Texas teacher who told Black students his race is ‘superior’ is no longer employed
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By Janelle Griffith, NBC News
A middle school teacher in Texas is no longer employed after a video posted on social media showed him telling students his race is “superior.”
“Deep down in my heart, I’m ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one,” the teacher was recorded telling students of various races last week inside a classroom at Bohls Middle School, a sixth- through eighth-grade school in Pflugerville, about 18 miles northeast of Austin.
“I think everybody thinks that,” the teacher says. “They’re just not honest about it.”
The remark appeared to be directed at two Black students. Some students challenged the teacher. One student says: “I’m not racist though. I like all types of kinds.” The teacher responds, “Did I say I don’t like people?”
Another Black student asks the teacher: “Wait, so you said you are what? You are a racist?”
“I think everybody is a racist at that level,” the teacher responds. The same student tells him: “No. But you said you are a racist.”
“I did. I did,” the teacher said. A pair of Black students then told the teacher that they no longer had respect for him.
The school principal did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a statement Monday, Douglas Killian, the superintendent of the Pflugerville Independent School District, described the discussion as “inappropriate, inaccurate, and unacceptable” and said “this type of interaction will not be tolerated in any” of the district’s schools.
“As of Monday morning, Nov. 14, the teacher in question is no longer employed by Pflugerville ISD and we are actively looking for a replacement,” he said. He did not identify the teacher, who appears to be white. Tamra Spence, a spokesperson for the district, said Monday she could not confirm the teacher’s race.
Unfortunately, teachers can also be fired for discussing white privilege.
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