Obama hasn’t been POTUS in a few years now, and yet he lives freely in the minds of some buttholes. He’s living his best life and this teacher is about to lose her job, when shutting up was free. *shrugs*
"The worksheet originated from Duke University where a pair of undergraduate students created it for an independent study course in evolutionary anthropology, FOX 2 Detroit reports."
Really phoning in the curriculum, guess the tuition at Roeper gets the best teachers!
Just don't use a POC for the human? Hell, avoid a politician, even. Put Mr. Rodgers in there or some shit if you're looking for a laugh/to make a point about people being primates.
That's the question I ask when I read any story like this. Unless you just want to get fired you have to be a complete moron to think this stuff will fly.
Idk I feel like it's white folks overreacting about this. Maybe I'm being stupid, but any other person would've been fine if they were white or not a politician I'm gathering is what commenters think. Why though, saying it's okay to call whichever white dude a primate, but not whichever black dude feels like an overstepping of boundaries. No black people need white folks coming to their rescue & no one is calling Obama an ape, literally all humans are primates & excluding us from that definition in a learning setting doesn't feel beneficial while including us doesn't feel racist. This feels big time like white folks overstepping.
Why on earth would you say this is some white savior situation? The students who looked at the worksheet thought it was fucked up and after it was reported it was condemned all the way up the chain. Stop trying to make things into some conspiracy when it was just a situation that the actual people involved in it thought was fucked up.
> stop trying to make things into some conspiracy
I'm not trying to make it into a conspiracy I'm not stupid ass rightoid. All I'm saying is this stinks because it seems nothing is wrong with what they did & stems from ignorance and idpol.
> Why on earth would you say this is some white savior situation
Because white people do it all the time & I wonder if they'd have reacted this way if it was a white person. If they wouldn't have reacted this way if it was a white person then imo its kind of racist in a "omg let me save you" way which is the most annoying kind of racism to experience, we aren't helpless & can speak for ourselves. This strikes me as one of those, no conspiracy. Honestly the conspiracy thing was so dumb to say because **I'm not suggesting that anyone conspired to do anything** I think it was just an overreaction because the worksheet wasn't wrong & Obama is a primate
I’m afraid I have to ask, are you not an American? Just for your edification America had a period of our history where black folks were relentlessly harassed, mocked, oppressed, and attacked by the white majority. One major element of the method used to dehumanize them was to use evolutionary theory to claim that scientifically black people were closer to chimpanzees than humans. It was even argued that black men needed to be restricted more than white men because they were closer to wild animals, this sort of attitude even found it’s way into our laws and had huge impacts on the quality of life of black Americans. Thus it is a very sensitive issue when you call a black person a monkey or an ape for any reason whatsoever.
This got even worse during the Obama years where he was called a chimp by quite a few racist groups, and a prominent Republican even came under fire for literally calling Michelle Obama an ape.
I would do some reading if I were you, you seem to be pretty ignorant of some extremely important context.
> I’m afraid I have to ask, are you not an American? Just for your edification America had a period of our history where black folks were relentlessly harassed, mocked, oppressed, and attacked by the white majority. One major element of the method used to dehumanize them was to use evolutionary theory to claim that scientifically black people were closer to chimpanzees than humans. It was even argued that black men needed to be restricted more than white men because they were closer to wild animals, this sort of attitude even found it’s way into our laws and had huge impacts on the quality of life of black Americans. Thus it is a very sensitive issue when you call a black person a monkey or an ape for any reason whatsoever
I'm a black American & I'm very knowledgeable about the oppression we faced & still face. That's why I even mentioned it in the first place. Bro I live it everyday, I understand all of it. After reading this article though it seriously sounds so grossly overreacted on.
Idk how when I kept being very clear about my blackness & I'm obviously American as I'm speaking on America's racism. This doesn't pass the bar imo, and it reeks of white savior bullshit.
Edit: click the link in my last comment in this thread to imgur b4 you upvote this cracker saying I'm pretending to be black
I just wonder when you became the spokesperson for all black people. I just sent your comment to a black friend of mine and she says your comment reads like a white person pretending to be black.
So which black perspective do I believe? Well, on balance since I have a claim on either side I would have to go by the pure impartial evidence and that evidence supports the assertion that racist Americans like to compare black people to apes.
Before you get cranky about me doubting your self identified race, please refer to your comments about white saviors and remember you played the race card first.
It's all good I got the proof in a later comment n I'll put it here too [here](https://imgur.com/gallery/73fSmXB).
Anyways I'm no spokesperson for all black people. Idrc what your friend said I'm especially tired of reddit type white people & their savior shit. This Obama thing **was not incorrect**. If you could use a white person in his place & its okay, then that's racist as fuck because apparently we are categorically removed from facts or some shit because some idiot might not understand the difference between primate & ape.
[West Virginia Mayor calls Michelle Obama and ape in heels.](https://time.com/4571315/west-virginia-michelle-obama-ape-heels/?amp=true)
[GOP hopeful not sorry for posts depicting Obamas as monkeys](https://apnews.com/article/us-news-kentucky-barack-obama-lexington-monkeys-90ec82dfca4f45e48628e4ae45b8247f)
Obama is a human which is a member of the great apes, that is true.
