Some people were all on my case about something I wrote for Slog, The Stranger‘s blog, concerning a Chinese girl found wandering the streets of Vancouver, BC, two weeks ago with a blond doll. I was thought cold for taking too much notice of the racial difference between the girl and her doll. But in my world, race is still a real and hard fact. It is not something that I have a theoretical or intellectual distance from. It is immediate. It is there all of the time.
For example, just last week, my daughter—who is 8 and happens to be the only brown person in her Accelerated Progress Program class at Thurgood Marshall Elementary—was ordered out of the classroom because her teacher did not like the smell of her hair. The teacher complained that my racially different daughter’s hair (or something—a product—in the hair) was making her sick, and then the teacher made her leave the classroom. My daughter was aware of the racial nature of this expulsion not only because she was made to sit in a classroom that had more black students in it (the implication being that this is where she really belongs, in the lower class with the other black students), but because her teacher, she informed me, owns a dog. Meaning, a dog’s hair gives the teacher less problems than my daughter’s human but curly hair. Most white people do not have to deal with shit like this. Shit that if not checked and confronted will have permanent consequences for the child.
Over the weekend, KIRO-TV ran a story on its evening newscast about the situation. The news segment showed the hair product that my daughter used, Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion, and brief interviews with her mother and lawyer. The lawyer smelled the hair product and claimed it was harmless; her mother expressed distress about the whole situation. The story wrapped up with a reporter standing outside of my daughter’s school in the Central District, explaining that he could not get a response from the teacher or the school’s principal because the school was closed for the long weekend. That was all you learned from the KIRO story.
What was significantly missing from this report is that my daughter is black American (the only black student in that teacher’s class) and the teacher who forced her out of the classroom is white American. The reason why this racial dimension was not exposed or addressed in the KIRO report is understandable: My daughter and her teacher were not interviewed. But my wife was interviewed—and she is white. So it follows that viewers would assume that her daughter is also white. But if the public had seen that the little girl has brown skin and curly hair, and her teacher has white skin and straight hair, then it would have been impossible to exclude race from this story.
If a white teacher—a person who is supposed to have a certain amount of education and knowledge of American history, and who teaches at a school named after the man who successfully argued before the court in Brown v. Board of Education for equal opportunities for racial minorities in public schools and went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice—removes a black student from a predominantly white class because of her hair, it is almost impossible not read the action as either racist or expressive of racial insensitivity, which amounts to the same thing for someone in that teacher’s position.
When we, her parents, were later informed of this incident, we also learned that once my daughter was removed from the class, the teacher felt much better. We were also told that the teacher had experienced something like a fainting spell because of our daughter’s hair. Feeling the seriousness of this situation, we decided not to send our daughter to school until the teacher had medical proof that our daughter’s hair or something in her hair was to blame for the nausea. (The last thing you want to happen to your daughter is for a teacher to faint or vomit at the mere sight of her.)
Days passed and the school took no action. This unresponsiveness left us with no other choice than to turn to a lawyer. The whole thing is a mess. Getting entangled in a racial dilemma is something most black parents do not want for their children. It’s just not worth the trouble. Then again, like I said, if not checked and confronted, the incident will have permanent consequences for my child.
So, yes, I have a very good reason to be sensitive to the image of a Chinese girl carrying a blond doll. Not to have that kind of sensitivity would in my case be a form of parental neglect.
Seattle Public Schools declined an interview request from Charles Mudede because he is the father of the student in question, but a school-district spokesperson agreed to be interviewed by The Stranger‘s news editor, Dominic Holden, just as this issue was going to press. Click here to read their response. 
Uh…I dunno. My daughter is half-black, and I am white. She has a couple haircare products that I cannot stand the smell of. And I think one of them might be the brand shown at the top of this page. It is a very strong, pungent smell. Now, I admit I don’t notice it when she is across the room, but if she walks past me, or if we are both in the bathroom doing our makeup, the smell is sickening. I would be surprised the stench doesn’t bother her, if it weren’t for the fact that she likes to wear Axe men’s cologne, which has some of the most obnoxious odors on the planet. Still, having smelled the stuff my kid uses on her hair, I would have to guess that perhaps everyone is coming down on that teacher for racism when is could be another issue entirely.
@ 192 its an elitist tactic to point out errors in puncuation or spelling but to avoid the subject or try to debate it at all costs. you do this because you have no counter points to make,because deep down you know it is the truth.
anger and hatred, as a byproduct of fear, are destructive regardless of race, class, or chemical.
