Teacher suspended after allowing student to dress up as the first ever KKK Grand Wizard
Charisa Bossinakis
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Southern Middle School. Philip Scalia / Alamy Stock Photo
A teacher has been suspended after allowing a student to dress up as a KKK Grand Wizard.
The history teacher in Kentucky has been reprimanded for allowing a Southern Middle School pupil to dress up as Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first KKK Grand Wizard, as part of a project, according to LEX18.
Fellow classmate Jaxson Clark who spoke to the outlet said he didn't think the costume was offensive.
“There was no racist movement behind it,” Clark said.
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“I mean there was Black kids in the classroom, they all thought it was good. Nobody felt targeted."
He added that the student came in that morning trying to wear it before class; however, the teacher confiscated the outfit and said he could only wear it during the historical presentation.
But Kane Leclercq, a grandparent of a student who attends the school, told LEX18 she was outraged by the teacher's decision.
“That teacher should be ashamed of herself,” she said.
“Why would a teacher actually approve something like that? I don’t understand, I’m outraged, it’s ridiculous.”
Kathy Townsend, a community organizer in Somerset who has helped organize local Martin Luther King Jr. Day marches, said there should be no tolerance for 'racism and hate' at the school.
KWTX reported that the president of the local NAACP said that 'sensitivity training' should be compulsory for all students and teachers to ensure an incident like this doesn't occur again.
Whit Whitaker at the Lexington-Fayette NAACP told the outlet: "Would he have done the same thing if he wanted to come as Charles Manson or Hitler?
"My initial response was outrage, but it's happened so many times. I think people get numb to it. They want to apologize later instead of stopping it before the fire gets out of control."
"This is nothing new, this is stuff that this country endorses. It's happened in Pittsburgh, a Pittsburgh school, it happened in California, its happened in Texas," he added.
Pulaski County Superintendent Patrick Richardson said in a statement: "I am extremely disappointed and embarrassed by this incident. I am deeply apologetic of this situation, and I am taking immediate steps to address this matter.”
He confirmed the teacher has been reported to the Educational Professional Standards Board.
UNILAD has approached Southern Middle School for comment.
Similarly, in October, an English teacher at Central High School was found to have a photo of the KKK displayed in her classroom after telling students 'this is my grandmother on a Sunday afternoon after church', as per Wymoning Tribunal Eagel.
Administrators immediately removed the photo after a student informed their parent, who later altered school officials.
The parent, Tara Tomlin told the outlet: " "Everyone is allowed to have their own belief system and their own morals, but there needs to be a line drawn about what's allowed to be brought into schools. And this type of ignorance, the harmfulness of this photo — the ignorance is just unacceptable."