I was there in the hearing with Madison Metropolitan School District’s human resource manager on Monday when the … security guard (and outstanding Madisonian), Marlon Anderson, met with them.
I am so glad Marlon is fighting this. MMSD needs to modify this lazy, harmful and hole-punched policy that allows it to avoid doing the real work that any HR department should do by looking at the context in which such a word (or any other) is used. They are an academic institution and should be educating themselves and young people about the use of words like “Nigger,” not running from it.
MMSD also needs to look up the meaning of a “slur” in the dictionary. A slur is defined as an “insulting or disparaging remark” that is “shaming or degrading” to someone.
⇒ Telling a student who was repeatedly called him a “Bitch-ass nigger” and “Ho-Ass nigger” to, “Stop calling me a nigger, I’m not a nigger — Stop calling me that”should not get you fired from you job.
M. Anderson, lower
In Marlon’s case, the word was not used as a slur. It was not used towards anyone. He was simply telling the student to stop calling him that. After I told MMSD in the meeting on Monday how their policy was inappropriate and unfair, given how it doesn’t take context into consideration at all, no one in the room looked like they disagreed with me.
Marlon spent 12 years in MMSD. Who will replace him and the strong relationships and familiarity he had with students and staff?
Madison West high school
‘Quit destroying people’s careers’
I also want to add that last year I helped a white female teacher get another teaching job after she was given the option by MMSD to resign or be terminated (she resigned) after she used the N-word as means to try to correct a student who was using racists language in class. She shouldn’t have been let go either.
She happened to be one of my daughters favorite teachers who actually connected with and inspired her students, and kept parents informed.Our school system should not be in the business of destroying people’s careers because they don’t want to do the hard work of looking at each incident “independently and objectively”, as they should.
Only 5 credits and walking the halls
I also have a lot to say about why a young black male in MMSD would be walking the halls as a high school senior, cursing out staff while only having 5 high school credits. Why are we continuing to pass children through our school system who have not yet achieved an adequate level of proficiency to succeed academically in future grades? High school senior? 5 credits? Really? SMH.
BTW, I visited an awesome public school in Atlanta called Hollins Innovation Academy where 99% of the children are black and 100% live in poverty. This 750-student Pre-K to Grade 8 school, led mostly by black women and a largely black female teaching and support staff, said they would never take the type of steps Madison is taking.
They have high standards for their faculty, staff and students, but would not be punishing our children or educators like we do in Madison. We can do better Madison! We have to do better!!
Kaleem Caire’s bottom line:
Marlon should get his job back plus back pay. Sometimes leaders have to admit they made a mistake rather than hide behind the mistakes they’ve made. It feels like that is what MMSD is doing here. They committed to a flawed policy that was reactionary and not well thought through. Please fix this ASAP! Onward.
25 responses to “‘Stop calling me [the N-word]’ … should not get you fired from your job”
John Nickelsen
He should get his job back. The school district needs to think before churning out polici.
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Gordon Sussman
It seems that the folks that need to be sent packing are the admins lacking the common sense to implement policies and those who write said policies. Would I be going out on a limb to speculate they are overwhelmingly white liberals who have no interest whatsoever in whether children of color and teachers are afforded the resources needed to succeed in their respective fields?
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Batman
Gordon S.,
It isn’t about resources because teaching isn’t dependent upon resources. It’s the teacher/student relationship within any environment that allows the sharing of knowledge/inspiration. That environment may take a variety of physical forms.
If you doubt it’s that simple I suggest you watch the 1974 movie Conrack, based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy. Great flick.
Many unnecessary thousands upon thousands of bureaucrats over complicate education and are richly rewarded by taxpayers for doing so.
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Gordon Sussman
Definitely of like minds here. I used “resources” in a very broad sense (i.e. not pissing money at fashionable educrap). I meant teachers could use administrators who encourage and protect their right to have control of their classrooms in order to foster an environment conducive to teaching and kids need the discipline that teaches there are rewards for behaving and applying oneself and consequences for not doing so. MTI, by their continued support of the jackwads on the School Board (and by extension their membership) apparently does not share this view. It’s not about the Benjamins!!!
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Cornelius Gotchberg
5 accumulated high school credits….as a freakin’ senior?
Homes for sale south of Mineral Point, & east of Whitney Way are pricier simply because they’re in the West High school district; go figure.
The Gotch
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Gary L. Kriewald
This tempest in a teapot is on a par with an event from several years ago in which an English professor at UW-Madison was excoriated by PC fanatics for using the word “niggardly” in class. The left is always droning on about the importance of “context” and “nuance” except when those concepts fail to align with their ideology.
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Bob Dorn
And any word about what happened to the student after he splayed the school with the N word. Ah right – *crickets*
Thanks for the link, when I signed it already had 2000 +.