@mudede – true knowing comes from a peaceful place, one that doesn’t require the understanding of others. you know that you and your daughter are innocent, let those who stoop rise up to your belief in your own innocence rather than coming down to bicker about comprehension.
For those who don’t have time to read 300 posts trying to figure out what the Times didn’t bother to report: this from an early post:
They didn’t report that this teacher, who has severe allergy problems, sent a letter home to all parents earlier in the year respectfully requesting students not wear scented hair supplies and perfumes;
They didn’t report that the girl wasn’t “kicked out” or told to sit in the hall but that the teacher next door, coming to the aid of the teacher with the allergic reaction, had the girl join her class for the rest of the afternoon;
They didn’t report that the teacher DID send home a reminder note about perfumes and scented hair products;
They didn’t report that the parents then decided to send their daughter back the next day with the same product that was causing the problems.
Would these parents have their daughter eat a peanut butter sandwich at the severe nut allergy table?
202, seriously, people have to take race seriously. a white teacher does not not call a black parent after his black daughter has been removed from a class because of a common product that is in her black hair. i really do not understand why this “neglect” to call the parents is not taken seriously enough. she did not call me or the mother about a situation that had considerable racial/cultural implications. nor did she ever write and say directly: your girl’s hair stinks to me, can you do something about it. never was i informed directly that my daughter’s hair was making her sick. never. not at all.
and if any upset parent in her class thinks that some vague notice to two working parents about cleaning products, detergents, spores, and fragrances constitutes a direct message to me about my daughter, then seattle has achieved a new level of passive aggressiveness.
on the day she went to school–and it was i who made her brush her teeth (chemical product), shower (chemical products), put on clean clothes (chemical products), and do her hair (chemical product–and all of this done with the intent of making her presentable and not smelly!)–i had no idea that i was sending the poor girl into a trap.
coincidentally, the only black student in her class happened to be the only student in the whole class who used chemicals in her mouth, body, clothes, and hair that morning.
@190 Okay, here’s a thought exercise:
I’ll take your “facts” as true, although I do so with a MOUNTAIN of salt (I’d love to see some credible sources.) However, your argument presupposes that there’s some inherent genetic or biological difference between white and black (or any racial) intelligence. Here’s a fact: the genetic difference between races is so infinitesimally small that it has absolutely no bearing on supposed racial intelligence.
(Credible source, BAM: http://wupa.wustl.edu/record_archive/199…)
That would indicate that your facts speak more to the inequities in our national educational system than any inherent difference in intelligence between races. You’ve just inadvertently made an argument for affirmative action. Well done, you shmuck.
who gives a shit about any of this?
@ 204 do you have any counter arguments to anything I have said or the best you can do is call names and make veiled threats. Yes I am this vocal with my opinions in person, and fear no man. I am not ashamed of the truth and I am also not ashamed of being white, or my ancestors and I who helped build this society that you are so ashamed of. For your sake I sincerely hope that you wake up to the truth before one of the animals you love so much turn on you or your family. The liberal controlled media hides the fact that there are more black on white racial attacks in the US than white on black, even though the black animal’s percentage of the population is far less than white. You tell me why this is, or is all you can do is call names and tell me I am going to burn in hell. The truth shall set you free but first it hurts, please for your sake try and learns the truth. The reason why the race relations are so bad is because of people like you who enable the black animals and turn a blind eye to their sense of entitlement. I challenge you to listen to some rap music it talks about overthrowing the government and killing whitey but if a white man made a song that said the same thing, he would be thrown in jail, but what happens to the black rapper, he is given millions of dollars. In conclusion I will continue to tell the truth about the black animal, and hope with earnest that you wake up to the truth before the black animal turns on you. When that day comes that you wake up to the truth you will be more than welcome to join my brothers and I in brotherhood and love. Please be careful as I really fear for your safety.
This problem was not taken care of properly. Maybe she was allergic to the smell. But handle it properly. I am allergic to lots of different perfumes but i handle the issue with care. Now this is a 8 year old we are talking about and the matter should have been taken to the principle and from there to the parents. And i am sure that the matter could have been taken care of. But, the matter was taken care of in a very disrespectful way. And there is no way that can be said that this was handled in a professional and respectful way.
@190 I am Sorry to tell you that the studies prove that the black people are little more than a smart ape, as such is an animal and should be treated as such, and there should be no affirmative action for animals. I am truly sorry that we do not see eye to eye on this but I do agree to disagree. There is no reason why you should call me names and insult me. When you do that you seem desperate and unintelligent. By the way you present yourself I know that is not true.
