"Students Called 'N-Word' Everyday by Some Teachers"

by: Clymel Thomas

Remember from high school Richard Wright's "Native Son" and the character Bigger Thomas? Bigger was, for all intents and purposes, rapper Ice Cube's "the product"--a creation from, and of, hate, history and violence.

In the novel, Bigger was faced everyday with the "hate that hate makes" and, pretty soon, he became Bigger--with an "N" replacing the "B" for the first letter. People saw Bigger and assumed "N-----," so, to not disappoint, he was going to give them "N-----" Thomas with a vengeance.



I substitute teach in three to four different classrooms, different grade levels, each week, but the scene is the pretty much the same in all of them, especially in the lower elementary grades: I actually get to see Bigger Thomas in real life. There is he is, physically sitting alone from the rest of the class, which is mostly Hispanic with a few whites and black girls thrown in.

My man Bigger has a desk all to himself, usually in the back of the room, courtesy of a teacher who warns me in her lesson plan to watch out for Bigger; he is a problem.

I usually ask Bigger himself why he has his own desk, away from the other desks. But before Bigger can answer, the whole class does for him: "He's bad, he doesn't listen, he's always in trouble..."

Bigger will shout something back, but his heart is not really in it. He has resigned himself to being Bigger with an "N" substituted for the first letter. It's what the whole class, including his teacher, expect; so, for sure, he is going to give them Bigger with an "N".

For the day or two that I am a substitute teacher in Bigger's class, I tell the other kids to be quiet and keep their opinions to themselves (they go off and do another assignment...in one class, their teacher had wanted me to play Disney videos the whole day), and I sit down with Bigger and we take up the entire board with a mock plan to invade some foreign country overseas with a budget of $20MM. Bigger respectfully, enthusiastically demonstrates math, analytics and strategy--but this kid was "a problem" for his regular teacher. Understand, Bigger WAS acting out as Bigger with an "N" until I sat down with him and showed him there was more to this learning thing than being labeled a product and shown demeaning Disney videos to numb the mind.

And then I go to another school, just to have it repeat all over again, leaving a trail of "Biggers they love to hate" behind me. But for the day I was there, hopefully, this black boy saw himself for what he truly is...

Potential, not a product.

--from a Sub

Taken from the blog at author Clymel Thomas' website.