted Mr Mark Twain’s classic book “Huckleberry Fin” has removed the word “nigger” from the book.
Huckleberry Fin is set in America’s slavery days when all Americans slaves were routinely referred to as “Niggers;” or “Negroes” or “Boys” no matter their age. Removing “nigger” from Huckleberry Fin destroys the heart of the story.
How can a teacher be punished for allowing pupils to hear a linguistic historical idiom? African people for two hundred years were routinely referred to by the colour of their African-skin.
This history must not be “wiped” from history. The term “nigger” and “negro” were demeaning and hurtful but they were in common English use for centuries. These words were used to remind African people of their slave status. Are we going to ban the Bible for condemning sexual behaviour that is celebrated today?
Removing historical racial; religious or ethnic references to meet today’s politically correct sensitivities must be rejected by African-heritage people and the Caucasian middle-class political left.
Parents; Politicians and others must not allow Politically Correct sensitives to destroy the classic historical text.
Its no more acceptable to use this word than it is for a pupil to call the teacher ‘F*ck face’. It’s not a nuanced argument, it’s basic mutual respect and manners. Before we even get into the racial connotations of this word and how it’s use has evolved, it’s a pejorative word and nothing else. For a shaper of young minds to not know this, tells me she and her Governors etc are blind to their racism and privilege. Moreover, having had it pointed out to them they continue to defend it. Having said all of this, the Catholic church doesn’t exactly have a good reputation for ensuring the welfare of children in their care. It seems an institutional trait for them to put more effort into protecting the offender, whilst isolating and gaslighting the victim!
i always new my art teacher was racist mrs malcom how could you
This has just happened at a primary school in Manchester , Head teacher used racial slur in a 10 min rant about racism under the guise of education . They walked into the classroom room and said someone in this class had said the “nword,and they actually explicitly said the word out loud before telling the children not to say it in a contradictory message. This left the young children shocked and confused some not having been aware of the words connotation. With some thinking it was now OK for adults to say it to them as their head teacher did. It’s absolutely apauling that teachers like this are around our kids with these conscious or maybe unconscious biases. It’s a severe safeguarding issue.
There are racist teachers in senior positions that are running schools especially in south london.
It may appear to be diverse in school with students and teachers but the higher level of management are predominantly white such as head teachers and governors.
They use their position through the complaints policy and other policies to target black students disproportionately and then get away with it as organisations such as DFE and ofsted do not handle individual complaints. They will only act when there is overwhelming complaints within a short period of time about the same subject. This is why it will always be the same.
Introducing more black teachers into school will not change anything when management is all WHITE.