“and if any upset parent in her class thinks that some vague notice to two working parents about cleaning products, detergents, spores, and fragrances constitutes a direct message to me about my daughter, then Seattle has achieved a new level of passive aggressiveness.”
Well Charles, you want your child’s teachers to call you personally every time something comes up? The other parents in this class, whom I’m sure also work and are busy and distracted, managed to remember that they got the notice and what it said. Sending out class-wide notices is how things are done in schools. Or did you never get a permission slip for a field trip or special activity?
This wasn’t abut the color of your daughter’s skin until you made so.
@207 – if you read up to 160, you’ll see my opinion on Mr. Mudede’s article.
@coolhandluke46 – odd how as soon as someone calls you on it, you suddenly start using punctuation and the shift keys. Good job! Thank you for conforming to my liberal elitist standards. I feel much better now.
Mudede, you are doing more to isolate your daughter than this insensitive teacher ever could. You constantly point out “white” teacher, “black” girl, “white” wife, “black” father. It is YOU that is enforcing the stereotypical separation that your daughter is, unfortunately, going to feel as a result of all this. I understand the issue needed to be addressed, and the school should have notified you and your wife of the teacher’s sensitivity to perfumes via phone or in-person, but why are you the one shouting racism and being so quick to file a lawsuit? What could have easily been solved during a parent-teacher conference has turned into something that sounds pretty opportunistic to me. So sue the school, get your millions in compensation for your daughter’s therapy, and send her off to an elite prep school, leaving her previous school to languish in horrific budget cuts as a result. Which will result in lower-paid, crappier teachers for someone else’s child. But hey, you played the race card and won, so screw everyone else, right?
209, and this is the last time im going to say this: we recieved not one direct message from anyone about my daughter’s hair. and, she was removed from the classroom by the teacher in front of other students. please, get your facts right.
i know who was sitting next to my daughter, i know what was said to her, and also know my daughter was sitting right next to embalming fluid. yes, chickens were being embalmed right next to her smelly hair.
there was no direct call or letter about my daughter’s hair. and this is how racist the situation is–you really believe i was some uppity indifferent negro who willfully (maybe a shuffle with my daughter to the bus stop) challenged a directly communicated concern about her white teacher’s health.
and also listen to your self here: “They didn’t report that the girl wasn’t “kicked out” or told to sit in the hall but that the teacher next door, coming to the aid of the teacher with the allergic reaction, had the girl join her class for the rest of the afternoon”
so my daughter stank the school up so much that the teacher from another class, without notice or call for help but just by smell and smell alone, came into her class and just in time rescued the fainting teacher from her smelly black hair. this is exactly what you are saying. that my daughter’s teacher was rescued by another teacher without a single call or even whisper for aid or help. such was the alarm caused by a common hair commodity.
it is amazing how you guys will do anything to not see a situation as it is. it’s utterly embarrassing. i say no more from here on.
216, im sorry. i have to break your heart. but all of this is not about smell. i wish it was, but it’s not.
I’m horrified by some of the nasty comments here. The treatment your daughter received from her teacher and the school is reprehensible. Thank you for demanding better treatment for her.
Indeed i must say that the situation is confusing for an onlooker who questions what it is that had happened. One might say that it is as simple as your daughter being removed for “racial reasons” but a thinking human might as well fault all that come upon the podium as being biased for reason that are hard to comprehend. We must agree that at times the obsessive use of various chemicals upon human body can cause sensations that are distracting. I have been subject to such instances my self on many occasions, whereby the use of scent and other personal care products has caused my attention to be whacked with extreme attention towards the object of origin (think school). TO remove the significance of this would be to remove the significance of human sense of smell… I love smell for it does illicit such visceral response. It would help to recall that a creature of reason does gather it’s approach from the collection of sense which is contains.
So what did happen? Under what conditions was your daughter removed. It is wise to suggest that medical information regarding the instance be obtained, for this will provide much needed insight from all parties involved. To forfeit opportunity that is a mistake from those on the other end. Then again, many medical practitioners will view the sense of smell and the visceral responses it induces as merely insignificant things to be overcome by pure reason…
total nonsense.
Charles, PLEASE, Do NOT stop defending your daughter………
Fight for her until the end!
Screw that teacher, if she cant handle different smells then maybe….just maybe she should seek out a different line of work!
