A white New York school teacher allegedly accused of putting up a racially offensive image in a classroom claims she was a victim of racial discrimination herself.
In 2019 an image circulated of a collage displayed in a classroom at Roosevelt Middle School in New York that sparked outrage among the community and school district officials.
The photo, part of a larger classroom display of teachers and students, showed a pair of nooses under a caption that said “back to school necklaces,” alongside the words, “Ha Ha,” “#YES” and a smiley face.
The school district blamed an “isolated group of teachers” for the collage and said “appropriate action” had been taken, according to The Daily Beast.
Years after the incident, Nancy Jones Doering filed a lawsuit against the school district, revealing herself as one of the teachers accused.
So, from the article (which is just her side):
She didn’t make it, another teacher did.
When she saw it, she removed it. Later the teacher who made it was called to an HR meeting, and this teacher was there as union rep.
Both got suspended, and she wasn’t able to teach anymore after.
So if what’s she’s saying is true, then yeah, the administration fucked up.
But we won’t know till after this lawsuit unless the administration settles out of court.
Article says: “Ms Jones Doering claimed in the lawsuit that she never created, displayed or assisted anyone in putting up “any racist collage.”…“[The] Defendants were very much aware of that since they knew who created the collage and who displayed it, but yet maliciously and intentionally publically made false statements about Plaintiff,” the suit stated.”
She says it wasn’t even in her classroom and she took it down as she also considered it offensive and put it in a locked cabinet when she went into the other classroom to drop off a lesson plan.
Article also says: “In October 2022, Ms Jones Doering was exonerated by a Hearing Officer who ordered her to be reinstated…”
I don’t think the racist nature of the display is at issue here. She says her only involvement was to take the thing down and act as union rep for another teacher. Later, she was exonerated. Based on her version of events, coupled with that exoneration it does feel like she’s been unfairly lumped in with the other teachers here.
I might get downvoted to oblivion, but I’m open to discussion.
Firstly, having read the full article… IF (big if) she’s telling the truth and it wasn’t even her then its hard not to feel sympathy for her.
Secondly (more controversially), is a picture of a noose racist? I mean, it certainly has racist connotations and I personally wouldn’t have used it, but (bear with me) I’m not sure racist is the concrete conclusion. Lots of people have been hung throughout history, if you’re not viewing it through a racial lens then are you a racist or just very insensitive.
What about if it was a picture of a mastiff? Or a police officer? Both these things could symbolise the subjugation of slaves. Are we really gonna ban pictures of dogs or police?
Symbols mean different things to different people. Sometimes people just need to be told they’ve been insensitive and given the chance to apologise with promise of doing better in the future.
There is a scenario where whoever put that up was not invoking the lynchings of black people specifically.
Just my 2c.
Secondly (more controversially), is a picture of a noose racist? I mean, it certainly has racist connotations and I personally wouldn’t have used it, but (bear with me) I’m not sure racist is the concrete conclusion. Lots of people have been hung throughout history, if you’re not viewing it through a racial lens then are you a racist or just very insensitive.
In the US it automatically has racist connotations because of our history of lynching. That means outside of educational settings where the context can be explained, it is most likely going to be something racist.
Showing it as a back to school necklace is most likely racist, but even if it wasn’t intended to be racist then it is a joke about teen suicide. Both are fucking terrible.
The United States was still using hanging as capital punishment until the early seventies.
And the US prison population is overly representative of…
You’re so close!
Drug users lol
This is frankly a wild assumption to make without additional evidence.
Edit: FWIW, pinning up a reference to suicide in a school is moronic regardless
Showing it as a back to school necklace is most likely racist, but even if it wasn’t intended to be racist then it is a joke about teen suicide. Both are fucking terrible.
I completely agree that both are terrible. However one probably doesn’t get you ostracised from society forever but the other does. Being labelled as a racist in your community can ruin your life in a way that having some very questionable dark humor wouldn’t.
I have no idea if the woman is a racist or not, but IF she isn’t, her punishment from the school and the community seems quite harsh.
BTW I’m not from the US, but nooses still make me immediately think of Jim Crow or the KKK (and spaghetti westerns, but thats besides the point).
Being labelled as a racist in your community can ruin your life in a way that having some very questionable dark humor wouldn’t.
Bullshit. Anyone who fucks up once or twice is completely fine, it takes being consistently racist to even have the chance of any kind of negative outcome.
I hope so. Although, I can see the potential for a school community to essentially play a game of telephone over social media as well.
We don’t know her priors. But if she has them, fair enough really.
Secondly (more controversially), is a picture of a noose racist? I mean, it certainly has racist connotations and I personally wouldn’t have used it, but (bear with me) I’m not sure racist is the concrete conclusion. Lots of people have been hung throughout history, if you’re not viewing it through a racial lens then are you a racist or just very insensitive.
I see what you’re saying… but it seems like a technicality that’s not worth exploring here.
