*igger
Posted on 06/14/2025 11:03:59 AM PDT by Dr. Franklin
In what some believe to be another case of political correctness gone awry, a teacher at West Valley High School in Spokane, Washington, claims he was fired for reading the “n-word” aloud during a class discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s iconic novel about racial injustice in the Jim Crow South. The former West Valley High School teacher, Matthew Mastronardi, was secretly recorded by a student while reading a passage from the school-approved text that uses the n-word in its historical context.
In a series of posts on X, Mastronardi explained that while he teaches Spanish, he had overheard two students discussing how they were instructed to skip over “the n-word” while reading the novel in their English class.
Mastronardi wrote, “I was astonished and expressed disagreement, saying, ‘That’s silly; it undermines the book’s historical context and disrespects the author’s intent to use accurate language.’ A girl asked me in front of the class, ‘Would you read the word?’ I replied, ‘Yes, I would read every word.'”
“A male student immediately handed me the book and said, ‘Okay, do it.’ I knew the situation was serious with 30 students watching, wondering if I would read,” Mastronardi continued. “Nervous but committed, I saw it as a teachable moment about context and literary honesty in reading. I read a passage aloud, including the word ‘nigger,’ unaware I was being recorded.”
Later that week, Mastronardi says he was given a verbal warning about the reading by the school’s principal, and an ultimatum. He could either resign or not have his contract renewed. Refusing to resign, his contract was terminated.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegatewaypundit.com ...
I used to work on public housing projects and I couldn’t count how many times I heard little “Amish” kids, 5-6 year olds, calling each other n...a. If I said it I would be in prison.
He was being baited and went outside his class curriculum.
Not part of teaching Spanish.
Some books I have state in the front section something like this book contains language and attitudes toward groups of people that were from its era and do not represent the publisher’s viewpoints.
Guess the teacher can’t assign Joseph Conrad’s one about the Narcissus, activist Dick Gregory’s autobiography or make reference to the title of the classic early comedy album by Richard Pryor where he kids himself as crazy. James Baldwin self-censored his film and book title to make it I Am Not Your Negro.
That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages.“Cal,” I asked, “why do you talk nigger-talk to the –to your folks when you know it’s not right?”
“Well, in the first place, I’m black–”
“That doesn’t mean you hafta talk that way when you know better,” said Jem.
Calpurnia tilted her hat and scratched her head, then pressed her hat down carefully over her ears. “It’s right hard to say,” she said. “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’ on airs to beat Moses.”
“But Cal, you know better,” I said.
“It’s not necessary to tell all you know. It’s not ladylike–in the second place, folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ’em. You’re not going to change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.”
Like the language of Mordor or the name of Voldemort, the word *igger is never to be printed or uttered in public, unless by Mark Twain, a rapper or Samuel L. Jackson.
Calpurnia would never have used the F... word that is common usage now.
“Hey, teacher, we’d like to set you up for firing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re going to ask you to do something stupid. Something you should know not to do. And we want you to do it.”
“That would be pretty dumb of me.”
“It sure would. Could you read this passage right here? We won’t record you or anything.”
“Sure. I don’t mind. This passage right here? That’s a doozy. Okay, are you ready? I’ll begin ...”
Or Blazing Saddles.
How dare those authors back in the day use such vocabulary! They had to have known one day we would become an oversensitive and litigious society in which such words were verboten and political correctness would rule the day.
Staged
At least she didn’t read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Your ‘point’?
I prefer the baiting the sensitive ones by using it as a verb as in the Charles Dickens novel.
He could have just shown one of the many movies that are filled with this cr*p.
“Your ‘point’?”
My post was in plain English.
*igger
Was he reading it while trannies were reading to children in the library?
I don’t know if Mr. Mastronardi is a good teacher or not. But he certainly is breathtakingly stupid. Some kid set a crude trap, and he immediately fell into it.
Was it a firing offense? No. But in cases like this, the Woke Monster demands a sacrifice. And the Woke Monster will not be denied.
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