Bexley Middle School Blasted Over Racist Ape, Watermelon Image

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Monkey eating watermelon on the rock in Thailand.

Source: Konstantin Ivlev / Getty

The racists are really out in full force this Black History Month, ain’t they? We’re barely a week into the month of February and we have already seen “White History Month” trending on Twitter, high school students wearing blackface and mocking slavery because “it’s February” and school lunch menus being changed to fried chicken, waffles and watermelon in so-called honor of Black History Month.

Apparently, white fragility is a hell of a drug.

Now, a teacher at Bexley Middle School in Ohio has been placed on administrative leave while the school district investigates an incident in which a racist image of an ape appeared behind two students reading morning announcements. According to 10 WBNS, Superintendent Dr. Jason Fine confirmed that immediately after the students read a Black historical fact on Friday to recognize Black History Month, an image of an orangutan eating watermelon was displayed on the green screen behind them.

From WBNS:

The video announcements are recorded on Friday before they are shown. The district did not say if anyone watched the video before it aired.

The teacher who supervises the morning announcements was put on leave.

A letter was sent to Bexley families Friday afternoon about the incident.

Principal Jason Caudill said during a board meeting Wednesday night that the district is working to secure a consistent substitute teacher.“The use of racist images in any context is unacceptable and goes against the values of inclusiveness and respect for all individuals that we take seriously at Bexley City Schools and at Bexley Middle School,” the letter reads. “This material has no place in a learning environment and can cause significant harm to students and members of the school community. We have taken swift action to investigate how this was able to occur and will be instituting further safeguards on all announcement productions moving forward.”

On Wednesday, parents showed up to a meeting to share their frustration over the racist incident, which some pointed out wasn’t the first that had happened at the school.

“That’s how we feel as a community, that nobody is caring, nobody is acting, nobody is doing anything to prevent this from happening,” one of the parents said. “We’re frustrated and I applaud teachers who have stood up to our kids, administration, the staff that are supporting our kids but they’re tired too.”

WBNS showed footage of the meeting where one parent, a white man, can be heard saying, “Bexley is a great place to be—if you’re white. (Apparently, Bexley is a microcosm of America.) The man also threatened to “bring litigation” against the school board if racist incidents like this continued.

Seriously though—are the racists OK?

Philadelphia Catholic School Students In Racist Blackface Video Will Be Disciplined, Archdiocese Says

The post Ohio School Under Fire After Showing Ape Eating Watermelon During Black History Month Reading appeared first on NewsOne.

Ohio School Under Fire After Showing Ape Eating Watermelon During Black History Month Reading was originally published on newsone.com