George C. Marshall High School Student Told To Read Langston Hughes Poem 'Blacker'
JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL! A Virginia high school English teacher is under investigation for allegedly asking the only black student in the class to read a poem in a "blacker" manner.
Jordan Shumate, a ninth-grader at George C. Marshall High Schol in Falls Church, Va. says he was reading aloud Langston Hughes' "Ballad of the Landlord" when teacher Marilyn Bart interrupted him.
"She told me, 'Blacker, Jordan -- c'mon, blacker. I thought you were black,'" Shumate told The Washington Post.
When the 14-year-old student declined to continue reading the poem, Bart read it herself to demonstrate what she meant.
"She read the poem like a slave, basically," Shumate told the Post. When he asked whether she thinks all black people speak that way, he was reportedly told to take his seat and reprimanded for speaking out of turn.
"She told me, 'Blacker, Jordan -- c'mon, blacker. I thought you were black,'" Shumate told The Washington Post.
When the 14-year-old student declined to continue reading the poem, Bart read it herself to demonstrate what she meant.
"She read the poem like a slave, basically," Shumate told the Post. When he asked whether she thinks all black people speak that way, he was reportedly told to take his seat and reprimanded for speaking out of turn.
The poem was written in 1940 about a black enact thrown in jail for challenging a landlord.
"It's very, very unprofessional," Shumate told WJLA-TV. "It should not happen. She didn't do it to any other kids, why did she have to do it to me."
The student brought the issue to his mother's attention after the teacher reportedly singled him out again during a lesson about stereotypes. Shumate said Bart asked him to explain why blacks like grape soda and rap music.
Shumate's mother, Nicole Page, tells WAMU that she is "very sad" for her "child's loss of innocence" through the experience. The teacher had also previously asked the student to rap out a poem by black rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, Page says.
The student brought the issue to his mother's attention after the teacher reportedly singled him out again during a lesson about stereotypes. Shumate said Bart asked him to explain why blacks like grape soda and rap music.
Shumate's mother, Nicole Page, tells WAMU that she is "very sad" for her "child's loss of innocence" through the experience. The teacher had also previously asked the student to rap out a poem by black rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, Page says.
"We're in 2012 with the first African American president," Page told WJLA-TV. "In this era how could such a statement be made, particularly by an English teacher."
Shumate's claims come after two shocking and racist YouTube videos surfaced in Florida last month that feature white teen girls making disparaging statements against black students.
Shumate's claims come after two shocking and racist YouTube videos surfaced in Florida last month that feature white teen girls making disparaging statements against black students.
At least one of the incidents forced the video's creators to apologize and leave their Gainesville, Fla. high school.
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