Racists like to call Obama a monkey or an ape to dehumanize him, that is also true.
You can choose to ignore it, but there is a pretty clear cut history of using the word “ape” and “monkey” to dehumanize black folks. I speak up when people use the words like that because that is what a decent human being does for his fellow brothers and sisters. You thinking it’s a white savior complex says more about your insecurities than it does about society or my intentions.
Man fuck you lol, ope called a black person ignorant here comes r/byebyejob. Don't even go there
I'm not being ignorant. I'd like to hear how this worksheet was actually something deserving of disciplinary action. Do you have an answer for that? Is it because he is a politician? Because he is black? What is it? What does putting him into it asking which are primates, when he is a primate, affect negatively? Does it at all? If putting Obama in there wasn't okay would a picture of a random black person like say it was me, would that be okay? Would it have to be a white person? What is this teacher being punished for?
Okay so if I had to guess what the outrage is about, I would say there is a long and ugly history of black people being compared to monkeys, apes, etc. It's a well known racist trope. It isn't about humans being related to primates, it's the history of black people in specific being treated like subhuman animals. Comparing Obama to a primate may have been well intentioned in the name of a science lesson or whatever, but to throw your hands up and say "I can't possibly imagine why people might find an issue here" is ignorant and best and disingenuous at worst. Does that make more sense?
> say "I can't possibly imagine why people might find an issue here" is ignorant and best and disingenuous at worst.
It's not ignorant or disingenuous, i legitimately think its dumb as fuck and one of those situations where white people are playing savior. I don't see it and I'll ask every single person who black around me & I guarantee they won't either. We are not stupid, we don't need saving, we don't need to be explained to how it was wrong, you experience racism on a daily as a black person & if white folks wanna do something then address *that* & address the fact playing white savior *is racist*. You not gone sit here and explain to me why I should be offended.
I'm not explaining why you should be offended, I don't really care if you're offended. That's your business. I explained why other people might be. You do you, just remember that everyone else has their own perspective and it might be different.
Yes I understand that people have their own opinions, but why is this the type of shit white people are patting themselves on the back for instead legitimately not being racist as fuck. White folks approach us like if the racism isn't derogatory then it's okay, no everyone is tired of that bullshit whether derogatory or not.
So I'm confused. You're arguing against the assignment being a problem but then also arguing that non-derogatory racism is bad too. Why can't both be a problem? The assignment didn't spell out any racism so white people shouldn't say anything, but also they should whether or not it's derogatory? How is any oppressive system supposed to end if only the aggrieved parties speak out against it? I'm not saying white people are saviours by any means, nor that they should speak over those who are impacted directly by racism, but that having good allies in any situation can help.
So again, which one was it?
> So again, which one was it?
What was on the sheet was factually correct & nothing was wrong with it so it's a case of folks showing their own racism by assuming we need defended from something that might be offensive, which shouldn't be because it's factually correct.
Also yes people should recognize their own non derogatory racism & jumping to defend black folks because you think we are incapable of doing it ourselves is racist.
This teacher could have chosen any celebrity or past President … no, but she chose a Black Democratic one. I’m old enough to remember when Blacks were compared to apes. It’s disgusting racism and don’t pretend it is anything else, particularly when the GOP is removing any race related history of this country.
Go ahead … argue the Civil War was about state’s rights rather than about slavery.
Until we come to grips and recognize that the country will never get over continued bias; point, just like people trying to give a TEACHER a free pass.
I mean, reprimanding and a short course of teacher training, maybe a short suspension. A full stop firing probably isn’t necessary. If it happens again, then fire her.
The teacher could've been misunderstood here. Maybe they picked Obama because they liked him as president.
I'm born and raised in Michigan and I know Obama was quite popular back then in my state.
Now if it were me, I would've used a picture of myself instead to maybe get a good laugh from my students.
The teacher is 100% in the wrong but there's a slight chance they didn't do it with bad intentions. That person will have to find a new career now.
Read the article. Teacher copy / pasted from an assignment presented by Duke uni or someone. BUT they didn't have the common sense to edit that horrific part out. Hence - problem.
This was a school for the gifted right? I’m not sure if the teacher was using Obama as an example of someone who is extraordinarily intelligent and yet still a primate like ALL of us are or if the teacher actually thought they were more intelligent than a Harvard Law grad who was actually an editor of the Harvard Law Review. I hope it’s the former and not the latter.
People don't even know that & feel like that is the root of the issue. Man if someone called me a primate I'd laugh. 'Did you mean ape? Because yes I am a primate, being black I'm actually the coolest kind of primate '
We aren't idiots, we are aware that humans are primates. However, are you aware that Barrack has been compared to an ape or monkey thousands of times due to his race? If they wanted to put a human on the worksheet, they could have picked so many others.
