A black Detroit teacher has lost her job for trying to help her eight grade students organize a ‘Wear your hoodie to school’ fundraiser.
According to the AP, “Brooke Harris was dismissed in March from Pontiac Academy for Excellence after she supported students’ efforts to plan a wear-a-hoodie-to-school day. Martin was wearing a hoodie on Feb. 26 when he was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., and other groups have called for Harris to be reinstated.
“I’m really confused why I got fired,” Harris told The Associated Press. “I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
According to the SPLC, Harris’s eight grade students asked her about Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Miami student who was gunned down by George Zimmerman, in cold blood.
Harris told the AP she gave the students a writing assignment to share their thoughts about the tragedy. But the students wanted to raise money for Trayvon’s family.
Harris said her students asked the school’s administrators if they could each pay $1 to wear their hoodies to school instead of school uniforms. She said the school’s administration often allowed students to “dress down” for a day.
Harris said she was called into a meeting and suspended for suggesting the fundraiser to the school’s administration.
She said she was fired when she showed up at the school to give her students prizes after she was told to stay away from the campus.
“I didn’t tell the kids, ‘Let’s go and do it anyway.'” Harris said. “I was actually, literally, in the process of talking to my kids about what we could do instead…”
School superintendent Jacqueline Cassell, who fired Harris, told the AP that the students should be learning in school rather than discussing “activism”.
“I’m a child of the civil rights movement,” Cassell said. But “this is not the time in the school year” to distract students from academics.
“In every situation, there are work rules,” she said. “When rules are violated, there are consequences.”
A rally for Martin and Harris is being held Tuesday at the King Solomon Missionary Baptist church in Detroit.
Harris says she just wants to know why she was fired.
“I just want a reason,” Harris said. “She’s got my phone number, and I’d appreciate if she’d tell me what I did wrong.”
Where is the love shat!
wow, this is crazy….this is a moment in time that history is TRULY being played out before our eyes… I hope this sister gets her job back…
What policy did she violate?
Meanwhile the those collar clansmen are suiting up folks get read its finna be some shat
THIS IS HITTING ALL TYPE OF NERVES. THEY CLAIM WE OR ON A LAND FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH. YET A TEACHER GETS FIRED. I GUESS THEY WANT US TO ONLY LEARN WHAT THEY PUT IN THE HISTORY BOOKS. DANG OLE SHAME
““I’m a child of the civil rights movement,” Cassell said. But “this is not the time in the school year” to distract students from academics.”
__________________________________________________
¿¿¿Huh???
My heart was brokened when I found out that Tray’von was gunned down only 3 weeks after turning 17. He hadn’t even lived his life, it hadn’t even begun and it was snatched away from him in coldblood.
As for the subject at hand, I was reprimanded by my principal for organizing a wear black day for the Jena 6 back when that was the cause du jour. I hate she lost her job and no, I don’t think it was right. It’s a shame matter of fact.
This has gotten out of control
Jacqueline Cassell.
KDubb? Hun? Can you get us the deets on one Ms. Cassell so we can contact her with our concerns.
Pontiac is a suburb of Detroit….AND HAS RACIST TENDANCIES….so I heard!
Grew up 45 minutes outside of Detroit….
The ACLU will rep her for free, she’ll get a settlement….
Speakin’ of Detroit, us’ta have a BLAST at Belle Isle Park…..
Okay, back to the lecture@ hand!
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Attorneys for the man who killed Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, say they will not represent him because they’ve lost contact with him. WATCH LIVE | LIVE BLOG | WAITING GAME | THE PROSECUTOR | DERSHOWITZ: LEGAL NIGHTMARE
****
Them Lawyers done dropped that azz!
Now let me understand… this is the same school system in america that allowed a test about how many lashes a slave would get on a test, but fired a teacher for teaching students to stand for a cause?…. Yep just like Walmart we rolling back the times…. pretty soon you can’t walk the streets unless you keep your head down and not look directly at a YT person.,,, ahhh the slave days… gotta love em…
OTB
I RECEIVED A PENTION FROM CHANGE.ORG
GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL AND I’LL SEND IT TO YOU
KyCakes says:
The ACLU will rep her for free, she’ll get a settlement….
________________________________________________
Yep… and you know shell get a nice settlement too.
