Klan film project puts Georgia teacher's job on line

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle

A North Georgia teacher is on administrative leave and could lose her job after she allowed four students to don mock Ku Klux Klan outfits for a final project in a high school class Thursday, administrators said.

The sight of people in Klan-like outfits upset some black students at the school and led at least one parent to complain.

And

She told The Associated Press Monday that students were covering an important and sensitive topic — but one that she might handle differently in the future.

"It was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school," Ariemma said. "... That was a hard lesson learned."

The incident happened at Lumpkin County High School. Ariemma said her students spend the year viewing films and later create their own films to watch in class. She said the students brainstorm and pick topics to cover. This particular class decided to trace the history of racism in America.

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The year after I graduated, my high school produced a play called The Foreigner; years later, when I was teaching theater at another school, I helped direct a production of the same script. The play, a very funny comedy, takes place in the South, and uses, to hilarious effect, the KKK as comedic villains. So when I read the above excerpted article, I did not automatically assume that something racist was afoot--from time to time, believe it or not, there are legitimate reasons for dressing up high school students in white sheets and hoods.

And if everything related in the article is true, this is one of those rare occasions. Indeed, if I understand correctly, these students were engaged in an anti-racist film project. Film is a visual medium: if you are taking on racism as a subject, visually depicting actual racists is necessary and desirable. In concept, this teacher did nothing wrong, and I hope she isn't sacrificed on the alter of political expediency like so many copies of Huckleberry Finn.

On the other hand, we live in a culture where some white students are willing to hang nooses from trees in order to intimidate and oppress their black peers. That is, people dressed in Klan garb is an inflammatory image, which can work extraordinarily well for anti-racist artistic purposes, but, when haphazardly flung about, such an image can be extraordinarily dangerous. That's where this teacher fucked up. She should have been waaaay more careful. Shooting this scene at school, where the rest of the student body would see these Klan suits out of their filmic context, was fucking stupid.

She wasn't teaching racism. Far from it, she was teaching the reverse. But her lack of care in doing so sent out inadvertent racist messages. Slap her on the wrist for her foolishness, but for god's sake don't fire her--I mean, she was trying to do the right thing, after all.

Then cancel all regular classes school wide for about a week in order to discuss the issue. This is definitely, as the President likes to say, a "teachable moment."

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