The reason I gave: Anderson was providing a public service; trying to educate an idiot!
The Gotch
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Herman
The real question is, why would Marlon want to go back to work where he has to fight to get it back. I think he should simply go after a judgement against the school district and move on. The guy obviously has talent to work with troubled kids. I would bet there are plenty of other schools in the state that would hire him in a heartbeat. Yeah, he might have to move but what does he have to loose besides high cost of living here in Madison with Dane county and City of Madison Wheel taxed. Stay out of Milwaukee County also.
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John
Thank you for sharing Mr. Caire’s comments. I couldn’t agree more! My son, a West student, likes Mr. Anderson a lot and said the school is making a big mistake. The other teacher mentioned was also one of my daughter’s favorites. She was there and knows what really happened, not what was in the news. Both were RAILROADED!
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John
The big take-away is how incredibly lazy and/or gutless the MMSD administration really is.
Or how driven by identity politics, political correctness, victimhood, and misplaced guilt.
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White Hills
N–er is a banned word and a banned thought. He wasn’t very bright repeating it. Doesn’t he know that he’s in Madison (in a Madison school!), a place full of perpetually offended scolds always looking the slightest excuse to make an example out of someone harboring the wrong thoughts? Apparently, he didn’t understand the memo he got during sensitivity training. When the scolds threaten 0 tolerance, they mean it.
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Cornelius Gotchberg
@White Hills;
“N–er is a banned word and a banned thought.”
Disagree; it’s mindlessly flung with imbecilic impunity, and hypocritically incongruous immunity, by a certain…um…protected segment of the student body.
The Gotch
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madisonexpat
Their students are doomed. They are not teaching what they think they are teaching.
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john van owen
Marlon is a GREAT HUMAN BEING. There is a reason why the East High Class of 2015 chose Marlon, and no other staff member, to deliver their commencement speech. Marlon respects everyone: white, black, brown, yellow, rich, poor, honors student, struggling 5 credit senior. It doesn’t matter to him, he simply respects everyone. Neither the West High Principal nor anyone in the administration had a clue who Marlon truly was or what he meant to these students….but they do now. This guy EXUDES LOVE. When I told my long-since-graduated child about this, he had so many great stories about Marlon’s work at East, and he finished by saying Marlon exudes love. I do wonder, since they are so quick to kick any staff person who uses the N-word to the curb, why not so the same with the students? Oh yeah, there wouldn’t be many students of color left in the MMSD. This IS society’s fault, not Marlon’s. This guy works tirelessly to make all students better people and for that, he gets screwed.
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Batman
Mr. Van Owen,
Fabulous post providing an insider’s perspective. However, I place blame directly on those responsible for firing Marlon instead of society at large. Free will.
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Cornelius Gotchberg
@Batman;
“I place blame directly on those responsible for firing Marlon instead of society at large”
“(E)rrand boys, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.” Col Kurtz
I just hope they do not have to read Tom Sawyer out loud in class! Students might get expelled for timeless works of Mark Twain!!!
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Gary L. Kriewald
The chance of students in the Madison public schools reading Mark Twain is about as great as that of AOC becoming a nun. In fact, the chance of students in the Madison public schools reading ANY of the classic works of literature written by a white male are slim to none. Instead they’re spoon fed a steady diet of “approved” writers (i.e., anyone who can claim victimhood based on race, gender, class, disability, etc., etc.) whose talent is limited to tedious diatribes against racism, sexism, classism or any of the officially sanctioned lefty targets. It’s no wonder English departments across the country are reporting steep declines in students wanting to major in literature. Who would want to read more of the crap they’re spoon-fed in high school?
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I also have a lot to say about why a young black male in MMSD would be walking the halls as a high school senior, cursing out staff while only having 5 high school credits. Why are we continuing to pass children through our school system who have not yet achieved an adequate level of proficiency to succeed academically in future grades? High school senior? 5 credits? Really? SMH.
25 responses to “‘Stop calling me [the N-word]’ … should not get you fired from your job”
He should get his job back. The school district needs to think before churning out polici.
It seems that the folks that need to be sent packing are the admins lacking the common sense to implement policies and those who write said policies. Would I be going out on a limb to speculate they are overwhelmingly white liberals who have no interest whatsoever in whether children of color and teachers are afforded the resources needed to succeed in their respective fields?
Gordon S.,
It isn’t about resources because teaching isn’t dependent upon resources. It’s the teacher/student relationship within any environment that allows the sharing of knowledge/inspiration. That environment may take a variety of physical forms.
If you doubt it’s that simple I suggest you watch the 1974 movie Conrack, based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy. Great flick.
Many unnecessary thousands upon thousands of bureaucrats over complicate education and are richly rewarded by taxpayers for doing so.