Shoot, if I was ‘sensitive’ to dogs and cats….
WHY WOULD I WORK FOR THE POUND?
MANY HAVE SCREWED UP WITH THIS…..
I say, make it right for your daughter.
I figure it safe than to also say that this teacher must NOT go out to dinner anywhere(people will be there with ‘sents’) NO mall shopping (again, people and their smells) NO grocery shopping(yep, once again, people with the smells) NO movies, NO public Libraries, NO bingo, NO casinos, NO public places at all!!!
I truly do not feel that ALL of these families should have to conform their HOME life(washing soap, hair product and so on) to comfort this 1 teacher. Plus all of the past and future students and families that HAVE been OR WILL be effected by her.
Seattle public school system should find her a job out in the woods far away from people and their kids and FAR away from any SMELLS!!!
Mr. Mudede,
I understand this dilemma and I wish somebody was there to fight for me when I was a little kid. As it was I got shoved aside and ignored in school, then beaten when I got home.
It was only later in life that I found out that I was NOT stupid and actually could have amounted to something. At my age I’m still trying, but I know the damage is already done.
I don’t live in Seattle anymore and while I loved the place, it didn’t take much to see and feel how very polar it really is.
The majority proselytize and intellectualize about things they could never really understand. I guess they feel threatened about not having the spotlight.
Mr. Mudede, I think comment 210 did much to clarify your position. It seems like you are trying to use this situation as a “teachable moment”, which has kind of been lost in all of this. I don’t actually detect as much venom towards the teacher in particular as I do the over-arching societal mores in play; The mores that blinded the teacher to the opportunity to be sensitive to race in a situation where sensitivity is so important (allergies or no). More than anything, I buy that you are a father trying to make the world a better place for his daughter. That isn’t always comfortable and it might cause your daughter some pain in the near term, but I don’t believe that you would use your daughter as link bait. If my 8 year old was in a situation where I felt his esteem, self-worth and sense of place were threatened I would do my best to right the situation. If I felt that his treatment represented a larger wrong, I would use whatever means I could to amplify my message. Let’s not make this about hair products and allergies. Let’s make it about how we deal with our children, especially those in various minorities where they frankly have a steep hill to climb just to reach the plateau that those in the majority start from. Keep strong.
I’m stunned that embalming fluid was being used in the classroom and that it wasn’t immediately suspect as the problem! I remember perfectly healthy high school classmates having to leave the room because of the smell when this was part of our lesson.I would think that a chemically sensitive person would stay VERY far away from it!
I’ve seen the posts listing the “dangerous” and “allergenic’ ingredients in the hair oil and really, wouldn’t EMBALMING fluid pretty much be one giant danger to a person with chemical alleries?
My daughter goes to this school and confirms that the class in question WAS in fact, embalming chickens in class. Surely THAT set off the teacher rather than hair oil!
As the mother of a biracial girl, I can tell anyone reading this blog that the hair issues start early-about when the kids start noticing all the cute, white, blond little girls in all the hair, soap and laundry detergent commercials, while the black girls are the ones in the anti-drug ads. I think my daughter was about 3 when she cried wishing she was white and had blond hair.
So sending a little girl out of class when she is the ONLY black child and blaming it on her hair is really just confirming the perception these little girls are picking up from the media every day.
But back to the embalming fluid-I just can’t shake that. It’s like standing next to a raging building fire and saying the smoke in the air is from someone’s tea light candle to say that a hair product is worse than embalming fluid being used by an entire class. Now I can completely believe that THAT could cause someone to faint!
“it is amazing how you guys will do anything to not see a situation as it is. it’s utterly embarrassing.”
What IS the situation Mudede?!
As far as I can tell, you have made a fucking mountain out of a mole-hill. You have cried “racism” to the masses via your blog, television, and newspapers. You’ve retained an attorney(s), involved the NAACP, and PULLED YOUR DAUGHTER OUT OF SCHOOL in an act of spite.
From what I’ve seen/read, NO ONE has all the facts related to this matter at this time, yet you seem to think it’s okay to bring new “facts” to light as it suits your argument, while chastising others as they proffer opinions of their own.
Here’s the most likely reality of this “situation”: Poor communication on behalf of both the school and you. End of story.
Grow the fuck up. Get over yourself. Do your daughter and the rest of us a favor, let this overblown bullshit go, get your child back into the classroom and continue to write about important things, like how “Cats are not Dogs”…
what. the. fuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AkaiyTMs…
Regardless of the situation, your writing is terrible. Pick either first or third person and stick with it, please.
