The Council on American Islamic Relations said the allegation was that the teacher had remarked, “I do not negotiate with terrorists,” when the Palestinian American student asked for a seat change.
Recent U.S. incidents involving children include the attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas and the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois.
Other incidents include the stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York, a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California and the shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.
I hear it often enough, I’m from MA. I don’t know what to tell you, but it’s a common expression.
Here’s the scenario, often as an adult you have to tell children what to do, (eat your dinner, get dressed, we have to leave now, etc). Sometimes they start making ultimatums or threats over issues that really aren’t up for debate, “No! I won’t do X unless Y!” - that kind of thing. It’s at that point one might use that expression, it’s really not uncommon.
Hey, maybe the phrase isn’t in your normal vocabulary, but you’re going to have to accept that it is in a lot of other people’s normal vocabulary. You don’t have to like it, but it’s a fact, and it’s generally best to just accept facts, cause you don’t really have other options.
So given that this is a normal thing to say, it was still a pretty massive fuck up. Being put on leave is probably an appropriate response. Was it racist? I’m like 85% sure no.