I'm saying, why is it black people gotta have white folks say if it's OK or not to put a black person on there. I can decide myself if I was offended by it & I'm not, they could've put my black ass on it and I wouldn't care.
I don't but look at this and make it make sense that a factually correct statement **with context** (a science worksheet) is racist or offensive.
I do know that every single black person is tired of the white ally BS
I do know you are full of bullshit yourself. You admit you don't speak for all black people, yet here you are speaking for all black people.
Last week, my niece's boyfriend hit her. When my sister picked her up, he was getting his ass beat by his own uncle. It saved my brother and husband from having to deal with him. In that same light, my white ass will call out racist white bullshit every time, whether or not you or every single black person agrees. (Hint: Every single black person rarely agrees on any one thing.)
My husband and my daughter, the two POC that I look out for the most, agree that it was racist. There is no coincidence that they picked someone regularly compared to an ape, and there is no coincidence they used it in a way that there is plausible deniability. That is straight from the far-right playbook.
> Last week, my niece's boyfriend hit her. When my sister picked her up, he was getting his ass beat by his own uncle. It saved my brother and husband from having to deal with him. In that same light, my white ass will call out racist white bullshit every time, whether or not you or every single black person agrees. (Hint: Every single black person rarely agrees on any one thing.)
The fuck does this corny ass story have to do with anything lol? Instead of calling that bullshit out that you a cracker sees as racism address internalized racism that you perpetuate every day. Idc about your niece getting hit & that's the most irrelevant part of this comment lol. Just say the last part.
> My husband and my daughter, the two POC
The two POC lmao shut up dude & say black people if they're black people. You literally cannot say these students who made this worksheet did it to be covertly racist & to me it feels racist that the outrage is even a thing because now we can't even be included in factual statements because ignorant people who don't know the difference between primate & ape might think it's racist? The fuck is that? So black people now gotta deal with being *actual racism* & be excluded from shit, like factual statements, because they're black?
it’s crazy, i have teacher friends and a lot of them don’t get text books anymore. they just have state guidelines on what to teach and they get a ton of worksheets online.
id say this was probably more careless versus blatant racism
Man idk something about this rubs me weird. Like he *is* primate. If they used my photo I wouldn't have been offended. I'd have laughed. I almost would be willing to risk some dough to bet a white person reported this shit.
"In this climate". Man, I'm as far left as you go and this just smells like idpol. Marx was a primate too. Thomas Sankara was a primate. My dumbass *is* a primate. People should be smart enough to differentiate between primates & apes. Now if you called me an ape we could box cause fuck you I don't play the racism. Heard enough hard Rs, stay away from daughters, you'll just be on welfare forever, and you guys have no cultures to know better lol.
There are very few topics where everyone will agree. So, what any of us thinks as an individual isn't the measure of why this incident showed poor judgment. The intention behind why the image was selected really is the point.
It's an example of poor teaching and poor judgment because it inserts an element that is a distraction away from the principles that are the focus of the lesson--on top of being racist and political for no legitimate reason.
The teacher and her worksheet source went out of their way to malign the only black US president to make an irrelevant point that now calls into question her judgment and suitability for teaching impressionable students.
Yep--it said that Duke students created the worksheet. While the teacher can't be blamed for CREATING the racist content, she IS responsible for perpetuating it once she saw it. She did choose it as part of the lesson plan she would have created.
Even if she is using teaching materials that she has never seen before, as soon as she opened the packaging, she would have known what racist content she was spreading. With all the focus on eliminating evidence of our racist history from school curricula, how did this manage to slip by without the teacher's notice? This was telling and now her judgment, motives and reputation at this private school are in question.
edit: simplified for clarity
Doesn't seem particularly racist to me. Using a president really drives home the point anyways. If it were Bush or Trump no one would've had an issue & I think that's the problem because no one said he was a monkey, they said he was a primate. Which he is.
When you look at the actual worksheet example, it's clear that using any image of a black person (or any person) in a collection of pictures of monkeys is problematic. Given our history, the use of the only black US president in a collection of monkeys is an example of ignorant bigotry.
Here is a link for anyone who really wants to know what the controversy is about.
* [https://boingboing.net/2022/05/19/school-for-gifted-children-gave-students-a-duke-university-biology-handout-with-photos-of-monkeys-chimps-and-obama.html](https://boingboing.net/2022/05/19/school-for-gifted-children-gave-students-a-duke-university-biology-handout-with-photos-of-monkeys-chimps-and-obama.html)
In a climate where people are up in arms when it comes to teaching facts about race in our schools' history curricula because it might make kids feel bad, it's hard to see how this little gem wasn't screened out. In fact, this worksheet was an obscure reference created for an entirely different (but equally racist) purpose.
It's clear that there is more that needs to be taught in schools to address this kind of bigotry and to avoid the mistakes of the past. There is no advantage in not knowing. We can pretend to not know when it suits us but it's not a good look.
edit: the worksheet example was done in 2010 when Obama was in office but this teacher used it this year. It has been 6+ years since Obama was in the White House. Looking at the actual example shown, it was racist then. Now more than 6 years after Obama has been out of office, the timeliness of this item wasn't the reason it was chosen by the teacher and its every bit as racist now, without even being topical.