As long as she aint sleeping with the kiddies.
<— CAN'T TAKE ACE SERIOUS AH'TAL WITH THAT DAMN GRAVI UP!
Saucey, Im linked with Change as well.
Have they started one for this lady?
YES
I RECEIVED THE EMAIL THIS MORNING
I WILL POST IT FOR YOU
I Go There says:
KyCakes says:
The ACLU will rep her for free, she’ll get a settlement….
________________________________________________
Yep… and you know shell get a nice settlement too.
As long as she aint sleeping with the kiddies.
—————————————————————-
So….Why no more IGO after dark?
The Makeup Maven says:
<— CAN'T TAKE ACE SERIOUS AH'TAL WITH THAT DAMN GRAVI UP!
—————————————————————-
He deserved every bit of what he got…
some things are just off limits…and Dimpz and Lakers are two of them… #protective
Thanks Sauce. I havent checked that mail.
HERE IS THE INFORMATION I RECEIVED:
Brooke Harris loved her job teaching eighth grade at an inner-city charter school in Michigan — but Brooke says she was fired for teaching her kids about Trayvon Martin, an African-American teen who was recently shot and killed because someone thought he looked suspicious.
Brooke’s kids had heard about Trayvon, and she saw they wanted to know more in part because they identified with him: “They are young, black and brown kids who walk to the corner store after school every day,” Brooke says. “They’ve been stopped by police because they ‘looked like’ some kids who did something illegal.”
Many of Brooke’s students wanted to go beyond writing essays and classroom discussions — they wanted to raise money for Trayvon’s family. For helping the kids plan the fundraiser, Brooke says that she was suspended and eventually fired, and that she was told, “you’re a teacher, not an activist.”
Now there’s a petition on Change.org demanding that Brooke’s school, the Pontiac Academy of Excellence, give Brooke back her job, and her students back their teacher. The folks at the Southern Poverty Law Center — a group that does a lot of work to combat racism — started the campaign because they think it’s wrong to fire someone for teaching about Trayvon Martin.
Click here to sign their petition to re-hire Brooke Harris.
Brooke brought the idea for a fundraiser to the school superintendent, Jacqueline Cassell. Rather than embracing the students’ idea, Brooke says, Superintendent Cassell rejected the fundraiser, then refused to meet with Brooke’s students when they wanted to appeal her decision.
It gets worse: Brooke says she was suspended for two days just for asking for the meeting, and that when she tried to clarify what she had done wrong, she was suspended for two weeks, and then fired.
“I just feel bad for my kids,” Brooke says. “I hope I haven’t let them down.”
If thousands of people speak out for Brooke by signing the petition to get her job back, Superintendent Cassell won’t be able to sweep the issue under the rug. Pontiac’s next school board meeting is in one week, so Brooke says it’s especially important to gather as many signatures as possible before then.
Click here to sign the Southern Poverty Law Center’s petition demanding that the Pontiac Academy for Excellence reinstate Brooke Harris, who says she was fired for teaching about Trayvon Martin.
Thanks for being a change-maker,
– Michael and the Change.org team
I don’t know if she’s apart of a union but she shouldn’t have been fired. Damn especially if she was a good teacher too. Chances are she wasn’t since this seems like a private/charter school. I don’t know how they do things over there but it sounds like it was a worthy cause. The school administrators could’ve handled it better. I think she’ll be reinstated.
Chit is turrible. Im tired of this!
KyCakes says:
I Go There says:
KyCakes says:
The ACLU will rep her for free, she’ll get a settlement….
________________________________________________
Yep… and you know shell get a nice settlement too.
As long as she aint sleeping with the kiddies.
—————————————————————-
So….Why no more IGO after dark?
________________________________
Ive already said it…
IGT8811@gmail.com
Listening to the press conference.
This muhphucka jus said “He mentored two african american children, took one of them to see Dwight Howard. That is not the actions of a racist. He’s not a member of the KKK, his Mother is peruvian; there’s no facts that show he’s a racist”
GTFOHWTBS
She was fired for returning to campus after being suspended. Its her fault
Just said his ‘good friend Joe Oliver’ spoke on his behalf….
EB says:
She was fired for returning to campus after being suspended. Its her fault
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See I knew it was something… Cant be fking up like that.
