White teacher in racially hostile territory

[Xenon]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...3/1002/OPINION

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- In a new twist in American race relations, a federal court has ruled that a white teacher in a predominantly African-American school was subjected to a racially hostile workplace.


The case concerned Elizabeth Kandrac, who was routinely verbally abused by black students at Brentwood Middle School in North Charleston. Their slurs make shock jock Don Imus look like a church deacon.

Nevertheless, despite frequent complaints, school officials did nothing to intervene on Kandrac's behalf, arguing that the racially charged profanity was simply part of the students' culture. If Kandrac couldn't handle cursing, school officials told her, she was in the wrong school.

Kandrac finally filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and subsequently brought a lawsuit against the Charleston County School District, the school's principal and an associate superintendent. Last fall, jurors found that the school was a racially hostile environment to teach in and that the school district retaliated against Kandrac for complaining about it.

The defendants sought a new trial, but U.S. District Judge David C. Norton recently affirmed the verdict. However, he did not support the jury's findings of $307,500 in damages for lost income and emotional distress.

Although Kandrac clearly suffered -- she was suspended from her job shortly after a story about her EEOC complaint appeared in the local newspaper, and her contract was not renewed -- her case didn't meet evidentiary requirements for damages. The judge said a new trial would have to determine damages, but the school district and Kandrac settled for $200,000.

While the dollars-and-cents issue may have been of paramount importance to school and district officials -- and would have lent heft to the verdict -- the more compelling issue for students, parents and society is the idea that a particular group of people can be allowed to behave in a grossly uncivil and threatening way by virtue of their racial "culture."
The key legal question was whether a school could be held responsible for students' behavior. In this case, the black children of Brentwood had been given a pass for their behavior because vulgar language was considered normal for their culture.

Defense attorney Alice Paylor told jurors that the kids heard this same language at home and there was "no magic pill" to make them behave. Paylor is probably right about that, though a magic paddle might have worked wonders.

Back in the day, if a student talked the way these did, he or she would have received a well-deserved thwack, been suspended and sent home to face the wrath of his or her father. That process likely would have put a swift end to the tribal tyranny now often tolerated in the service of self-esteem.

Let's be clear: What these children called this teacher is beyond reprehensible and could be only be construed as hostile and threatening. Here's a sample: white b----, white m----- f-----, white c---, white a------, white ho.

Other white teachers and students corroborated Kandrac's account, including a male war veteran who testified he would rather return to Vietnam than to Brentwood.
Kandrac's attorney, Larry Kobrovsky, argued that the repeated use of "white" made these slurs racists in nature. But school officials insisted that because black students were equally abusive to other blacks, the language wasn't inherently racist.

Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled. [& we would be treated to numerous speeches by Jackson and Sharpton]

A black Kandrac would have a million-dollar book deal, a movie contract and hundreds of interviews to juggle. Her oppressors and those who passively facilitated her abuse would have been pilloried by the media -- their faces all over the evening news -- while the reverends Al and Jesse organized protests.

But a white Kandrac -- who faced a daily barrage of insults, who had books and desks thrown at her and her bicycle tires punctured -- was treated like an incompetent wimp. She was just a lousy teacher out for money, the defense attorney said.

Though Kandrac lost her job, the real losers are the children deprived of an education by the actions of a tyrannical few. And the worst racists are those teachers and administrators who denied these empowered brats the expectation of civilized behavior.
May the rest of America now be emboldened to act decisively in the interest of students who want to learn.


Wow, if true

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled

It would? I need to read more :(

[Zilch]

Post link.

The end of that article is kinda ridiculous.

[mr jones]

Do you have a source?

[DarienA]

I would not want to be a teacher black or white in this day and age teaching at certain age levels.

However I think I know who can solve this problem.



EDIT:
Mr. Jones, you need a source?

Go to google news and put in the teachers name.

[Tralfamadore64]

Man, we need Michelle Pfeiffer or Hillary Swank to go in and straighten those kids out, amirite?

[fallout]

But school officials insisted that because black students were equally abusive to other blacks, the language wasn't inherently racist.

I uh ... you know, I'd say something here, but I'd probably just be called a racist.

