Black Elementary Students in Canada Called Racial Slurs Daily At School

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[h1]Mother calls on Rosemère elementary school to curb students' racist slurs[/h1][h1]School board promises further action after Adrienne Charles says her 2 sons, 8 and 11, regularly called N-word[/h1]
Adrienne Charles says her sons, ages 8 and 11, are regularly taunted with racist insults at their Rosemère school, but she refuses to pull them out and send them elsewhere. (Submitted by Adrienne Charles)

As a black woman, Adrienne Charles knows all about racism. But the Terrebonne resident never thought her young sons would have to deal with what she says is "flagrant" discrimination.

Charles's two sons, ages 8 and 11, attend McCaig Elementary School, an English-language school in Rosemère. She says they are regularly called the N-word at school, and not enough is being done to stop it.

She refuses to enroll them in a different school, she said. She prefers to fight.

"Those aren't the values I want to impart on them: to run away because you're black, because you're faced with adversity," she said.

Charles claims her sons have been called the N-word on the school bus, and a group of girls once likened black people to gorillas while her sons were in earshot.

One incident happened the same day the school held anti-bullying activities, she says.

Her kids aren't the only black kids in the school, but they do have the darkest skin, she said.

She said racist incidents have occurred at least five times this year. Four of those times, she says, she contacted the school and school officials intervened, meeting with the students in question.

More action needed, parent says

Charles said despite those interventions, the name-calling continued, so she turned to the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.

She says the official with whom she spoke at the Laurier board told her Quebec's Education Ministry has a curriculum to deal with bullying, and beyond teaching that curriculum, there's not much more school authorities can do.

Charles says she'd like to see the school hold an assembly, send a letter to parents, do something to send a message that the situation needs to stop.

"At home, I make sure [my sons] know that they are victims, that it's not reality," she said. "Just because someone calls them a n--ger doesn't mean they are inferior."

"I do my best, but I'd like to have some support from the school."

Incident taken seriously, Laurier board chair says

The chair of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier board, Jennifer Maccarone, said Friday afternoon that the board takes the reported incidents seriously.

She said it has taken some steps but will be putting in place additional corrective measures "to ensure these occurrences don't happen again."

"We're talking about children," she said. "We do have an obligation to teach them right from wrong."

Maccarone did not go into concrete details about what more McCaig school and the board to act on Charles's concerns.

However, she said, the mother's distress was understandable, and the board will continue to try to "build bridges with this parent."

The chair of the Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board, Jennifer Maccarone, said the board will take corrective measures. (CBC)

"We want to work with her to ensure that … we have a positive resolution," Maccarone said.

"I want my children to be part of a community that understands these things are wrong," she said.

She said the challenge is countering what children are exposed to outside of school, "no matter how many policies we have in place, or how many awareness-raising activities a school has in place." 

Charles worries about long-term impact

Charles says her older son isn't as visibly fazed by the name-calling. She says her youngest is more sensitive.

"He asks me questions: 'Mom, why don't they like black people? Mom, am I racist?' He's all mixed up. He doesn't understand why people call him the N-word, what he did wrong," she said.

In spite of everything, Charles said her kids generally like going to school.

But she's worried, since there aren't many English-language schools on the North Shore, that the alleged taunts will continue into high school.

"We don't know what impact [the alleged incidents] will have on the child in question later on. As a parent … I can't stand with my arms crossed and hope it passes."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-rosemere-school-racism-n-word-1.4008108
thoughts? 
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Systemic Racism at Mccaig Elementary School: CRARR Received Mandate From Mother to File Civil Rights Complaint
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http://www.crarr.org/?q=node/19868

CRARR has been mandated by Ms. Adrienne Charles, the Black mother of two young boys at McCaig Elementary School in Rosemere who were victims of several acts of racial harassment since the Fall of 2016, to bring her case to the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission.