@EB now that part may be why it could be hard for her to get her job back. She should’ve respected that policy, lol. Appeal the suspension then wait for an answer.
This is unfair I can understand why they didn’t want to rally becuz it could’ve incited more violence but they didn’t have to fire her!
I SO NEED A NEW JOB
Does Brooke honestly want her job back tho! Seems like they will fire again for nothing?
You’ve got to follow the rules. This is sad, but she should have stayed off the school property and fought this battle the right way.
Harris says she just wants to know why she was fired.
the reasonb shewas fired….. School superintendent Jacqueline Cassell, who fired Harris, told the AP that the students should be learning in school rather than discussing “activism”.
“I’m a child of the civil rights movement,” Cassell said. But “this is not the time in the school year” to distract students from academics.
case closed
yallcrazy says:
You’ve got to follow the rules. This is sad, but she should have stayed off the school property and fought this battle the right way.
____________________
OR got permission from her boss
AFTER BEING FIRED LIKE THIS, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD SHE WANT TO WORK THERE
IF SHE HAD A CONTRACT I WOULD TAKE MY CHANCES SUING THEIR ARSES, WORK WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN IF SHE GOES BACK, THIS TIME THEY MAY NOT HAVE A LEGITIMATE REASON, BUT I GUARANTEE YOU IF SHE GOES BACK THEY’LL BE WORKING ON ONE
This is all too disturbing to me…I guess it just reminds that just 50 years ago we couldn’t even drink fromthe same fountain as yt people, and 50 years is not a long time! Racism is alive and well…I say it and live it everyday. Black people are still slaves, yt people are still superior, and they still think that the world would be a much better place without “US” all in it. I think once people stop pretending that things have changed for the better, stop thinking that we all are equal, and accept the fact that, with the exception of some, we are still slaves because thats all they see us as, we’ll be much better off because we’ll deal with them accordingly. We’ll stop allowing our sons to bring home yt women, and our daughters yt men…why, because Massa used to have to sneak down to the fields and to the out house to sex the slave…bringin her home was unheard of…and aint nothing changed…its still unheard of…mofos just pretending sh*t sweet because it look good. Naw….the world still as fawked up as it was 50 yrs ago so lets act accordingly and potentially get somewhere. IJS…instead of plottin on homie, you should be plottin on the mofo wit a million dollars in the bank made off of his black colleagues (slaves)….let me stop while I’m ahead because I can go on and on about “us” and “them”
Jacqueline Cassell.
KDubb? Hun? Can you get us the deets on one Ms. Cassell so we can contact her with our concerns.
__________________________________________________________
Here is the info I found for her:
cassellj@pontiacacademy.org
Contact Pontiac Academy
196 Cesar Chavez Ave.
Pontiac, Michigan 48343
248-745-9420
She could have gotten warned. White people are likening supporters of the Martin family to the New Black Panther Party and Rev. Wright. Maybe she should come teach at APS, at Mays High School the kids wore hoodies and brought in Skittles and Arizona tea, at Spelman my daughter had an extra credit test question about how they felt about the case and held a vigil on campus and at Bunche Middle all the students and staff wore hoodies and sang old negro spirituals. I declare!
The excuses are absolute hilarity. First:
“students should be learning in school rather than discussing ‘activism’”
How is learning about “activism” not part of the learning process? Reading, Writing and ‘Rithmetic have been flushed down the toilet as the the current 17 year old in 2012 is dumber than the average 17 year old in 1941 so why not learn about civil disobedience. Then:
“…But ‘this is not the time in the school year’ to distract students from academics”
When exactly would be a good time? I mean, I can guarantee that those students are plenty distracted from the BS they see on teLIEvision and other internet memes. Civil rights in the grand scheme was about injustices of all kind in America, why not use a current injustice that the children can actually LEARN from?
This is so unfortunate but I’m not surprised since half of all schools have closed down in Detroit. This was the plan when government took over the education system.
She probably did organize it…..silly woman.
This chit is outta damn hand
So now teachers can be suspended for making a suggestion?! She should have had the union on their azzez for that reason alone.
Isn’t it more of a distraction to remove a teacher from the classroom during the final testing cycles for students?
OPPRESSION