I can barely stand to read these comments; my daughter is in the class, I have no idea what the facts are other than the version told to me via my 9 year old. But I really have a hard time reading the “screw the teacher” comments. There have been ongoing health issues with this teacher all year, including fainting, so to say that things have been fine up until the moment Charles’ daugher was asked to leave is very disingenuous. Now the teacher has left for the remainder of the year without having a chance to say goodbye to her kids and they’ll have substitutes for the remainder of the year. Not a happy ending for anyone.
None of this, absolutely none of this, changes the fact that the person of authority in a room of children was not able to perform to the standard that is required of an educator. If you know that you could/will have “allergic reactions” that can keep you from preforming a certain job, THEN YOU ARE NOT FIT TO DO THE JOB.
Taking race completely out of the picture for a moment, and just looking at the facts, this woman is still not a fit teacher because she is not generally healthy enough to deal with the smells of a classroom.
Some have said that it was a “sensitivity” from remodeling at her home? I have never heard of that, but even if we do pretend like that makes any sense, she still should have taken a leave of absence. Her students would have been much better off with a capable and healthy substitute than with a ticking time bomb of a teacher quivering with fear that the wind might blow in the wrong direction and she might smell someone’s lunch.
I’m not sure how I feel about this.
On the one hand I think the teacher was way out of line to force the child out of the classroom…why not wait and send a note home at the end of the day? I’m not a teacher, but I know if I were I would hate to make a child feel different, alienated, or wrong. Childhood is hard enough.
On the other hand, I think I would have been as “sweet as pie” about the whole thing. “Oh, that smell makes you sick? I’m so sorry. We will start using a new product right away.” That way when the bitch strikes again everyone will get to see her true colors. I’m more of a “let them drown themselves” rather than a “hold them under” person. I think it’s so much more rewarding.
I’m also a) not a parent and b) not a minority…so I’m pretty sure nothing I say about this situation counts…and quite rightly.
And now that I see it, comments such as #231’s are disgusting, but that is bait that’s not even worth touching.
@217 see you are still doing it lets not discuss or debate the subject at hand, instead let’s change the subject and call names. Classic liberal elitist tactic and kerfuffle you have learned it well.
Mudede said “seriously, people have to take race seriously. a white teacher does not not call a black parent after his black daughter has been removed from a class because of a common product that is in her black hair.”
Let’s use the same sentence but take black and white out of it:
A teacher does not not call a parent after his daughter has been removed from a class because of a common product that is in her hair.
The problem was the teacher not communicating with the parent, not a black/white thang.
Get it Mudede?
Mr Mudede, are you sure that your daughter being temporarily moved into a class full of “the wrong type of blacks” didn’t have any bearing on your reaction to the incident? Was really just about the white teacher’s racism? Your own issues about assimilating African-American culture were not a factor?
Does the following sound familiar? It should. you wrote it.
“Despite my absorption of black American culture from hiphop to black literature, I maintained my African/British identity, and never became an African American. But now I have two kids, who, despite being mixed (white/black), are considered black in this
society–the sad legacy of the “one drop rule” […]. Will I react like my mother if my son comes home from school in sagging pants, saying nigger this and nigger that? At present, I really don’t know. And maybe I don’t want to contemplate such a terrible question.”
@238. Snap!
@ 238. Snap. I love well supported comments like this!
It’s just unbelievable that this issue was even allowed to be reported by Charles. Yes, The Stranger is fairly alternative for being mainstream, but mainstream it is and doesn’t Savage or someone think that there should be at least a little editorial accountability here?
The moment I read his article I wondered why he would make it so public and inflammatory.
Granted, this could have been handled better but why didn’t Charles or his wife promptly talk to the teacher first thing the next morning? Or the TM administration? Or remember the notices about the teacher’s allergies?
He’s using his daughter for his agenda. EVERY situation is NOT race-related. Yes, some of us should be more “culturally sensitive” but why is it so hard to believe that some of us are just socially inept, tired & cranky, ignorant or maybe nauseous enough that we aren’t thinking clearly and should excuse ourselves before we make a mistake in judgement? That mistake in judgement is not what his daughter’s therapy bills will be for. They will be for having to deal with the giant chip Dad is always carrying around.