[gamerecks]

I believe discharging someone while a complaint is being investigated is quite illegal. If she gets damages, its gonna be a whopper.

[RubxQub]

Double standards are the most fun kind.

F*ck racists, white and black.

[Tralfamadore64]

F*ck racists, white and black.

[DarienA]

I believe discharging someone while a complaint is being investigated is quite illegal. If she gets damages, its gonna be a whopper.

She settled for $200,000.

[John Dunbar]

She settled for $200,000.

I'd let people call me a white ho for $200,000.

[Archer]

Such is life in the state of South Carolina.

[gamerecks]

She settled for $200,000.

oops, sorry, i misread that sentence.

[Stele]

80% the population growth is driven by Blacks and Hispanics. These are the kids that are expected to find jobs and pay into social security to support the old white babyboomers. No wonder social security is done.

[koam]

I agree with that the inverse of this story would have caused a nation wide uproar. Although, i'm not so sure why they say if she was black she'd get her own movie, we've already had Dangerous Minds and that movie with that chick from the next karate kid.

[DarienA]

Substitute teachers who are mercenaries... now that's some shit that really needs to be exposed via some kinda news article or B movie series....

[mr jones]

I'd let people call me a white ho for $200,000.

Hell, I'D let people call me a white ho for $200,000, and I'm not white. Double the insult, baby!

[mr jones]

Substitute teachers who are mercenaries... now that's some shit that really needs to be exposed via some kinda news article or B movie series....

[commish]

Such is life in the state of South Carolina.

Hey don't hate on your home state :)

[Xenon]

80% the population growth is driven by Blacks and Hispanics. These are the kids that are expected to find jobs and pay into social security to support the old white babyboomers. No wonder social security is done.

Wtf, this is beyond ignorant ..... Anyway, just continue on keeping it real.

[Skiptastic]

I was about to ask why the Indy Star was reporting this, then I saw it was the opinion page.

Welcome to the coarsening of America. I'd say bad things about teachers behind their back, but it's a completely different thing to say these awful things to their faces. It's just wrong, regardless of race.

[bearcatjosh]

Such is life in the state of South Carolina.

QFMFT. Sometimes I hate living in the South.

[borghe]

Funny. I remember reading how racism was previously a "cultural" attitude, back before the civil rights movement, and before that with slavery. Yet after all the civil rights leaders worked for back then we are back to excusing racism as a "cultural" attitude.

Un-****ing-real.

[NWO]

Let's be clear: What these children called this teacher is beyond reprehensible and could be only be construed as hostile and threatening. Here's a sample: white b----, white m----- f-----, white c---, white a------, white ho.

I like how the words are bad enough to be censored out but they aren't bad enough to have anything done about it when they are said to a teacher.

But school officials insisted that because black students were equally abusive to other blacks, the language wasn't inherently racist.

So the KKK aren't racist because they hate on whites as well? Geez sounds like this place was real "fun" to work at and I'm amazed at how they just totally ignore that the remarks are degrading to women. Basically hurling slurs at women are okay with the school because they don't seem to have a problem with it. That's sad considering all hate speech should be looked down on not just what gets the most publicity.

[J2 Cool]

I like how the words are bad enough to be censored out but they aren't bad enough to have anything done about it when they are said to a teacher.

good point.

[Forceatowulf]

Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled.

lol so ****ing true it's disgusting.

[glistenm]

Let's be clear: What these children called this teacher is beyond reprehensible and could be only be construed as hostile and threatening. Here's a sample: white b----, white m----- f-----, white c---, white a------, white ho.

That's the worst insults they could use for the article? Jeez.

[moku]

This surprises anyone?

As for kids in school, adults tend to think that they are real people. They are children, and should be treated as children.

I would re-instate corporal punishment, and beat the shit out of students who dont obey.

Very simple solution, no one has enough balls to do it though. "I dont want anyone hitting my kids".

Fine. We'll beat you everytime.

