Calls for teacher to be fired after greeting black student, 16, with 'what's up my n*****' during class discussion of Mark Twain

  • Destinee Wornum says a teacher greeted her with 'what's up my n*****'
  • Incident happened during English class discussion of Huckleberry Finn
  • The 16-year-old said racial slur left her 'embarrassed and uncomfortable' 
  • Student's mother Rosalind Wornum is demanding English teacher is fired
  • Campaign #BlackAtBLS was launched to highlight race issues at Boston
  • Headteacher has apologized for not acting sooner to tackle race incidents 

A furious mother is demanding that a teacher who greeted her daughter with 'what's up my n*****' is fired.

Destinee Wornum, 16, says she was left feeling humiliated and embarrassed by her English teacher's racist slur during a discussion of Huckleberry Finn at Boston Latin School.

The stunned student says she was too scared to come forward at first as she was worried about what impact her complaint could have on her grade and even her future at the elite school, Boston Globe reports. 

Destinee Wornum (pictured) 16, says she was left feeling humiliated and embarrassed by her English teacher's racist slur during a discussion of Huckleberry Finn at Boston Latin School

Destinee Wornum (pictured) 16, says she was left feeling humiliated and embarrassed by her English teacher's racist slur during a discussion of Huckleberry Finn at Boston Latin School

But when fellow students started a social media campaign in January to highlight racial issues at the institution, she summoned the courage to tell her mother about the incident.

Rosalind Wornum, who was outraged over the the treatment of her daughter, has now met with headmaster Lynn Mooney Teta to demand that the teacher in question is sacked.

'That [statement] was cultural incompetence,' Rosalind Wornum, 49, said in a recent interview. 'What was she expecting from making that statement to her? 'Is it standard process in addressing the book?'

The incident, which occurred last October, took place during a class on Mark Twain's classic novel which uses the racist term frequently.

Rosalind Wornum, (pictured) who was outraged over the the treatment of her daughter, has now met with headmaster Lynn Mooney Teta to demand that the teacher in question is sacked

Rosalind Wornum, (pictured) who was outraged over the the treatment of her daughter, has now met with headmaster Lynn Mooney Teta to demand that the teacher in question is sacked

The incident came to light after two students at Boston Latin (pictured) launched a campaign with the hashtag #BlackAtBLS to raise awareness of racial issues at the school.

The incident came to light after two students at Boston Latin (pictured) launched a campaign with the hashtag #BlackAtBLS to raise awareness of racial issues at the school.

Destinee says her teacher asked her 'what's up my n*****?' before demanding to know, 'how does that make you feel?' 

'I didn't know what to say,' Destinee told the Boston Globe. 'I feel like if she wanted to make a point about the n-word, there's always a different way to go about it.

'She didn't have to direct it to me and make me feel uncomfortable like that.'  

Rosalind said that the teacher's behavior also set a bad example for students.

'(It) gives the white students more reason to act out because they see it's OK,' she said.

The incident came to light after two students launched a campaign with the hashtag #BlackAtBLS to raise awareness of racial issues at the school.

The campaign followed an incident where a black student was threatened with a reference to lynching. There was also a tense racial discussion between students on social media following the 2014 police killing of a black man in Ferguson. 

Headmaster Teta condemned the English teacher's used of the n-word and apologized for not addressing racial incidents in her school sooner.

She told the Wornums that the issue was now being dealt with by the Office of Equity.

But Rosalind Wornum, and local black leaders, are calling for her to be removed over her handling of the racial incidents.

 

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