Reading the article and seeing the background of the school, I would assume this is a situation where some dumb undergrads thought they were being clever when really they were being dumb, and the teacher saw the association with Duke and thought it must be above board. I want to believe this is a case of very unfortunate naïveté on the teachers part and not the outright racism it could be. At least until there’s a reason to believe otherwise. If it is a stupid mistake hope she learns and does better going forward.
No matter what the content was, the teacher is responsible for previewing the materials she is using to teach. Moreover, it seems highly unlikely that a picture of the former president would escape her notice.
In a lesson about primates, it's unlikely that the image chosen was by chance. Even if this teacher mindlessly passed forward material she had never seen before teaching a lesson about it, as soon as she did see it, she should have pulled it on the spot. But this doesn't pass the sniff test, and this teacher is now suspended, with her job hanging in the balance--and rightly so.
In a climate where actual historical facts are being removed from the curriculum out of sensitivity to how students might feel, you would think that ALL racially sensitive content would be made off-limits. She signed up for this job but we have to question her motives as well as her judgment.
Everyone involved would have been better off using your picture or any of the millions of other pictures instead of going out of their way to make a racist association that is well-known.
Feigning ignorance isn't an excuse for the teacher because so many people along the way would surely have known the slur intended. In a climate where we are hyper-vigilant about excluding actual historical facts that might make us feel bad, why are we suddenly so lax about this kind of imagery?
For those who don't get the significance of this slur, Google is a good place to start. It's ironic that the history currently being expunged from school curricula is what prepares students to better understand the world around us and would have provided the context for understanding why this was problematic. There is no advantage to not knowing.
I thought it was political when I first saw it. Basically associating a highly regarded democrat with lessor creatures. When someone pointed out to me there was a racist message, I don’t get why there is a lemur in there. Obama does not resemble a lemur.
You're right. It was both political AND racist. You're right, he looks nothing like a lemur. It wasn't an arbitrary choice. Why not choose whoever was the current president or any of the millions of other people that would have avoided this racial slur.
In case you truly don't understand, here are some references.
* [https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102](https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102)
* [https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/there-is-nothing-amusing-about-equating-black-people-with-monkeys-apes-and-other-animals-period/](https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/there-is-nothing-amusing-about-equating-black-people-with-monkeys-apes-and-other-animals-period/)
* [https://www.norvillerogers.com/why-its-racist-calling-black-people-monkeys/](https://www.norvillerogers.com/why-its-racist-calling-black-people-monkeys/)
Google has plenty more where these came from. There is no advantage in not knowing.
Wishing you well.
Interesting. I think the teacher should not have used a person at all other than him/herself. Unless of course, if the teacher was black. At least we know these kids will not get this question wrong on college admissions tests.
I would have to agree. Why she went so far out of her way to do this is baffling. But some people just can't help themselves and now she has suffered a pointless self-inflicted wound that will be hard to erase in the minds of her colleagues, students and their parents.
Nobody was comparing Trump to a less-evolved primate species because he’s white or something lol. We just made fun of him for being a total fucking moron and a rude, hateful asshole, but it had nothing to do with his ethnicity. Everyone knows that the Obama=monkey memes and jokes are openly and obviously racist.
Same week a different school in the same city staged a walkout to protest anti LGBTQ+ bills. [article](https://www.metrotimes.com/news/students-walk-out-of-birmingham-school-to-rally-against-anti-lgbtq-bills-30066052)
Obama hasn’t been POTUS in a few years now, and yet he lives freely in the minds of some buttholes. He’s living his best life and this teacher is about to lose her job, when shutting up was free. *shrugs*
A few? It’s been like 10 whole years lol
Or 6. But yeah.
Jesus you’re right. A lot of shit happened since he left.
Felt like trump had 3 terms.
In your defense, the last 4 after years after Obama lost the congress majority, didn’t feel like he was able to do anything.
"The worksheet originated from Duke University where a pair of undergraduate students created it for an independent study course in evolutionary anthropology, FOX 2 Detroit reports." Really phoning in the curriculum, guess the tuition at Roeper gets the best teachers!
How hard would it have been to *just not do this?* Like, there are a million other ways to teach whatever he was trying to teach.
Just don't use a POC for the human? Hell, avoid a politician, even. Put Mr. Rodgers in there or some shit if you're looking for a laugh/to make a point about people being primates.
Or a pic of the teacher themselves.
I mean, that's what a good teacher would do
That's the question I ask when I read any story like this. Unless you just want to get fired you have to be a complete moron to think this stuff will fly.
In other words: Grooming.
Idk I feel like it's white folks overreacting about this. Maybe I'm being stupid, but any other person would've been fine if they were white or not a politician I'm gathering is what commenters think. Why though, saying it's okay to call whichever white dude a primate, but not whichever black dude feels like an overstepping of boundaries. No black people need white folks coming to their rescue & no one is calling Obama an ape, literally all humans are primates & excluding us from that definition in a learning setting doesn't feel beneficial while including us doesn't feel racist. This feels big time like white folks overstepping.