The case made news headlines last month when Ms. Charles denounced publicly the racially discriminatory treatment repeatedly directed at her sons by other students. This treatment, which included racial slurs and jokes (such as the N-word) and aggressive behaviors by other students, has created an unbearable toxic environment for the Black children. Despite her repeated requests to the school principals for protection for her children, Ms. Charles has not seen any concrete measures of support from the school and the school board.

CRARR intends to tackle the case from a perspective of systemic racism in education, viewed from two angles. On the one hand, it will examine acts of race-based harassment and violence directed by students towards racialized students. On the other hand, CRARR will assess the tangible responses from the school board and staff, and how they carry out their legal institutional duty to prevent and stop a hostile environment that discriminates against minority students and that effectively denies them equal access to educational opportunities and benefits.

In light of the number of cases of a similar nature involving different school boards and schools that have been brought to its attention, CRARR will join some parents of affected children at the end of the month in publicly calling on Education Minister Sébastien Proulx to address systemic racism in schools.
 
Mother Says Elementary School Won't Take Action After Racist Incidents Against Son

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https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mother-...-after-racist-incidents-against-son-1.4271206

A mother of a boy attending Rosemere’s McCaig Elementary is criticizing the school, saying her son has been the target of numerous racist attacks, even after filing a complaint with Quebec’s Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission.

Among the incidents were multiple uses of the n-word as well as physical attacks, according to Adrienne Charles.

“My sons were on the school bus, and the other kids were talking about ‘do you know the difference between a gorilla and black people? My mother doesn’t know, because they are the same,’ and the other kids were laughing,” she said.

In another incident, two brothers held her youngest son down and beat him while calling the n-word.

“Every time these things happened, I met the vice-principal. Every time, the school met the kids to say ‘It’s not good, don’t say that, say sorry.’

In 2017, Charles was assisted in filing a complaint with the commission by the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations. CRARR Executive Director Fo Niemi said that while almost two years have gone by, an investigation has yet to start and there’s no indication when one might begin.

“In the meantime, the younger child is experiencing continuous harassment and taunting of a racial nature. Last year, he was called ‘poo-face,’ he was called ‘Nutella,’ making fun of him and he was practically the only black child in the school,” said Niemi. “This type of education environment can become very, very toxic for the child.”

In a statement, the Wilfred Laurier School Board said it has taken numerous steps since the 2017 incident, including inviting hip-hop artist Annakin Slayd to discuss racism and inviting the Black Theatre Workshop to visit during Black History Month this coming February.

But Charles said the school’s response has been entirely unsatisfactory, with more incidents occurring, including one last week.

In that incident, her son argued with another child in his math class. While Charles admits her son used some inappropriate language, she said the other child ended up calling her son the n-word.

“He burst into tears in class. N----er had been heard by everybody in class. They told my son, go outside,” she said.

While her son wrote a letter apologizing for hurting the other boy’s feelings but explaining that using the n-word is racist, the school refused to accept the letter.

She says her son was forced to rewrite his letter. He had to remove his reference to the n-word, as well as how that word made him feel.

Niemi said part of the problem lies in the school treating each incident individually, rather than making any systemic changes.

“The message is that racism is not taken seriously,” he said. “The fact the school is not taking very strong preventive measures sends a very negative message to the student population as a whole.”

Charles said she feels the school wants her to stay quiet, but she said she's determined to fight for her son.

"It's a great school. The teachers are very dedicated. The kids have always received very good academic support. I'm not at war with the personnel of the school, I'm not at war with the academic view of the school. I'm at war with the systemic racism that occurs at the school that they don't want to admit."
 
While her son wrote a letter apologizing for hurting the other boy’s feelings but explaining that using the n-word is racist, the school refused to accept the letter.

She says her son was forced to rewrite his letter. He had to remove his reference to the n-word, as well as how that word made him feel.

:smh:

“The message is that racism is not taken seriously,” he said. “The fact the school is not taking very strong preventive measures sends a very negative message to the student population as a whole.”


Sounds damn near encouraged to me.
 
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