by Aaron Jenkins

As has been widely reported, on May 2, a black Cleveland High School student deemed a computer assignment to be "gay" and was subsequently reprimanded by his teacher out in the hall. The teacher asked how the kid would feel if he were called a "nigger." The teacher then drilled his point home by asking the class if it was okay for "the nigger" to come back inside.

The teacher, Brian Emanuels, defended using the epithet, saying he saw it as an excellent "teaching moment." Emanuels is now on administrative leave and has been assailed by the media and denounced by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As for the students, they generally stand behind their peer's language because, according to some, "Nobody's gay in this class. Nobody here is offended."

While I do think Emanuels' "teaching moment" was poorly executed, I also believe his students need some schoolin'. Believe me (I'm currently a high school senior), there were gay kids in the class. They either didn't show it or didn't know it. They were invisible. In this light, Emanuels--awkwardly--was onto something.

I had a teacher during my freshman year who gave a lecture on immigration to America and the foreigner's notion of "The American Dream." The pinnacle of the lecture was the declaration that "all of our forefathers immigrated to America, hoping to achieve this dream." As the lone black student, in the back of the cavernous classroom, I sunk deeper in my chair. I was invisible.

Sure, the N-word is undeniably more historically and emotionally charged than "gay," but few realize or acknowledge that for every homosexual teenager who ever carried that burden down a high school hall, "gay" carries a charge too. And yet there has been little challenge to the student's use of "gay." Either the majority of Seattle condones its negative use, or simply doesn't care. As an African American high school senior, I would simply say, pick your battles, but don't neglect one for the other.

Stranger news intern Aaron Jenkins is a senior at the Northwest School.