Oh good grief. I don’t see anything racist here other than that the author wants us all to think it’s racist. For the people claiming, “OMG We’re black people! We have to use products so our hair will look good!” Um, don’t speak for all of us. You know what I use? Plain mousse, spritz, and hair gel on wet hair in the summer for curls, and regular hair grease on dry hair for flat ironing in the winter when frizz possibilities are less and my hair is perfectly fine. My mother and my sister both have hair that is usually associated with mixed races and you know what they use? Water and hair grease. You do not HAVE to use these things for your hair to look nice.
This woman was made PHYSICALLY ILL by the smell of this girl’s hair. Her PARENTS should have heeded the note sent out in the beginning and actually tried to help the situation instead of saying they don’t care and making it worse. I feel sorry for the girl, because she has a father who cares more about his agenda than he does other human beings.
Thank you Joplin, #237.
“Mudede said “seriously, people have to take race seriously. a white teacher does not not call a black parent after his black daughter has been removed from a class because of a common product that is in her black hair.”
Let’s use the same sentence but take black and white out of it:
A teacher does not not call a parent after his daughter has been removed from a class because of a common product that is in her hair.
The problem was the teacher not communicating with the parent, not a black/white thang.”
—–
I’ve been trying to write the same thing! No one responds to my comments though.
Muldede doesn’t want to respond to direct questions.
Take another look at Post #196 or answer this, Muldede:
What makes this a race issue and not a teacher/parent/child issue?
What makes this any different than any other race kid in the same situation?
How embarrassing for you when the court tells you the same thing.
What a shame for your daughter… I wish her the best and that in 10 years from now she will still not be embarrassed over this.
Unfortunately, she’ll be googlable and you have put her our there for her lifetime, or at least until she is no longer a Muldede.
The one piece I want to add – as my wife is an elementary school teacher – is that the concept of a teacher asking a fellow teacher from the same grade to take one of their students for the rest of the day is more normal than you’d think. My wife would swap kids sometimes if there were some kind of thing going on between two kids, to diffuse things.
And remember, unlike most of our job these days, teachers don’t have the liberty to just take breaks when they want, to go to the bathroom or get a breath of fresh air. Their same-grade teachers are an important part of their support.
dear Charles, I feel your familys pain. Please stop trying to defend yourself, you need not explain anything to those who will not listen. Seattleites think that everyone here is above racism. The Seattle School Board immediately assures one that nothing is racially motivated here. How the hell do they know? Not everyone is from here, they bring their racial prejudice with them, don’t any of you dare pretend that racial prejudice is not alive and well in America. I am very careful to not raise the issue of race unless I can logically find no other reason to support another individuals actions against my ethnically mixed children. Even though a great number of Seattleites are above racism, please remember that there are plenty of uneducated rednecked prejudiced MF’s out there and to deny this fact is willfull ignorance and denial of reality.
You will drive yourself crazy if you go through life trying to read and weave racism into everything that happens to you. Unfortunately, you’ll drive your kid crazy too.
@7 and probably many others.
This is an off topic post, and has nothing to do with Charles’ daughter and/or her teacher’s reaction, which seems to be purely racist.
Off topic: Chemical sensitivity is more prevalent in upper middle class white people because they bought into the marketing of bleach and industrial cleaners as the only way to have a healthy home. Growing up in a sterile environment with cancer causing cleansing chemicals because your mom believed in better living through chemistry fucks up your immune system.
Once again, this has absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on with Charles. Chemical sensitivity is not a psychiatric problem.
Oh I have SOO much stupidity to address and intelligence to commend… but I don’t have time for all that shit, so I will just say a few things.
1st. As a Black woman I know that when kinky/curly hair is treated properly it gives off some sort of aroma. In order to keep the hair from falling out our heads a lot of time, energy, money, and hair products are needed. So denying a young “brown” girl the usage of the products that keep her hair intact and healthy is just plain wrong. And although some will not touch on this subject, the products used on naturally straight hair hold far more offensive scents than those normally used on Black hair; I know this because I use both. So to deny this child the simple right of looking presentable at school is deplorable. Kids are innocent, ignorant, and naive which, when coupled with the abnormal, creates viciousness without regard. I remember in grade school how badly kids who were less than presentable were treated; whether it be their own neglect, parental indifference to their appearance, etc. Add on to that a teacher reacting in disgust to a young girl’s appearance.
