Students in Georgia dess up as the 'Klan'

[Communisto]

People are stupid. We need to start accepting our past for what it is instead of constantly trying to bury our dumb heads in the sand.

 

[Bugfatty300]

On the brighter side at least they weren't wearing American flag t-shirts.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Side note: I remember visiting Austria during the nineties and seeing a play that featured Nazis, but the regular swastika had been replaced by a three-pronged variation on all the flags. Are you allowed to show Nazi images in Germany/Austria today in performances? And is that relevant to this story?

I can only speak for Germany: The Nazi symbol remains a subject to prosecution. The big exception are educational purposes.

People are stupid. We need to start accepting our past for what it is instead of constantly trying to bury our dumb heads in the sand.

Well said and agreed.
As I see it society almost never is concerned with the source of an evil but prefers to demonize one particular symptom while continuing to feed the evil's source in human nature in another still accepted way until this way also is demonized and so forth.

For instance devaluing prejudices towards Jews or blacks are demonized nowadays. But instead of having a public debate about its source and other possible applications the focus just shifts to say Communists or Arabic people or bankers or poor people or Neo-conservatives or Liberals or unfriendly governments or whatever fits the political/social situation.

 

[_random_]

I can only speak for Germany: The Nazi symbol remains a subject to prosecution. The big exception are educational purposes.

My knowledge of German and Austrian law relating to Nazi symbolism comes entirely from the Wikipedia article on Inglourious Basterds, which seemed to indicate that it was forbidden from promotion material but allowed in the film itself as artistic expression, which I think would encompass a play. That being said, I can see why the particular play might engage in self-censorship.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Education includes art in the case of the swastika prohibition, true.
So yes, in theory a play should be able to display it (if not glorifying the symbol or with it associated mindsets).

 

[GamezRule]

Undecided, I kinda have arguments for both sides, so I must lurk and form an opinion.

 

[useless]

ITS NOT RACIST GUYS its part of our history!

 

[Formaldehyde]

I don't see what the big deal is. It appears to have been done for educational purposes. But even if it wasn't done as part of a class project, a college professor should still be able to hold a KKK rally if he wanted to do so, just like anybody else.

 

[RedRalph]

I think if it's established she was in no way advocating the KKK, even implicitly, she shouldn't get more than a talking to. It was a lapse in judgement, but it doesn't seem to have been malicious.

 

[Yeekim]

Yes, because the second that it left the classroom and went into places where the other students were (who had no idea of what was going on), that's when it went too far imo. I don't think that one should run away from the past and pretend it never happened, but there ought to be some level of common sense in doing so.

If those other students had displayed some common sense from their part, that simple misunderstanding could have been settled and clarified on the spot, instead of making headlines in papers.

 

[amadeus]

What if the kids were reenacting the Garden of Eden? Or Woodstock?

The school would be awarded a $1 million grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

[IAM]

I wish I had a nickel for everytime we dressed up like klan in kindergarden. Oh those were the days.

 

[dirtyparrot]

If those other students had displayed some common sense from their part, that simple misunderstanding could have been settled and clarified on the spot, instead of making headlines in papers.

I don't disagree that some degree of discretion should be expected by the students, but it's the teacher's responsibility to make sure that it happens. He could have told them to put their costumes on in the classroom instead of going around the school in them. If they wanted to film in other parts of the school they could have done it after school and with the notification of the principal.

 

[Traitorfish]

FYI, Lumpkin County isn't really 'near' Atlanta, except in the sense that it's in the middle of nowhere and Atlanta is the closest thing that outsiders know. I lived in Metro Atlanta practically my entire life, and despite being obsessed with geography as a child, still had to look up where that was. It's several counties out.

Wait, wait, wait. The place is called "Lumpkin"? Seriously? Given how stereotypically bumpkin-ish this article makes the place seem, it's really a less than ideal name...

 

[downtown]

I'm not so sure about that. The teacher didn't make them wear KKK robes, the teacher didn't make them run around campus in them. These students here are adults and should be expected to behave somewhat responsibly.

I don't see what the big deal is. It appears to have been done for educational purposes. But even if it wasn't done as part of a class project, a college professor should still be able to hold a KKK rally if he wanted to do so, just like anybody else.

The article says this happened at a high school, so we are dealing with kids, not college-aged adults.

At any rate, this appears to be a lapse in professional judgment (don't have kids walk the HALLWAYS in Klan Robes in North Georgia), but not something worth losing your job over.

 

[JerichoHill]

For further clarification, Lumpkin County is quite outside Atlanta.

It's also named after Gov. Lumpkin, and apparently my blood-line includes him.

I think this is a bit of an over-reaction. The kids knew the KKK was racist

 

[ColdClimate]

I think this is a bit of an over-reaction. The kids knew the KKK was racist

Well, that's not in dispute. The question is whether wandering around the halls in KKK robes among students who weren't aware of the media project was insensitive, and whether a teacher should be reprimanded because of it....

 

[Formaldehyde]

The article says this happened at a high school, so we are dealing with kids, not college-aged adults.

At any rate, this appears to be a lapse in professional judgment (don't have kids walk the HALLWAYS in Klan Robes in North Georgia), but not something worth losing your job over.

Thanks for the clarification. Then I agree with you and those who stated it was poor judgement on the teacher's part. But it is still not a big deal. Bailiff, whack his pee pee. (Apologies to Cheech and Chong.)

 

[bhsup]

"insensitive" ... No offense, but who gives a crap. Life isn't sensitive and if people can't handle a couple of kids dressed for a historical lesson, then they probably need to hide in a hole for the rest of their lives because they're just not going to be able to handle the world. This should never have gotten out of the school, much less made any sort of news story. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[JollyRoger]

"insensitive" ... No offense, but who gives a crap. Life isn't sensitive and if people can't handle a couple of kids dressed for a historical lesson, then they probably need to hide in a hole for the rest of their lives because they're just not going to be able to handle the world. This should never have gotten out of the school, much less made any sort of news story. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Non-racists wearing KKK garb leads to proms full of chicks in tuxes and dudes in dresses.