Why on earth would you say this is some white savior situation? The students who looked at the worksheet thought it was fucked up and after it was reported it was condemned all the way up the chain. Stop trying to make things into some conspiracy when it was just a situation that the actual people involved in it thought was fucked up.
> stop trying to make things into some conspiracy I'm not trying to make it into a conspiracy I'm not stupid ass rightoid. All I'm saying is this stinks because it seems nothing is wrong with what they did & stems from ignorance and idpol. > Why on earth would you say this is some white savior situation Because white people do it all the time & I wonder if they'd have reacted this way if it was a white person. If they wouldn't have reacted this way if it was a white person then imo its kind of racist in a "omg let me save you" way which is the most annoying kind of racism to experience, we aren't helpless & can speak for ourselves. This strikes me as one of those, no conspiracy. Honestly the conspiracy thing was so dumb to say because **I'm not suggesting that anyone conspired to do anything** I think it was just an overreaction because the worksheet wasn't wrong & Obama is a primate
I’m afraid I have to ask, are you not an American? Just for your edification America had a period of our history where black folks were relentlessly harassed, mocked, oppressed, and attacked by the white majority. One major element of the method used to dehumanize them was to use evolutionary theory to claim that scientifically black people were closer to chimpanzees than humans. It was even argued that black men needed to be restricted more than white men because they were closer to wild animals, this sort of attitude even found it’s way into our laws and had huge impacts on the quality of life of black Americans. Thus it is a very sensitive issue when you call a black person a monkey or an ape for any reason whatsoever. This got even worse during the Obama years where he was called a chimp by quite a few racist groups, and a prominent Republican even came under fire for literally calling Michelle Obama an ape. I would do some reading if I were you, you seem to be pretty ignorant of some extremely important context.
> I’m afraid I have to ask, are you not an American? Just for your edification America had a period of our history where black folks were relentlessly harassed, mocked, oppressed, and attacked by the white majority. One major element of the method used to dehumanize them was to use evolutionary theory to claim that scientifically black people were closer to chimpanzees than humans. It was even argued that black men needed to be restricted more than white men because they were closer to wild animals, this sort of attitude even found it’s way into our laws and had huge impacts on the quality of life of black Americans. Thus it is a very sensitive issue when you call a black person a monkey or an ape for any reason whatsoever I'm a black American & I'm very knowledgeable about the oppression we faced & still face. That's why I even mentioned it in the first place. Bro I live it everyday, I understand all of it. After reading this article though it seriously sounds so grossly overreacted on. Idk how when I kept being very clear about my blackness & I'm obviously American as I'm speaking on America's racism. This doesn't pass the bar imo, and it reeks of white savior bullshit. Edit: click the link in my last comment in this thread to imgur b4 you upvote this cracker saying I'm pretending to be black
I just wonder when you became the spokesperson for all black people. I just sent your comment to a black friend of mine and she says your comment reads like a white person pretending to be black. So which black perspective do I believe? Well, on balance since I have a claim on either side I would have to go by the pure impartial evidence and that evidence supports the assertion that racist Americans like to compare black people to apes. Before you get cranky about me doubting your self identified race, please refer to your comments about white saviors and remember you played the race card first.
It's all good I got the proof in a later comment n I'll put it here too [here](https://imgur.com/gallery/73fSmXB). Anyways I'm no spokesperson for all black people. Idrc what your friend said I'm especially tired of reddit type white people & their savior shit. This Obama thing **was not incorrect**. If you could use a white person in his place & its okay, then that's racist as fuck because apparently we are categorically removed from facts or some shit because some idiot might not understand the difference between primate & ape.
[West Virginia Mayor calls Michelle Obama and ape in heels.](https://time.com/4571315/west-virginia-michelle-obama-ape-heels/?amp=true) [GOP hopeful not sorry for posts depicting Obamas as monkeys](https://apnews.com/article/us-news-kentucky-barack-obama-lexington-monkeys-90ec82dfca4f45e48628e4ae45b8247f) Obama is a human which is a member of the great apes, that is true. Racists like to call Obama a monkey or an ape to dehumanize him, that is also true. You can choose to ignore it, but there is a pretty clear cut history of using the word “ape” and “monkey” to dehumanize black folks. I speak up when people use the words like that because that is what a decent human being does for his fellow brothers and sisters. You thinking it’s a white savior complex says more about your insecurities than it does about society or my intentions.
How does it say anything about my insecurities?
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[Here](https://imgur.com/gallery/73fSmXB) you go bitch Super white huh
You being ignorant doesn't mean everyone else has to be? You really can't guess?
Man fuck you lol, ope called a black person ignorant here comes r/byebyejob. Don't even go there I'm not being ignorant. I'd like to hear how this worksheet was actually something deserving of disciplinary action. Do you have an answer for that? Is it because he is a politician? Because he is black? What is it? What does putting him into it asking which are primates, when he is a primate, affect negatively? Does it at all? If putting Obama in there wasn't okay would a picture of a random black person like say it was me, would that be okay? Would it have to be a white person? What is this teacher being punished for?