If the teacher was so dramatic that she was about to pass out then plain and simple SHE SHOULDN’T BE TEACHING WHILE HER AILMENT IS PRESENT. As it was said earlier, the amount of offensive smells emitted by children do not fare well a high sensitivity to smells. No child should ever be made to accommodate to the needs of a teacher. EVER. period. I don’t want to go into the psychology of responsibility and accountability, but basically children don’t fully develop responsibility, accountability, action=consequence, etc. skills until they get to about 18-20 years old (mind you this has been scientifically proven). So asking a child to change a routine for a reason they might not understand, because they aren’t fully capable to empathize with the other party, and with an outcome that is not in their favor is unreasonable.
2nd. I can’t say whether I agree or disagree with the racist portion of Mr. Mudede’s argument. But I will say that if there is even an inkling of evidence that your child was being treated unfairly for whatever reason would you not retaliate accordingly and bring the offender to justice. Bottom line, racism or not, Mr. Mudede’s daughter was mistreated by her teacher, and said teacher needs to suffer some consequences. If he/she think’s that it is OK to handle the situation in that fashion (obviously the teacher does because Mr. Mudede speaks of no apology to himself or his child), they do not need to teaching.
@129
She has the right to wear whatever she wants in her hair if she feels good doing it. The teacher should have removed his/herself from the situation if it was THAT much of a problem. Obviously said teacher was the only one offended by the scent (which is very mild, I know because I have used that product in the past) so to make the child feel bad about herself for something she likes to do to make herself feel beautiful is WRONG. And as abundant many people here want to think Black hair care products are, it’s trial and error. Because there is no uniform kinky/curly hair texture every product does not work for every hair type. So when you find something that works, you stick with it.
I am pretty sure you are a person of the ‘lighter variety’ with straight hair because of your comment. I have nothing against that but you are ignorant of the experience of having kinky or tightly curled hair. In a society where girls as young as 4 and 5 are getting their hair permed with toxic and dangerous chemicals this little girl DOES have the right to ‘tame her frizz’. Just because the 1 (if I could underline this I would) teacher is made uncomfortable by a mild hair product that has not affected anyone but him/herself does NOT mean the little girl has to accommodate her.
And to address your 3rd point, elastics, headbands, bobby pins, hair clips, etc., etc., etc. do not keep kinky or curly hair in check. Plain and simple no explanation needed. They ASSIST in laying the hair down, but they would cause a frizzy, matted, tangled mess if used alone on kinky/curly hair. Any person who has every dealt with Black hair knows this. You shouldn’t remark about things you know nothing about.
@151
“No 8-year-old child is responsible for the health of an adult.
Any questions about products, personal hygiene or clothing of a child should be addressed to an adult. Singling out a child in front of the class is damaging and unprofessional.”
I completely agree!!!
@153
“Putting a stinky, oily mess in a child’s hair isn’t smart unless she had head lice (which the oil would kill). But to sue is another example of greed, the thought process of an opportunist and low class skankiness. The teacher should never isolate a bright student and should have suggested to the parents to either cover the child’s head if it was lice, or to use a less intrusive product which won’t soil the backs of chairs and other items the child’s head touches. The teacher is stuck in the classroom with this smell which the principal should have removed the teacher from, not remove the child. With different parents this could have been worked out. Not with these fools.”
Again with the ignorance. Most people with kinky/curly hair do not get lice. The hair product is VERY common, evidence by the above comments with others who have personally encountered it and have no qualms with it. The product CONTAINS olive oil but it’s not like dumping olive oil on your head. As was said earlier, the product resembles lotion in scent and texture. Shampoo is more commonly used to eliminate lice, so your argument is invalid.
Overall, Mr. Mudede, I believe you made the correct decision and took the correct actions in defending your daughter. This ordeal should have less of a psychological effect on her if she realizes what was done to her is wrong. Also, your willingness to fight for her should strengthen your relationship and her self-confidence. I wish you the best in your endeavors, and I hope you win your lawsuit.
What influences me to think that this incident WAS in fact motivated by race is that neither the teacher or the school even spoke to the parents before moving their child to an entirely different class. That’s a huge red flag. If any child is moved to a different class for any reason — even something like behavioural problems — the parents should always be consulted BEFOREHAND in the decision to move the child.
keeptawkin, if you honestly believe these hair-care products do not cause allergic reactions simply because they are “all-natural”, then your opinion regarding the colour of orange juice is no longer of any interest to me.