[Gattsu25]

Wow...every single teacher I has back in middle school was called worser names than these

the students would use every word they knew to offend the teacher and whenever they found what the teacher was offended by they would only insult the teacher with similar phrases

I've seen this happen with whites against black teachers, blacks against white teachers, latino against asian teachers...the act doesn't surprise me but the media attention in this case does.

edit:fixed for the annoying grammar nazis

[Forceatowulf]

The worst insults I have ever said to my teachers were "Fat ass cow" and "Ugly ass bastard"

[Skiptastic]

Wow...every single teacher I had back in middle school where called worse names than that

Apparently your grammar stayed at that level. :P

[lockii]

This surprises anyone? As for kids in school, adults tend to think that they are real people. They are children, and should be treated as children. I would re-instate corporal punishment, and beat the shit out of students who dont obey. Very simple solution, no one has enough balls to do it though. "I dont want anyone hitting my kids". Fine. We'll beat you everytime.

Respectfully disagree. The best kind of teachers deal with problem students by humorously ostracizing and using psychological methods of 'control'. You have to treat kids like you treat drunks, instead of telling them off, phrase it in a manner that will appeal to the most basic human emotions.

[Stele]

I've seen this happen with whites against black teachers, blacks against white teachers, latino against asian teachers...the act doesn't surprise me but the media attention in this case does.

Yeah, and those students students were taken care of (suspended, expelled), unless this was an inner city school you're talking about -- then even students biting the teachers wouldn't be too far-fetched. But...I really can't imagine an Asian teacher teaching latinos.

[thekad]

Yeah, and those students students were taken care of (suspended, expelled), unless this was an inner city school you're talking about -- then even students biting the teachers wouldn't be too far-fetched. But...I really can't imagine an Asian teacher teaching latinos.

[Blackace]

This is ****ed up on so many levels... first of all.. "if you can't handle cursing you are in the wrong school"??? without the racial stuff the teachers and parents of this school think that students cursing at the teachers is ok??

Then of course you have the racial crap on top it. I do admit that if it was a black teacher there would have been a huge deal made out of it and people would have lost their jobs and so on.. but a white teacher gets $200,000... I think I'd rather have the money than have to see Al Sharpton talk about my suffering..

[Blackace]

Wow...every single teacher I has back in middle school was called worser names than these edit:fixed for the annoying grammar nazis

you fixed worse to worser? time to hit the middle school books up again

80% the population growth is driven by Blacks and Hispanics. These are the kids that are expected to find jobs and pay into social security to support the old white babyboomers. No wonder social security is done.

I just have to hear the reasoning behind this... I just have to

[Gattsu25]

you fixed worse to worser? time to hit the middle school books up again

I was just miffed that he chose to critique my post out of the thousands of GAFfers butchering the english language. Worse was just one change in that line

[Skiptastic]

I was just miffed that he chose to critique my post out of the thousands of GAFfers butchering the english language. Worse was just one change in that line

Sorry, man. It wasn't anything personal, I just couldn't pass up the joke. And frankly, you just made it worser.

[Zeed]

As for kids in school, adults tend to think that they are real people. They are children, and should be treated as children. I would re-instate corporal punishment, and beat the shit out of students who dont obey.

I find it incredibly ironic that you would post this in response to an article decrying bigotry. So what you're trying to say here is that individuals who have not yet reached the arbitrary age of 18 should be forced to obey without question anyone who has, and be beaten if they refuse? A person cannot control their age any more than they can control their skin color. What's more, I've met twelve year olds with more maturity than you display in this post.

Fine. We'll beat you everytime.

Good luck with that, sir. You've got issues, and they're probably going to land you in jail someday.

[SteelHunter88]

All I know is that as a child I had alot of respect for my teachers and so did many of my friends and I was raised in Manhattan and the Bronx so race doesn't have to do with how these kids act but the retarded "hood culture" thats sweeping America does...especially since it hits every race from white to black.

[etiolate]

This surprises anyone? As for kids in school, adults tend to think that they are real people. They are children, and should be treated as children. I would re-instate corporal punishment, and beat the shit out of students who dont obey. Very simple solution, no one has enough balls to do it though. "I dont want anyone hitting my kids". Fine. We'll beat you everytime.

Totally wrong. The problem is exactly that we treat them as children and hold them to lower expectations that we would children. We have "boys will be boys" and "teenagers just want to rebel" and do not see them as humans. This doesn't give them more power, but less responsibility. They do not need to be beaten, they need to be given the rights and responsibilities of individuals. The public highschool system needs to be trashed and reinvented. Some kids are in situations where their math scores really don't matter that much. Some kids are in situations where school is not the best thing for them at the time, but that is only some kids. If we extend that to all kids, then we give them excuses that do not belong to them. If we just beat them, we treat them as a faceless group. School isn't even much an educational home anymore, it's a social network system.