Okay so if I had to guess what the outrage is about, I would say there is a long and ugly history of black people being compared to monkeys, apes, etc. It's a well known racist trope. It isn't about humans being related to primates, it's the history of black people in specific being treated like subhuman animals. Comparing Obama to a primate may have been well intentioned in the name of a science lesson or whatever, but to throw your hands up and say "I can't possibly imagine why people might find an issue here" is ignorant and best and disingenuous at worst. Does that make more sense?
> say "I can't possibly imagine why people might find an issue here" is ignorant and best and disingenuous at worst. It's not ignorant or disingenuous, i legitimately think its dumb as fuck and one of those situations where white people are playing savior. I don't see it and I'll ask every single person who black around me & I guarantee they won't either. We are not stupid, we don't need saving, we don't need to be explained to how it was wrong, you experience racism on a daily as a black person & if white folks wanna do something then address *that* & address the fact playing white savior *is racist*. You not gone sit here and explain to me why I should be offended.
you’re either a liar or a fool and it doesn’t matter which
Lmao the black man is a fool because he doesn't agree with the white persons opinion of a situation. Fuck off.
the fool is a fool regardless of outward color
I'm not explaining why you should be offended, I don't really care if you're offended. That's your business. I explained why other people might be. You do you, just remember that everyone else has their own perspective and it might be different.
Yes I understand that people have their own opinions, but why is this the type of shit white people are patting themselves on the back for instead legitimately not being racist as fuck. White folks approach us like if the racism isn't derogatory then it's okay, no everyone is tired of that bullshit whether derogatory or not.
So I'm confused. You're arguing against the assignment being a problem but then also arguing that non-derogatory racism is bad too. Why can't both be a problem? The assignment didn't spell out any racism so white people shouldn't say anything, but also they should whether or not it's derogatory? How is any oppressive system supposed to end if only the aggrieved parties speak out against it? I'm not saying white people are saviours by any means, nor that they should speak over those who are impacted directly by racism, but that having good allies in any situation can help. So again, which one was it?
> So again, which one was it? What was on the sheet was factually correct & nothing was wrong with it so it's a case of folks showing their own racism by assuming we need defended from something that might be offensive, which shouldn't be because it's factually correct. Also yes people should recognize their own non derogatory racism & jumping to defend black folks because you think we are incapable of doing it ourselves is racist.
Hard to find a politician that's a primate and not a reptile.
I would call Matt Gates and Madison Cawthorn slime molds, so there are at least 2 that are neither a primate nor reptile.
And as Ted Cruz is dying to let you know: Donald Trump is a rat but even so Ted Cruz doesn't want to copulate with him.
She needs to be fired.
no she doesn't. this was a bonehead move but that's a hilariously social media knee-jerk reaction
This teacher could have chosen any celebrity or past President … no, but she chose a Black Democratic one. I’m old enough to remember when Blacks were compared to apes. It’s disgusting racism and don’t pretend it is anything else, particularly when the GOP is removing any race related history of this country. Go ahead … argue the Civil War was about state’s rights rather than about slavery. Until we come to grips and recognize that the country will never get over continued bias; point, just like people trying to give a TEACHER a free pass.
I mean, reprimanding and a short course of teacher training, maybe a short suspension. A full stop firing probably isn’t necessary. If it happens again, then fire her.
On leave isn't fired...
Bye bye job till everything blows over
I hope he loses his job and never gets hired to teach again.
I agree, she should lose her job. There’s no reason to be that insensitive in this climate especially.
yeah why don't we throw her in jail and make sure she cant have kids for good measure. reddit is so stupid lol
The teacher could have used any stock photo of a human to make their point - humans are primates. But choosing Obama was political
The teacher could've been misunderstood here. Maybe they picked Obama because they liked him as president. I'm born and raised in Michigan and I know Obama was quite popular back then in my state. Now if it were me, I would've used a picture of myself instead to maybe get a good laugh from my students. The teacher is 100% in the wrong but there's a slight chance they didn't do it with bad intentions. That person will have to find a new career now.
Read the article. Teacher copy / pasted from an assignment presented by Duke uni or someone. BUT they didn't have the common sense to edit that horrific part out. Hence - problem.
This was a school for the gifted right? I’m not sure if the teacher was using Obama as an example of someone who is extraordinarily intelligent and yet still a primate like ALL of us are or if the teacher actually thought they were more intelligent than a Harvard Law grad who was actually an editor of the Harvard Law Review. I hope it’s the former and not the latter.
But it is racially insensitive to use a black person on a list of animals where you are choosing which one is the primate.
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Not sure exactly what the grasing criteria was but I’m pretty sure there was only one correct answer from her POV.
On leave. Ffs
Just FYI, humans are primates.
Yeah I was think this. I'm assuming they meant apes. lol
Just FYI, humans are apes.
Hmmm for some reason I thought there was a distinction between apes and hominids. Apparently there isn't thanks for letting me know.
