Alleged racial slur gets Lee High teacher removed

The Huntsville Times ^ | 02/20/02 | Challen Stephens

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

A white science teacher was removed from Lee High School last week after a black student accused her of using a racial slur.

According to official accounts, Dana Beth Bohannon is accused of telling a high school student to quit acting like a "project n-----."

Bohannon has been on paid suspension since Feb. 11, said Superintendent Ann Roy Moore. Bohannon has not denied the allegations, said Moore.

"The principal did some investigating, and now I'm doing some," said Moore. "Based on my findings, I will deal with the situation."

Moore declined to discuss the range of possible outcomes for Bohannon.

"If she did that, she needs to go," said school board member James Dawson, who said talk that a teacher used the slur has been circulating in northwest Huntsville.

Late last week, local radio station WEUP reported a teacher had been removed from Lee. No names were used. The incident was also discussed during WEUP call-in shows on Friday and Monday.

"It will cause racial unrest in the school," said Dawson.

As of October, Lee High had 942 students.

Of those, 567 were black.

Moore said three or four students heard Bohannon address Lee student Justin Patton. She would not discuss the details of the situation.

James Embry, who is the principal at Lee, said Patton told him about the teacher's comments. Embry called the superintendent to investigate.

Bohannon did not return a call for comment.

"I am representing her," said attorney Jeff Johnson. "I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of any matter related to her situation or possible situations."

Bohannon, who is in her third year as a teacher, does not have the protection of tenure. Teachers earn tenure after three years on the job. Until then, employees can be released at the end of each school year without a reason.

But if a non-tenured teacher is fired in the middle of the year, he or she may appeal to the school board.

Board member Scott Erwin said he'd hate to see a single incident ruin a teaching career. "But if that is a pattern, certainly that can't be tolerated," he said.

Dawson said that he is blind to race, but not racism.

If a black teacher called a white student poor white trash, that teacher should be fired, too, he said.

"You'd have to go. You don't call white folks crackers," said Dawson. "If teachers don't know any better, then how are students going to learn?"

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

Huntsville is in north Alabama.

[RightOnline]

Huntsville is a terrific town (a high-tech area; NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, HQ of the Army's Missile Command, countless defense contractors, etc., etc.); most of my family is still in that area. I attended high school there (not at Lee; at a crosstown rival), and back then (early '70's), one could walk through the projects, alone, at night, and not think a thing about it. The races got along pretty darned well all in all. This just smells like yet another in the long list of "Political Correctness Run Amok" incidents of which we hear so often these days.............

[Buffalo Bob]

Jessie Jackson, draino spill on isle three.

Jessie...isle three...

[Neets]

I can't help but wonder what the latest and greatest songs by Ja-Rule, Ludacris, and DMX, this treasured student were listening to when he/she left school that day.

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

Yeah, I grew up in Huntsville, as well. I graduated from Lee in 85 and back then there were no racial problems either.

I'm interested to see how this turns out.

[RobTruth]

I had relatives in the Huntsville area. The Hobbs family. Gin and the rest of the Hobbs. I cannot get in contact with them. Can any Freepers help?

[leadpenny]

A white science teacher ....

I wonder if this story would have even been a story had it been a black science teacher who had made the remark?

[RightOnline]

Good question. The answer, of course, is "no".

OTOH, wonder if it would have made news if a black science teacher had said to a white kid, "Stop acting like a Gurley redneck."

[NOTE: Gurley is a tiny little town on the outskirts of Huntsville that...................................well, let's just say that Gurley is to Huntsville what Rio Linda is to Sacramento, for you Rush listeners.]

[wita]

Took the words right outta ma mouf. My bet is that kinda name calling is daily fare in the black world, but censored speech in the white. Never-the-less you is what you is regardless of pc.

[Fresh Wind]

"Stop acting like a Gurley redneck."

Hmmm. Redneck is a perfectly acceptable word in the PC world, because it can only refer to whites. Whites are a non-protected non-minority who are responsible for all racism. On the other hand, "Gurley" sounds like "Girly", which raises issues of sexism and Homophobia™. As we all know, words that sound like banned words are also banned, but only when used by whites. So, if a black teacher used this phrase, he/she would probably get a raise.

[Flyer]

quit acting like a "project n-----."

You don't call white folks crackers

Shouldn't the second sentence be:

You don't call white folks c-------

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

"Stop acting like a Gurley redneck."

LOL. Now, that's an insult!

[NoCurrentFreeperByThatName]

Good point. I've never even thought about that.

[leadpenny]

So, if a black teacher used this phrase, he/she would probably get a raise.

Now we're making perfect sense of it all. ;-)

I would think this will all be sorted out when Mary Francis Berry, jj, crazy Al and Queeesi converge on Huntsville in the very near future.

[Elsie]

quit acting like a "project n-----."

---

But.... how many "Project African-Americans" GO to this school????

[Elsie]

.....said Moore. "Based on my findings, I will deal with the situation."

And if the 'student' WAS 'acting' like a "P A-A", THEN what???

[mommadooo3]

They should focus their 'investigation' on HOW the teacher pronounced the word. If she used the white version of the 'N' word, then she should be bounced. HOWEVER, if she used the igga pronunciation, she merely mimicked the term that is used in the popular songs the rap 'artists' use in their 'songs'.

If a person goes to a 'foreign' country, aren't they supposed to know the language, in order to 'function'?

[auggy]

" I wonder if this story would have even been a story had it been a black science teacher who had made the remark? "

I heard that. That's it. Your'e outta here!

[Bryan24]

I currently live in a suburb of Huntsville. Did the teacher actually say that? Who knows?

The biggest laugh of this entire article is James Dawson's comments "Dawson said that he is blind to race, but not racism." Dawson is the biggest racist this side of Al Sharpton. The guy sits on the Board of Education. To hear him speak, you would think he was illiterate.

Funny story. I know a coach that teaches history at crosstown rival J.O. Johnson High School. This high school has been taken over by the state because the grades have gotten so bad. They sent a new principle in to "fix the problem".

Her first week there, she scheduled an assembly for the entire 9th grade class. The teachers (my coach friend included)told her this was a bad idea. She wouldn't listen. So, they rounded up all of the 9th graders.

Here they are, 300 or so of them, laughing, talking, cutting up. The new principle walks up to the microphone.

"Children". No effect.
"Children, let's take our seats." No effect.
"Children, that's not how 9th graders are supposed to act."

The hubbub quietens slightly and a voice calls out, "F*** you, B*tch".

Assembly over. Just another day at J.O. Johnson.