Definitely of like minds here. I used “resources” in a very broad sense (i.e. not pissing money at fashionable educrap). I meant teachers could use administrators who encourage and protect their right to have control of their classrooms in order to foster an environment conducive to teaching and kids need the discipline that teaches there are rewards for behaving and applying oneself and consequences for not doing so. MTI, by their continued support of the jackwads on the School Board (and by extension their membership) apparently does not share this view. It’s not about the Benjamins!!!
5 accumulated high school credits….as a freakin’ senior?
Should we be thankful he’s not out boosting cars?
Where’s FreeDUMB Inc, blabbermouth Brandi Grayson, Ali Muldrow, Justified Anger, etc., etc., etc.?
Homes for sale south of Mineral Point, & east of Whitney Way are pricier simply because they’re in the West High school district; go figure.
The Gotch
This tempest in a teapot is on a par with an event from several years ago in which an English professor at UW-Madison was excoriated by PC fanatics for using the word “niggardly” in class. The left is always droning on about the importance of “context” and “nuance” except when those concepts fail to align with their ideology.
And any word about what happened to the student after he splayed the school with the N word. Ah right – *crickets*
The rabbit hole is getting wider and deeper……
Change.org site is here, 2,000 signed up already… https://www.change.org/p/west-students-staff-petition-to-get-marlon-anderson-s-job-back-at-west-high-school
Thanks for the link, when I signed it already had 2000 +.
The reason I gave: Anderson was providing a public service; trying to educate an idiot!
The Gotch
The real question is, why would Marlon want to go back to work where he has to fight to get it back. I think he should simply go after a judgement against the school district and move on. The guy obviously has talent to work with troubled kids. I would bet there are plenty of other schools in the state that would hire him in a heartbeat. Yeah, he might have to move but what does he have to loose besides high cost of living here in Madison with Dane county and City of Madison Wheel taxed. Stay out of Milwaukee County also.
Thank you for sharing Mr. Caire’s comments. I couldn’t agree more! My son, a West student, likes Mr. Anderson a lot and said the school is making a big mistake. The other teacher mentioned was also one of my daughter’s favorites. She was there and knows what really happened, not what was in the news. Both were RAILROADED!
The big take-away is how incredibly lazy and/or gutless the MMSD administration really is.
Or how driven by identity politics, political correctness, victimhood, and misplaced guilt.
N–er is a banned word and a banned thought. He wasn’t very bright repeating it. Doesn’t he know that he’s in Madison (in a Madison school!), a place full of perpetually offended scolds always looking the slightest excuse to make an example out of someone harboring the wrong thoughts? Apparently, he didn’t understand the memo he got during sensitivity training. When the scolds threaten 0 tolerance, they mean it.
@White Hills;
“N–er is a banned word and a banned thought.”
Disagree; it’s mindlessly flung with imbecilic impunity, and hypocritically incongruous immunity, by a certain…um…protected segment of the student body.
The Gotch
Their students are doomed. They are not teaching what they think they are teaching.
Marlon is a GREAT HUMAN BEING. There is a reason why the East High Class of 2015 chose Marlon, and no other staff member, to deliver their commencement speech. Marlon respects everyone: white, black, brown, yellow, rich, poor, honors student, struggling 5 credit senior. It doesn’t matter to him, he simply respects everyone. Neither the West High Principal nor anyone in the administration had a clue who Marlon truly was or what he meant to these students….but they do now. This guy EXUDES LOVE. When I told my long-since-graduated child about this, he had so many great stories about Marlon’s work at East, and he finished by saying Marlon exudes love. I do wonder, since they are so quick to kick any staff person who uses the N-word to the curb, why not so the same with the students? Oh yeah, there wouldn’t be many students of color left in the MMSD. This IS society’s fault, not Marlon’s. This guy works tirelessly to make all students better people and for that, he gets screwed.
Mr. Van Owen,
Fabulous post providing an insider’s perspective. However, I place blame directly on those responsible for firing Marlon instead of society at large. Free will.
@Batman;
“I place blame directly on those responsible for firing Marlon instead of society at large”
“(E)rrand boys, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.” Col Kurtz
International EXPOSURE notwithstanding.
The Gotch
Dunderheads.
I just hope they do not have to read Tom Sawyer out loud in class! Students might get expelled for timeless works of Mark Twain!!!
The chance of students in the Madison public schools reading Mark Twain is about as great as that of AOC becoming a nun. In fact, the chance of students in the Madison public schools reading ANY of the classic works of literature written by a white male are slim to none. Instead they’re spoon fed a steady diet of “approved” writers (i.e., anyone who can claim victimhood based on race, gender, class, disability, etc., etc.) whose talent is limited to tedious diatribes against racism, sexism, classism or any of the officially sanctioned lefty targets. It’s no wonder English departments across the country are reporting steep declines in students wanting to major in literature. Who would want to read more of the crap they’re spoon-fed in high school?