When I was a boy of about twelve years, I one day woke up with a massive rash all over my body. The skin of my buttocks swelled to a point where I could not sit down properly. I ended up scratching myself so hard that I bled in several places. After an injection of anti-allergy meds, blood was drawn and sent to a lab for testing. The result that came back was that this reaction had been triggered by exposure to a grass type so common that tracing it back to the actual location where the reaction started would be impossible.
I also have allergic reactions to household dust, a natural element so common that it figures in comedic or horror story routines.
People have a right to education and fair treatment regardless of their race. But they also have a right to raise objections when someone they are pushed into an environment with is exposing them to a product that is actually making them physically ill.
I will lay money down betting that this child is going to one day go into the world and say that Person X can’t possibly be allergic to her whateverproduct because it is “all natural” and wonder why she got angrily chewed out.
For the really dense people out there: disease, bacteria, deadly fungii, and many other things that directly cause deaths… hey, they happen to be All Natural, too!
As a teacher myself, some things I would like to know:
1.) Is this the first time your daughter ever wore this product to school?
2.) Is it the first time she’s ever been ejected from the classroom? If so, how long had she been a student in that class before this incident?
3.) How was the teachers demeanor while asking her to leave?
Given the absence of detail in your report, I’m inclined to just assume your overly sensitive to issues of race, and see issues when there are none. We’ve all had times when we feel unwell and where a particularly strong smell (even if it’s not repugnant) can exacerbate that feeling.
Also, it’s not as out of the ordinary to temporarily send students to another room as some of the commentors are making it seem, I do it regularly myself when it comes to behavioral problems. If the teacher has no previous history of racial bias (which is another detail you fail to inform us on), you should give the teacher the benefit of your doubts (considering your racial hypersensitivity!)
I agree that this is racist. You may ask which “this” to which I refer but you would only be exposing your racism. If more people would admit their racism the world would be a better place. Or something like that. If you disagree with that you are a racist. If you say I am race-baiting, you are a racist. Racist. Racist. Racist.
By the way, my culture is big on peanut butter but some racists have tried to prevent us from bringing any peanut butter products to school. They mumble some nonsense about allergies but they are racists.
Thank you for your blog. What the teacher did is wrong and clearly racist. I recently bought that same product. It has little smell and is quite pleasant. In fact it is made with olive oil which many white products are also made with. The teacher is clearly a racist and lying about the product making her sick. I too am allergic to perfumes and am sensitive to certain smells but as a teacher myself I am not allowed to pick out certain students and condemn them for their beauty product choices. I think the teacher is just uncomfortable having a black/mixed race kid in her accelerated class.
Like your daughter I was one of a very small number of black and mixed race kids in my accelerated class thirty years ago. As a child one is well aware of the fact that one is a minority in a smart class ad that the white kids are always wondering why you are there. Keep fighting for your daughter.
Charles, I don’t know how you can stand to read most of these heartless, ignorant comments. How anyone who has ever loved a child–how mothers and fathers of children who are your daughter’s age–can spew such hateful rhetoric upon you and your family is beyond me.
Most of the comments indicate the failure of our society to understand racism in any terms other than intentional, hateful prejudice. Yes, I doubt the teacher *intended* to communicate racism to her students. To intend such a message, in 2010, would be, well, insane. But it was communicated nonetheless. Anyone who knows anything about the history of racial stereotypes in this country would recognize the meaning of the teacher’s action–a meaning that exists regardless of her conscious intent.
Wow. How incredibly sad and unacceptable. Even if race were not an issue here (and I believe it probably is) then this teacher’s actions would still be reprehensible, based solely on the horrifyingly public humiliation your daughter endured. No teacher should ever single a child out like that. If she was feeling ill, she should have asked someone else to step into her classroom for her until she could deal with her problem. If the problem really was the hair product, then a very private note should have been sent home, a private phone call made, or a conference scheduled. Publicly humiliating a child for some innate portion of their identity, regardless of race, is never acceptable.
Clearly, this is an opportunity missed by the teacher and the school to create an open dialogue with the parents. If in fact, the teacher is really sensitive to the fragrance of this hair product (which none of us will ever really know whether this to be true)a simple discussion with these concerned parents choice of fragrent products and her supposed sensitivity to this fragrance would have been far more appropriate. Personally, I would consider putting teacher’s abash to a test, as well. (Not that I believe it would be a sound test.) Simply, consider changing her hair care product to a non-fragrant variety and re-introduce the young girl back into the class. Regardless of whatever the choice solution, however, I suspect with all the media uproar the teacher will find for some strange reason she is no longer nauseated by the presence of this child.