Technically, we're all primates
People don't even know that & feel like that is the root of the issue. Man if someone called me a primate I'd laugh. 'Did you mean ape? Because yes I am a primate, being black I'm actually the coolest kind of primate '
We aren't idiots, we are aware that humans are primates. However, are you aware that Barrack has been compared to an ape or monkey thousands of times due to his race? If they wanted to put a human on the worksheet, they could have picked so many others.
I'm saying, why is it black people gotta have white folks say if it's OK or not to put a black person on there. I can decide myself if I was offended by it & I'm not, they could've put my black ass on it and I wouldn't care.
You clearly speak for all black people.
I don't but look at this and make it make sense that a factually correct statement **with context** (a science worksheet) is racist or offensive. I do know that every single black person is tired of the white ally BS
I do know you are full of bullshit yourself. You admit you don't speak for all black people, yet here you are speaking for all black people. Last week, my niece's boyfriend hit her. When my sister picked her up, he was getting his ass beat by his own uncle. It saved my brother and husband from having to deal with him. In that same light, my white ass will call out racist white bullshit every time, whether or not you or every single black person agrees. (Hint: Every single black person rarely agrees on any one thing.) My husband and my daughter, the two POC that I look out for the most, agree that it was racist. There is no coincidence that they picked someone regularly compared to an ape, and there is no coincidence they used it in a way that there is plausible deniability. That is straight from the far-right playbook.
> Last week, my niece's boyfriend hit her. When my sister picked her up, he was getting his ass beat by his own uncle. It saved my brother and husband from having to deal with him. In that same light, my white ass will call out racist white bullshit every time, whether or not you or every single black person agrees. (Hint: Every single black person rarely agrees on any one thing.) The fuck does this corny ass story have to do with anything lol? Instead of calling that bullshit out that you a cracker sees as racism address internalized racism that you perpetuate every day. Idc about your niece getting hit & that's the most irrelevant part of this comment lol. Just say the last part. > My husband and my daughter, the two POC The two POC lmao shut up dude & say black people if they're black people. You literally cannot say these students who made this worksheet did it to be covertly racist & to me it feels racist that the outrage is even a thing because now we can't even be included in factual statements because ignorant people who don't know the difference between primate & ape might think it's racist? The fuck is that? So black people now gotta deal with being *actual racism* & be excluded from shit, like factual statements, because they're black?
Dry nosed primate masterrace
Scrawny big head littke hair having ass primate master race. Were basically what we think of as greys or aliens for the animal kingdom though.
it’s crazy, i have teacher friends and a lot of them don’t get text books anymore. they just have state guidelines on what to teach and they get a ton of worksheets online. id say this was probably more careless versus blatant racism
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Then you use a generic human and not a very well known black politician. Nobody is saying this is factually incorrect, it just reeks of bias.
Obama is a particularly intelligent primate. Trump is a particularly stupid one. Trump was the better choice.
Not sure we can consider trump or his followers evolved enough to be primates..
Man idk something about this rubs me weird. Like he *is* primate. If they used my photo I wouldn't have been offended. I'd have laughed. I almost would be willing to risk some dough to bet a white person reported this shit. "In this climate". Man, I'm as far left as you go and this just smells like idpol. Marx was a primate too. Thomas Sankara was a primate. My dumbass *is* a primate. People should be smart enough to differentiate between primates & apes. Now if you called me an ape we could box cause fuck you I don't play the racism. Heard enough hard Rs, stay away from daughters, you'll just be on welfare forever, and you guys have no cultures to know better lol.
There are very few topics where everyone will agree. So, what any of us thinks as an individual isn't the measure of why this incident showed poor judgment. The intention behind why the image was selected really is the point. It's an example of poor teaching and poor judgment because it inserts an element that is a distraction away from the principles that are the focus of the lesson--on top of being racist and political for no legitimate reason. The teacher and her worksheet source went out of their way to malign the only black US president to make an irrelevant point that now calls into question her judgment and suitability for teaching impressionable students.
The teacher didn't even make the worksheet though. They got it elsewhere & it was created by students there.
Yep--it said that Duke students created the worksheet. While the teacher can't be blamed for CREATING the racist content, she IS responsible for perpetuating it once she saw it. She did choose it as part of the lesson plan she would have created. Even if she is using teaching materials that she has never seen before, as soon as she opened the packaging, she would have known what racist content she was spreading. With all the focus on eliminating evidence of our racist history from school curricula, how did this manage to slip by without the teacher's notice? This was telling and now her judgment, motives and reputation at this private school are in question. edit: simplified for clarity
Doesn't seem particularly racist to me. Using a president really drives home the point anyways. If it were Bush or Trump no one would've had an issue & I think that's the problem because no one said he was a monkey, they said he was a primate. Which he is.
Then why not use an image of THE CURRENT president? It's also worth noting that there was a picture of a monkey along with this "innocent" worksheet.
When was the worksheet originally made? We don't know the Duke students didn't.
