Black Child Removed From School, White Teacher Allergic to Afro

[walksalone11]

In Seattle, Wash., a white male teacher had an 8-year-old African American girl removed from the classroom. In most cases, children are removed for behavioral and disciplinary issues, which is clearly understandable and acceptable; however, this wasn’t the case here.

The teacher removed the girl, claiming her Afro was making him sick. Naturally, the father of the child, Charles Mudede, was extremely concerned after the incident, and, as a result, the girl, who was the only black child in the advanced-placement class, has missed two weeks of school.

Read more.....

http://rollingout.com/newsapolitics/news/9690-black-child-removed-from-school-white-teacher-allergic-to-afro.html

[walksalone11]

I'm sorry, I am not "black" I am "brown" as in Indian :0)

Our Spiritual beliefs do not allow for cutting of our hair except in very specific instances.

Last summer I was physically assaulted, by three men in an Eastern state, their reason according to them was because they didn't appreciate brown skinned people with braids coming into their community taking jobs. To start with, traditionally my Nation included the part of the state that I was in and I had actually been a resident there for nearly 20 years.

There is no way anyone can convince me that one can become physically ill because of a hairstyle.
No I didn't post this because I am black, nor because I am brown....the article exists because the child was black and the teacher wasn't, period.

[AmyTrivitt]

I read the WHOLE article and it states that the smell was what caused this. First of all the teacher should be up on the board for questioning. As young as this child was, there could be neglect in the home, something that would get a teachers attention into removing themselves and seeking out a counselor. IM NOT saying this child was neglected, but if you guys would read the entire article it was not on how BIG the fro was. This is not funny at all in the least.

[Falconer02]

This is not funny at all in the least.

I gotta admit...as insensitive and terrible as it is, I laughed when I saw Buckwheat as the main picture for the article.

This is suspicious of racism but I had read some of the comments below talking about allergies and I could totally agree-- I have horrible allergies to some hair products and it drives me insane when your eyes constantly water and you sneeze left and right. Many of the drugs you can take for it dry me out and I feel like crap-- I can't imagine teaching kids in either situation. But the teacher made an awful plan-of-attack on this by removing the only black kid for...2 WEEKS!? C'mon, teacher. All of the kids should be a priority and he forgot that due to caring only for himself. He got caught in a racism trap because of it. So racist or not, depending on how you look at it, it's inexcusable.

I'm sorry, I am not "black" I am "brown" as in Indian :0)

We all bleed red, brudda.  

[darklable]

but that was a requirement even when I was in school...to be well groomed and dressed. You can't have this enormous afro ecspecially sitting next to someone in class and it all in their face.

Kids are not allowed to go to school with mohowks and all other stuff.

Depends on where you're going to school.  I know of a large number of students who have mohawks at my school and other schools.  I don't see how hair says whether or not you are "well-groomed"....

Regardless it kind of sounds to me like this teacher wasn't incredibly racially tolerant but mabye there's some details we just don't know(?)...

I'm sorry, I am not "black" I am "brown" as in Indian :0)

We all bleed red, brudda. 

I couldn't agree more. Now if we could only get everyone (or at least most people) to understand this...

Much love to all of those who agree "We all bleed red, brudda."

[gesus]

Yet another sign why the world is where it is today...smh

[bschumacher]

It's possible that the teacher had a genuine allergic reaction to some product the child was using in her hair, just as some people become ill from smelling perfume. The problem should have been handled with kindness and sensitivity to protect the child's feelings. I'm horrified that this incident wound up in the news. Above all, the youngster should not have been forced to miss two weeks of school!

[walksalone11]

I'm sorry, I am not "black" I am "brown" as in Indian :0)

We all bleed red, brudda.  

I get that comment from time to time however in order to form a response to it I have to ask, what exactly does that mean to you?

[JERMANIA]

she could have ask the parent about what she put on his hair...cause it was making her sick.

[klkwid]

If it was truly because the child was black and this teacher had a problem with that, then I say discipline the teacher, by all means!  Just to play devil's advocate, though, it's easy to jump on the "he's a racist" bandwagon and just assume the worst.  What if the child was given some sort of hair spray that DID cause asthma or some other sort of reaction?  I know that I'm sensitive to perfumes and smells, but I can usually walk away from the offending person-in a classroom situation, this guy is stuck in that room for HOURS with something that might really cause him to get hives or something!  Is THAT fair?? 
I have to go read the story, but I have a feeling they won't go into much detail about the actual supposed "allergy".  I think this one is going to focus mainly on one person is black and the other is white-if it had been a situation where a white teacher kicked a white student out of clas because of too much perfume, would this really be an issue?

[cowen_227]

Are you kidding me?  This is clearly racism.  The child's hair style was a cultural statement, not to be offensive towards anyone.  It's no different than other practices from other cultures.  The teacher was just being intolerable.

[Falconer02]

I get that comment from time to time however in order to form a response to it I have to ask, what exactly does that mean to you?

Whoops-- should have cleared that up since it can mean a ton of things for different scenarios. I guess I meant it to mean differences (physical or mental) should be respected because we're all connected deep in that one way.

[walksalone11]

I get that comment from time to time however in order to form a response to it I have to ask, what exactly does that mean to you?

Whoops-- should have cleared that up since it can mean a ton of things for different scenarios. I guess I meant it to mean differences (physical or mental) should be respected because we're all connected deep in that one way.

I agree 110%

[Sweetpea94]

The school really should have sent a note home stating that the child needed to be bathed or talked to local child authorities and stated concern that the child clearly needed to be bathed.  I don't think that the child should of been takin out of the class room, Maybe moved to another area of the room.  The teacher could of opened a window or taken some sort of allergy medication until the situation was dealt with.  The whole situation was handled poorly. It's situations like this that just *bleep* me off.  I can't stand racism prejudism or hate towards others.  I just think it shows ignorance on the part of all who act like this.

[FuzzyCottonsocks]

This was poorly handled to say the least. That must be some severe allergy....