If instead it was a guillotine with a caption of “this year’s detention activity”… it’s really not any better. Like it’s no longer racist but… now it’s just purely about killing kids in a more equitable homicidal format. It’s very dark humor in a very public place.
It’s a lot of time and effort and argument to debate “yeah this was terrible but it might not have been racist”. Does a definitive answer of “at least it wasn’t racist” make this appreciably any better? Does it make them any more likely to get a teaching job after this?
It also doesn’t change the core argument the teacher is making in the story. “You lumped me in with a bunch of racists because I was white. I took down the image because it was offensive. Obviously. Why would I leave it up if it was offensive?”
Does a definitive answer of “at least it wasn’t racist” make this appreciably any better? Does it make them any more likely to get a teaching job after this?<
On the first question: yes, making a bad joke is better than being a racist. On the second: also probably… yes, tbh. Not saying it wouldn’t harm her career but less that everyone thinking you’re racist.
It also doesn’t change the core argument the teacher is making in the story. “You lumped me in with a bunch of racists because I was white. I took down the image because it was offensive. Obviously. Why would I leave it up if it was offensive?”<
Completely agree. Claiming reverse racism is almost always shitty thing to do. I’ll happily concede that it’s even less likely the school is racist.
when one puts something up for public display, one’s intent is only a small part of what should be considered; how it will be perceived by others is the primary concern, especially considering that it is a public display.
so, having read the article as well, let’s take into consideration 3 facts pretty clearly laid out: the teacher’s claims about the intent: the imagery was not intended to be racist… it was, in fact, referencing suicide (presumably as a response to returning to school). yikes. so, this isn’t a great starting point, but let’s deconstruct this:
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The teacher claims that she genuinely intended this as, “ugh, returning to school sucks! let’s hang ourselves with a noose! haha!” this is obviously highly problematic and offensive for its own reasons that, strangely, the article - nor anyone else - seems to have comment much upon.
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Many others interpreted this for the much more culturally-prevalent and relevant (in the US) link to the lynchings of black people which took place here for hundreds of years. this image and symbol has been used for centuries as a hate-symbol and to spread hate and fear.
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The teacher refuses to apologize for any offense caused by her intended and/or unintended meanings, whatever they may be, and considers all of the consequences of her actions to be a form of victimhood. Additionally,
oh, and another important couple of things to consider: she’s a teacher, and this happened in a public school.
so, here, we have someone who did (or, at least participated) in creating and displaying a highly-offensive piece of art in a public school, initially lied about her role in creating/contributing to it, refused to apologize for the offense cause (regardless of whether it was intentional), and is claiming victimhood for the consequences she’s facing. so, let’s break the consequences down into 2 groups:
- official consequences
She was suspended after she deflected, lied, and obfuscated during the initial investigation into the offending display, only to be reinstated after an administrative hearing-- however only into restricted duty. for those not familiar with NYCDOT procedure, this is fairly typical when they can’t outright fire a teacher, but don’t have quite enough solid ground to suspend them indefinitely, which they also can’t do. but they can keep them on administrative/restricted duty forever, hoping they quit. from this we can infer that, after the hearing, NYC DOT doesn’t want to publicly admit that what she did was fucked up for they myriad political reasons it would ignite, but doesn’t want to reinstate her as a teacher, so they’re doing the “safe” thing by dropping her into a black hole.
problem here is that she she believes that this is somehow unfair, so she’s suing.
- unofficial consequences
obviously, and quite expectedly, the public and her colleagues, are outraged. they’re outraged it happened, at how it was handled, and at the teacher’s lack of remorse and consideration for others-- and, oh, boy, are they letting her know as often, as loudly, and in every way they can get that message to her. she is, undoubtedly, living through a hellstorm of online and in-person from these people. whether she deserves this or not is for each person to decide, and i’m not going to comment on this in this comment. however, it’s hardly unexpected, and these people have legitimate grievances.
this teacher should have been fired outright for the offensive collage - either for its suicide reference, its racist imagery, or both - and she should have apologized for offending others, even if it was unintentional. instead, she lied, deflected, and obfuscated, and claims that facing the consequences of her actions is a state of victimhood, further angering everyone.
does she deserve this? some of it? all of it? none of it?
all things considered, i really have trouble feeling sorry for all of that harassment, and i certainly think she got off way too light by not getting fired on the spot.
I agree 100%. What you painstakingly wrote can be simplified into one sentence:
"Who thinks death by hanging is funny, and why isn’t someone who is supposed to be a teacher smart enough not to do that?’
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Verbally joking about suicide as a teacher - bad idea. Putting your suicide joke on display for all to see? Well, really now, what did she expect?
e; I feel the need to preface this one - she’s claiming she had no responsibility here, but
a) we haven’t gotten the school’s side of it or any other independent confirmation,
b) the hearing board exoneration could just be a case of the school district not keeping good records and minding details of their teacher’s contracts and doesn’t really establish that this teacher didn’t exercise poor judgment and show poor character during this,
c) it seems really weird that this teacher had nothing to do with this collage, but also felt compelled to take it down herself when she saw it (instead of reporting it to the administration and letting them do what they will with it), and then just happened to be the person asked by the other teacher to serve as a union rep in the meeting that led to her suspension.