Tear down public highschools, unless you want stuff like this and school shootings. All of these things, the racial bullshit, the murders, the kids ****ing the teacher, is all SOCIAL. School is not meant to a social home, it is an educational home. We have made it a social world by our idealic prom king and queen view of Highschool, which is so far from the truth it's ridiculous. When threatened, officials/people reply that all of it is harmless, until some bully pushes a kid to pick up a gun and retaliate. We say Kids will be Kids, boys will be boys, and hey, I survived highschool huh? That's not how it works, these things build up over time. No revolution started the first moment someone got repressed. It builds up over time until it bubbles over and gets violent and ugly, just like our Highschools.

[Tarazet]

Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled.

Not true. That's much more common than you would think, and such cases tend not to get media attention. In California, sure, kids would get suspended or expelled for directing racial slurs at authority figures, but I can promise you the same would not happen in Butt****, Alabama.

[Zeed]

Totally wrong. The problem is exactly that we treat them as children and hold them to lower expectations that we would children. We have "boys will be boys" and "teenagers just want to rebel" and do not see them as humans. This doesn't give them more power, but less responsibility. They do not need to be beaten, they need to be given the rights and responsibilities of individuals. The public highschool system needs to be trashed and reinvented. Some kids are in situations where their math scores really don't matter that much. Some kids are in situations where school is not the best thing for them at the time, but that is only some kids. If we extend that to all kids, then we give them excuses that do not belong to them. If we just beat them, we treat them as a faceless group. School isn't even much an educational home anymore, it's a social network system. Tear down public highschools, unless you want stuff like this and school shootings. All of these things, the racial bullshit, the murders, the kids ****ing the teacher, is all SOCIAL. School is not meant to a social home, it is an educational home. We have made it a social world by our idealic prom king and queen view of Highschool, which is so far from the truth it's ridiculous. When threatened, officials/people reply that all of it is harmless, until some bully pushes a kid to pick up a gun and retaliate. We say Kids will be Kids, boys will be boys, and hey, I survived highschool huh? That's not how it works, these things build up over time. No revolution started the first moment someone got repressed. It builds up over time until it bubbles over and gets violent and ugly, just like our Highschools.

I love you.

[SteelHunter88]

Totally wrong. The problem is exactly that we treat them as children and hold them to lower expectations that we would children. We have "boys will be boys" and "teenagers just want to rebel" and do not see them as humans. This doesn't give them more power, but less responsibility. They do not need to be beaten, they need to be given the rights and responsibilities of individuals. The public highschool system needs to be trashed and reinvented. Some kids are in situations where their math scores really don't matter that much. Some kids are in situations where school is not the best thing for them at the time, but that is only some kids. If we extend that to all kids, then we give them excuses that do not belong to them. If we just beat them, we treat them as a faceless group. School isn't even much an educational home anymore, it's a social network system. Tear down public highschools, unless you want stuff like this and school shootings. All of these things, the racial bullshit, the murders, the kids ****ing the teacher, is all SOCIAL. School is not meant to a social home, it is an educational home. We have made it a social world by our idealic prom king and queen view of Highschool, whic.h is so far from the truth it's ridiculous. When threatened, officials/people reply that all of it is harmless, until some bully pushes a kid to pick up a gun and retaliate. We say Kids will be Kids, boys will be boys, and hey, I survived highschool huh? That's not how it works, these things build up over time. No revolution started the first moment someone got repressed. It builds up over time until it bubbles over and gets violent and ugly, just like our Highschools.

QFT

Good post, and it shows that the bad educational system in almost all highschools has been on your mind for a while.

I agree with you on pretty much everything you've said except for the responsibility. Before that happens adults need to change culture and it's stereotypes of children so that children now and in the future can begin their educational journey with a solid personality, which sadly leaves pretty much all children of the next 30 years growing up to be idiots(not all of them) even if we start the changes immediately :(.

