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Kathleen
Parker:
The black and white of 'ho' culture
Article Last Updated:05/15/2007
07:02:34 PM MDT
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5903404
and
By Kathleen Parker
CHARLESTON, S.C. - In a new twist in American race relations, a
federal court has ruled that a white teacher in a predominantly
African-American school was subjected to a racially hostile
workplace.
The case concerned Elizabeth Kandrac, who was routinely verbally
abused by black students at Brentwood Middle School in North
Charleston. Their slurs make shock jock Don Imus look like a church
deacon.
Nevertheless, despite frequent complaints, school officials did
nothing to intervene on Kandrac's behalf, arguing that the racially
charged profanity was simply part of the students' culture. If
Kandrac couldn't handle cursing, school officials told her, she was
in the wrong school.
Kandrac finally filed a complaint with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission and subsequently brought a lawsuit against
the Charleston County School District, the school's principal and an
associate superintendent. Last fall, jurors found that the school
was a racially hostile environment to teach in and that the school
district retaliated against Kandrac for complaining about it.
The defendants sought a new trial, but U.S. District Judge David
C. Norton recently affirmed the verdict. However, he did not support
the jury's findings of $307,500 in damages for lost income and
emotional distress.
Although Kandrac clearly suffered - she was suspended from her
job shortly after a story about her EEOC complaint appeared in the
local newspaper, and her contract was not renewed - her case didn't
meet evidentiary requirements for damages. The judge said a new
trial would have to determine damages, but the school district and
Kandrac settled for $200,000.
While the dollars-and-cents issue may have been of paramount
importance to school and district officials - and would have lent
heft to the verdict - the more compelling issue for students,
parents and society is the idea that a particular group of people
can be allowed to behave in a grossly uncivil and threatening way by
virtue of their racial "culture."
The key legal question was whether a school could be held
responsible for students' behavior. In this case, the black children
of Brentwood had been given a pass for their behavior because vulgar
language was considered normal for their culture.
Defense attorney Alice Paylor told jurors that the kids heard
this same language at home and there was "no magic pill" to make
them behave. Paylor is probably right about that, though a magic
paddle might have worked wonders.
Back in the day, if a student talked the way these did, he or
she would have received a well-deserved thwack, been suspended and
sent home to face the wrath of his or her father. That process
likely would have put a swift end to the tribal tyranny now often
tolerated in the service of self-esteem.
Let's be clear: What these children called this teacher is
beyond reprehensible and could be only be construed as hostile and
threatening. Here's a sample: white b--, white m--- f---, white c--,
white a---, white ho.
Other white teachers and students corroborated Kandrac's
account, including a male war veteran who testified he would rather
return to Vietnam than to Brentwood.
Kandrac's attorney, Larry Kobrovsky, argued that the repeated
use of "white" made these slurs racist in nature. But school
officials insisted that because black students were equally abusive
to other blacks, the language wasn't inherently racist.
Here's what we know without question: If majority white students
had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the
case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York
Times until heads rolled.
A black Kandrac would have a million-dollar book deal, a movie
contract and hundreds of interviews to juggle. Her oppressors and
those who passively facilitated her abuse would have been pilloried
by the media - their faces all over the evening news - while the
reverends Al and Jesse organized protests.
But a white Kandrac - who faced a daily barrage of insults, who
had books and desks thrown at her and her bicycle tires punctured -
was treated like an incompetent wimp. She was just a lousy teacher
out for money, the defense attorney said.
Though Kandrac lost her job, the real losers are the children
deprived of an education by the actions of a tyrannical few. And the
worst racists are those teachers and administrators who denied these
empowered brats the expectation of civilized behavior.
May the rest of America now be emboldened to act decisively in
the interest of students who want to learn.
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Kathleen Parker's e-mail address is kparker(at
symbol)kparker.com. |