Students in Georgia dess up as the 'Klan'

[ColdClimate]

Georgia teacher suspended after pupils don Klan robes



A teacher in the US state of Georgia has been suspended after allowing students to dress in mock Ku Klux Klan robes for a project.

The teacher had asked four students, none of whom were black, to re-enact scenes from history for a class film.

Officials said the teacher had used poor judgement. Georgia has a history of violent racial tension and students and parents were upset by the incident.

The teacher, who is white, acknowledged it was a mistake to film the scene.

"It was poor judgement on my part," Catherine Ariemma told the Associated Press news agency.

The class at Lumpkin County High School near Atlanta included no black children, and the school system is roughly 90% white.

The Ku Klux Klan is one of the oldest and most infamous hate groups in the US and was known for the white robes and cone-shaped hoods members wore at rallies.

Founded as a vigilante group amid the turmoil after the US civil war, the Klan violently opposed civil rights for African Americans, although the group also turned its ire toward Jews, Catholics and immigrants, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

Its membership and influence have waned in recent decades.

Ms Ariemma told US media she had asked the students to film scenes from American history for a course combining US history with film study. For the scene in question, the students were exploring American racism.

"This is a film about racism and we have to discuss racism in our society," she said.

"You can't discuss racism and not include the Klan."

Ms Ariemma, a teacher for nearly six years, said the students had brought in bed sheets and cone-shaped party hats to make their costumes.

Other students observed four of their robed classmates walking through the cafeteria to another location in the school where another student filmed the scene.

Some African-American students and parents complained to school administrators and Ms Ariemma was suspended. She could face further disciplinary measures.

"We determined, obviously, that she used extremely poor judgment," school system superintendent Dewey Moye told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

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Well, I think we can agree that this was probably poor judgement, but is it a form of censorship, or just a bad idea? If students were, as I assume, making a film to show the negative sides of racial discrimination, should they not be able to at least dress up thier 'villains'?

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?

 

[Azale]

Overreaction. In 3RD GRADE we re-enacted a scene from the book Number the Stars and it required a boy to dress up like a Nazi, armband swastika and all. No one was hurt, no Jews were gassed.

 

[civ_king]

but they didn't do it right, no Klan re-enactment is complete without screaming how communists are destroying the country and/or Catholics and they also forgot the pistol whipping, lazy people living on the dole, always stealing our wimin!

 

[ColdClimate]

Overreaction. In 3RD GRADE we re-enacted a scene from the book Number the Stars and it required a boy to dress up like a Nazi, armband swastika and all. No one was hurt, no Jews were gassed.

Fair enough, but given that there isn't much of a history of Nazism in texas (as far as I know...), I don't think it's as much of an issue as dressing up as a Klan member.

That being said, is there much sensitivity in Texas schools about the Mexican-American War? Not that they're the same, just interested how it's treated in classrooms given the significant mexican population in your state.

 

[bhsup]

Well I guess Alex Haley should be fined or something for writing Roots.

 

[Bugfatty300]

They couldn't just put the costumes on at the spot where they were filming? They had to dress up and then cut through the cafeteria were everyone could see them? They honestly didn't think it would bother anyone?

I would feel disgusted enough wearing KKK garb even if it was for a single scene in a film. I'd just want to get if off the second the cameras stop. I definitely wouldn't wear it around where people wouldn't be able to understand the context.

 

[ColdClimate]

Does the teacher bear any responsibility though?

 

[ColdClimate]

In a not completely unrelated story:

'Pink Hitler' advertisement upsets Sicilians

An advert for a clothing shop that features Adolf Hitler dressed in pink has provoked outraged reactions in Italy.

 

[Labtec600]

The kids walking through the school wasnt the greatest but the fact that they dressed up in it for something about American Racism isnt something the teacher should lose her job or be punished for.

 

[Masada]

Wait, they weren't re-enacting Birth of a Nation were they?

 

[dirtyparrot]

Does the teacher bear any responsibility though?

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.

 

[ColdClimate]

Wait, they weren't re-enacting Birth of a Nation were they?

No, just a media project tracing the history of racism in the US.

 

[Perfection]

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.

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.

 

[madviking]

Finally, redneck activities from a state other than Virginia! Good job Georgia!

 

[Leonel]

There you liberals go again, taking EVERYTHING out of context! Dressing up in KKK robes is NOT racist as long as it's satire.

 

[JollyRoger]

Encouraging kids to steal their parents' stuff should not be tolerated.

 

[mangxema]

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.

"You can't discuss racism and not include the Klan."

That doesn't mean you have to reenact it. I suppose they could mock lynch somebody as well, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.

They couldn't just put the costumes on at the spot where they were filming? They had to dress up and then cut through the cafeteria were everyone could see them? They honestly didn't think it would bother anyone?

I would feel disgusted enough wearing KKK garb even if it was for a single scene in a film. I'd just want to get if off the second the cameras stop. I definitely wouldn't wear it around where people wouldn't be able to understand the context.

I was thinking about that just the other day after watching American History X. The main character comes around, so I suppose he's probably okay, but a lot of the supporting cast play absolutely virulent racists. I for one wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

 

[Azale]

As a clarification, walking around the school in the clothes was a completely braindead idea but not something the teacher should be held accountable for. The re-enactment was education, and I don't have a problem with it.

 

[Masada]

No, just a media project tracing the history of racism in the US.

You weren't meant to answer that, you know.

 

[JollyRoger]

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