[Javaman]

Totally wrong. The problem is exactly that we treat them as children and hold them to lower expectations that we would children. We have "boys will be boys" and "teenagers just want to rebel" and do not see them as humans. This doesn't give them more power, but less responsibility. They do not need to be beaten, they need to be given the rights and responsibilities of individuals. The public highschool system needs to be trashed and reinvented. Some kids are in situations where their math scores really don't matter that much. Some kids are in situations where school is not the best thing for them at the time, but that is only some kids. If we extend that to all kids, then we give them excuses that do not belong to them. If we just beat them, we treat them as a faceless group. School isn't even much an educational home anymore, it's a social network system. Tear down public highschools, unless you want stuff like this and school shootings. All of these things, the racial bullshit, the murders, the kids ****ing the teacher, is all SOCIAL. School is not meant to a social home, it is an educational home. We have made it a social world by our idealic prom king and queen view of Highschool, which is so far from the truth it's ridiculous. When threatened, officials/people reply that all of it is harmless, until some bully pushes a kid to pick up a gun and retaliate. We say Kids will be Kids, boys will be boys, and hey, I survived highschool huh? That's not how it works, these things build up over time. No revolution started the first moment someone got repressed. It builds up over time until it bubbles over and gets violent and ugly, just like our Highschools.

I couldn't disagree more. It honestly sounds like you're projecting your own school experiences into this screwed up situation. Just because you grew up well and respected teachers that doesn't mean that others will if given extra privileges and responsibility. What these kids need is discipline. Perhaps it's too late for these little brats, but while schools may not be able to make kids respect their families and peers, they should certainly be allowed/required to discipline kids who talk back to teachers and interrupt class. The earlier in age schools start this the better.

What does Prom have to do with any of this? Those kids are revolutionaries fighting for their right to free speech?

[NWO]

Not true. That's much more common than you would think, and such cases tend not to get media attention. In California, sure, kids would get suspended or expelled for directing racial slurs at authority figures, but I can promise you the same would not happen in Butt****, Alabama.

I'm not in Alabama but if somebody in the class said "That's gay" they were suspended for 5 days in high school. If they would have said a racist slur to a teacher they DEFINITELY would have been punished for it. But then again that was when I was in high school and people were actually held responsible for their actions.

[Zeed]

Just because you grew up well and respected teachers that doesn't mean that others will if given extra privileges and responsibility.

The notion that you consider equality to be "extra" is exactly what the problem here is. These individuals are not bad by virtue of being young - I seriously doubt that by the time they reach legal adulthood they'd experience a change of heart and mind. They're just bad people, plain and simple - how they got that way is another debate entirely.

Children should be offered the same rights and responsibilities as adults, but at the same time should be held to the same standards. The idea of a 17 year old murderer being tried differently than a 21 year old murderer is just as rediculous to me as the idea of beating anyone under 18 into unswerving obedience. There has to be give and take, but maintaining the status quo only preserves the self-perpetuating cycle of juvenile delinquincy.

We expect children to behave badly and so we treat them as sub-human. They notice these expectations, often fulfill them, and sometimes get away with it. Everything in that equation is wrong. We should treat them with respect by default, and if they lose it, then we punish them appropriately as would happen with any adult. No special protection, no unfair assumptions.

[Xenon]

I'm not in Alabama but if somebody in the class said "That's gay" they were suspended for 5 days in high school. If they would have said a racist slur to a teacher they DEFINITELY would have been punished for it. But then again that was when I was in high school and people were actually held responsible for their actions.

So true. The lack of any real consequences for these type of actions is the why kids get away with shit like this. But the most offensive part of this whole story is the school officials stating that their culture prevents them from understanding basic social mores. Seriously if a student can’t understand that telling your teacher that she is a FN c..t is not acceptable then he/she needs to learn fast or be removed and taken to somewhere that can teach him. These officials are not just lowering the bar. They are pounding it into the ground and putting up a warning sign saying “Careful Bar Ahead”

[HolyStar]

Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled. lol so ****ing true it's disgusting.

And if a black child is murdered or kidnapped it wouldn't recieve the amount of attention that a white child would have. Why do so many people think being black is like a priviledge, when in reality a white person would never switch places with a black person even if the black person was slightly better off.