OVER THE LINE!

When I heard of nooses hanging from the tree at the Jena high school, I thought, "No way that could happen in 2007." Surely the racists and bigots (I want to be inclusive here) know better than to come out from under their rocks where they hide.

Then I saw THIS:
5th Grade History Lesson Uses N-word as Crossword Puzzle Answer. (HT Tank)

Essentially a 5th grade teacher got a crossword puzzle from edhelper.com, to supplement their reading of Sounder, "a book is commonly used in classrooms nationwide to illustrate racial bigotry and sharecropping hardships through the eyes of a young black boy."

I don't know anything about the book, but I know about 17 across: "An insulting way to label a black person."

Oh yeah, that's exactly what you're thinking it is.

That's a word my kids have never heard, to the best of my knowledge, and one I'd love to shield them from forever, albeit unlikely.

The principal of the school said that the teacher "justifies it as a way to teach about how it was at that time."

Hey, I have a hatred for historical revisionism and I don't think our country should ever forget its past, lest it be susceptible to repeat it. In the same way, I don't think the Fatherland should ever forget the Holocaust.

However, that doesn't mean I'd advocate the Kinder drawing Swastikas to get a feel for what it was like for the Jewish people back in the day. There are certain things culturally off limits and I don't think it's a bold statement to say the line was heinously sailed over.

Sure, the teacher apologized, but that there could be any attempt at self-justification shocks me. I'm not necessarily saying a job should be lost, but I've seen it for less, so it wouldn't surprise me.