I could believe that the administration ignored a bad situation until it started to blow up and then went looking for a scapegoat and this teacher just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but with all these weird little details it does start to feel like more of a stretch.
Either way, my main point in making this comment was just to say the discussion about whether these nooses were racist or not is beside the point because everyone agrees they were dumb, the only dispute here is whether this teacher was or wasn’t responsible for them.
Anyway, my original comment starts on the next line -
Her claim is she didn’t do it -
Ms Jones Doering claimed in the lawsuit that she never created, displayed or assisted anyone in putting up “any racist collage.”
…
The lawsuit states that on 6 February 2019, the Roosevelt Union Free School District was informed of the “offensive and racially infused” collage on display, but when administrators from the district visited and inspected the collage they “failed to remove it or instruct that teacher from removing it.”
Ms Jones Doering said in the lawsuit that the classroom where the collage was displayed was not hers, referring to it being in an “other teacher’s classroom.”
The suit claims that a day after, Ms Jones Doering entered the classroom to leave lesson plans there she “noticed the offensive nature of its content, and removed it from the classroom so that students and staff members are not exposed to it.”
She then allegedly placed the images in a locked cabinet in her classroom.
The next day, Ms Jones Doering was asked by the other teacher who allegedly had the collage in her classroom, to accompany her to a Human Resources meeting to represent her as her “union representative.”
However, following the meeting, they were both given letters of suspension and claimed the defendants “refused to provide any information regarding” this decision.
She claimed that the school district “falsely accused her of displaying the collage in her classroom, which is completely false and fabricated accusations,” the lawsuit said.
Ms Jones Doering also purports that she was accused of “interfering” with an alleged investigation into the collage by removing the offensive imagery and bringing “negative attention” to the school - which she claims was caused by tips to the media.
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…did you read the article?
In October 2022, Ms Jones Doering was exonerated by a Hearing Officer who ordered her to be reinstated as a social studies teacher at Roosevelt Middle School, situated in an area populated with more than 50 per cent Black or African American residents.
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I thought it’s a lynching reference.
It can be, but not in the context it was presented.
Somewhat related, One Halloween I wanted to put a skeleton up in my front yard, so I decided to hang it from a utility pole by a rope around its neck. I didn’t think much of it, but my white neighbor (I’m also white) asked me to take it down because we lived in a historically black community and it could be perceived as a lynching reference.
Personally, I think people should give me the benefit of the doubt on Halloween that a decoration is not a racist display, but it’s not worth to possibly of upsetting people and causing drama so I took it down.
But this wasn’t for Halloween and the area of the school is 50% black while the white teacher claims of racial discrimination against her. This absolutely reeks of a racially motivated act to me and thus a lynching reference.
It is.
I looked for a picture of this collage, because I come from a family of teachers and it seemed like a teacher suicide joke to me, not a student suicide joke or a racist joke (still dumb and probably psychologically harmful to kids that young, but not malicious).
I found this article in which the person who initially publicized the collage said this:
Dolls with nooses around the necks were also distributed to the children of color by these three teachers
So…. no benefit of the doubt necessary.
here’s an issue i see coming up pretty often: something someone does that genuinely isn’t intended as offensive (possibly even speaking in a different context), but is taken as such by another person or group, and the offending person not only refuses to consider how it could be seen as offensive by others but then claims victimhood themselves.
in this case, it seems these “joke nooses” were intended in the context of suicide (yikes!), not as a racist symbol, yet - obviously - they’re going to be seen that way by some because, well, they are. not to mention the whole suicide thing, but let’s put a pin in that for now. if you’ve read the article, you’ll see how this situation is far more complicated than it appears, but little happens that is unexpected.
So, the TL:DR is that the teacher in question was one of a few teachers who made this collage, and no individual is taking credit for it. it seems, when confronted about the nature of this collage, this teacher, in fact, initially deflected criticism by saying that it wasn’t hers because it wasn’t her classroom, despite having contributed to it. While school administrators eventually removed the display after getting many, many complaints about the obvious racist imagery, the teacher was suspended and had an administrative hearing after which she was exonerated-- presumably after explaining that she didn’t intend for it to be taken in a racist context even though it was. And, certainly, she refused to apologize for offending anyone because, in her mind, she hasn’t done anything wrong.
This pissed a lot of other people off. They began to harass the teacher. A lot.
Messages, emails, texts, and all other forms of harassment coming from all directions, including the administration taking further action against her such as putting her on restricted duty once she was reinstated-- perhaps because her “not racist” collage was really glorifying suicide instead? ha ha?? or her persistent refusal to apologize? Either way, a shitstorm came her way after what she did, and the teacher is suing everyone else rather than accept the consequences of her own actions.
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Oye, fuck off with yer racist crap! Noose hangings never discriminated much! Everybody has a great-granddaddy or two that wore a noose. Yer not special! Ptui!