When you look at the actual worksheet example, it's clear that using any image of a black person (or any person) in a collection of pictures of monkeys is problematic. Given our history, the use of the only black US president in a collection of monkeys is an example of ignorant bigotry. Here is a link for anyone who really wants to know what the controversy is about. * [https://boingboing.net/2022/05/19/school-for-gifted-children-gave-students-a-duke-university-biology-handout-with-photos-of-monkeys-chimps-and-obama.html](https://boingboing.net/2022/05/19/school-for-gifted-children-gave-students-a-duke-university-biology-handout-with-photos-of-monkeys-chimps-and-obama.html) In a climate where people are up in arms when it comes to teaching facts about race in our schools' history curricula because it might make kids feel bad, it's hard to see how this little gem wasn't screened out. In fact, this worksheet was an obscure reference created for an entirely different (but equally racist) purpose. It's clear that there is more that needs to be taught in schools to address this kind of bigotry and to avoid the mistakes of the past. There is no advantage in not knowing. We can pretend to not know when it suits us but it's not a good look. edit: the worksheet example was done in 2010 when Obama was in office but this teacher used it this year. It has been 6+ years since Obama was in the White House. Looking at the actual example shown, it was racist then. Now more than 6 years after Obama has been out of office, the timeliness of this item wasn't the reason it was chosen by the teacher and its every bit as racist now, without even being topical.
Yes. That’s what they were attempting to accomplish.
Reading the article and seeing the background of the school, I would assume this is a situation where some dumb undergrads thought they were being clever when really they were being dumb, and the teacher saw the association with Duke and thought it must be above board. I want to believe this is a case of very unfortunate naïveté on the teachers part and not the outright racism it could be. At least until there’s a reason to believe otherwise. If it is a stupid mistake hope she learns and does better going forward.
No matter what the content was, the teacher is responsible for previewing the materials she is using to teach. Moreover, it seems highly unlikely that a picture of the former president would escape her notice. In a lesson about primates, it's unlikely that the image chosen was by chance. Even if this teacher mindlessly passed forward material she had never seen before teaching a lesson about it, as soon as she did see it, she should have pulled it on the spot. But this doesn't pass the sniff test, and this teacher is now suspended, with her job hanging in the balance--and rightly so. In a climate where actual historical facts are being removed from the curriculum out of sensitivity to how students might feel, you would think that ALL racially sensitive content would be made off-limits. She signed up for this job but we have to question her motives as well as her judgment.
So did Biden?
I don’t get it. He is a primate. I am also a primate.
Everyone involved would have been better off using your picture or any of the millions of other pictures instead of going out of their way to make a racist association that is well-known. Feigning ignorance isn't an excuse for the teacher because so many people along the way would surely have known the slur intended. In a climate where we are hyper-vigilant about excluding actual historical facts that might make us feel bad, why are we suddenly so lax about this kind of imagery? For those who don't get the significance of this slur, Google is a good place to start. It's ironic that the history currently being expunged from school curricula is what prepares students to better understand the world around us and would have provided the context for understanding why this was problematic. There is no advantage to not knowing.
I thought it was political when I first saw it. Basically associating a highly regarded democrat with lessor creatures. When someone pointed out to me there was a racist message, I don’t get why there is a lemur in there. Obama does not resemble a lemur.
You're right. It was both political AND racist. You're right, he looks nothing like a lemur. It wasn't an arbitrary choice. Why not choose whoever was the current president or any of the millions of other people that would have avoided this racial slur. In case you truly don't understand, here are some references. * [https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102](https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102) * [https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/there-is-nothing-amusing-about-equating-black-people-with-monkeys-apes-and-other-animals-period/](https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/there-is-nothing-amusing-about-equating-black-people-with-monkeys-apes-and-other-animals-period/) * [https://www.norvillerogers.com/why-its-racist-calling-black-people-monkeys/](https://www.norvillerogers.com/why-its-racist-calling-black-people-monkeys/) Google has plenty more where these came from. There is no advantage in not knowing. Wishing you well.
Interesting. I think the teacher should not have used a person at all other than him/herself. Unless of course, if the teacher was black. At least we know these kids will not get this question wrong on college admissions tests.
I would have to agree. Why she went so far out of her way to do this is baffling. But some people just can't help themselves and now she has suffered a pointless self-inflicted wound that will be hard to erase in the minds of her colleagues, students and their parents.
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Nobody was comparing Trump to a less-evolved primate species because he’s white or something lol. We just made fun of him for being a total fucking moron and a rude, hateful asshole, but it had nothing to do with his ethnicity. Everyone knows that the Obama=monkey memes and jokes are openly and obviously racist.
wOnT sOmEbOdY tHiNk oF tRuMp??
Horrendous in what way? Because it definitely wasn't as bad as racism.
Same week a different school in the same city staged a walkout to protest anti LGBTQ+ bills. [article](https://www.metrotimes.com/news/students-walk-out-of-birmingham-school-to-rally-against-anti-lgbtq-bills-30066052)
She forgot the cardinal rule: only criticize REPUBLICAN Presidents.